Growing Compassionate K-12 Education Systems

CompassioNorth offers Workshops & Coaching Support to Move Your Workplace Wellbeing Initiatives From Idea to Action

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Compassionate Systems Leadership guides you in developing your own social-emotional learning (SEL) skills as you grow in your ability to implement system-wide change in support of staff and student wellbeing. When you cultivate compassion through SEL skills including empathy, sound decision-making, and self-regulation, you are better able to create educational cultures that emphasize wellbeing, understand barriers to change, and encourage other staff to contribute to positive change.

WHAT IS COMPASSIONATE SYSTEMS LEADERSHIP?

Compassionate Systems Leadership (CSL) is a system-wide leadership development approach that is anchored in self-awareness, social awareness, systems thinking, responsible decision-making, self management and relationships. 

The three main components of compassionate systems leadership include: 

1. Personal mastery

Developing self-awareness, mindfulness, and compassion for self and others.

2. Interpersonal skills

Building one’s awareness of others through intentional listening as well as clear and respectful communication, which can lead to more effective problem-solving among teams.

3. Systems thinking 

Understanding the underlying elements that shape a school’s organizational culture (i.e. its system of beliefs, values, behaviours, ways of communicating, etc.) as a way to determine levers for change.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Growing Compassionate K-12 Education Systems is available for staff teams composed of, but not limited to, district leaders, principals, teachers, school counsellors, associated professionals, and support staff. 

We recommend staff teams attend together because when practicing Compassionate Systems Leadership, everyone has the potential to create or support change regardless of their position within the school and district. Greater impact can be achieved when school leaders and staff learn and act together.

If you would prefer to participate as an individual, there is the possibility to participate in Roots workshops sessions with individuals from different schools and school districts. 

  • Compassionate Systems Leadership was developed by Peter Senge and Mette Miriam Boell of the Center for Systems Awareness and grew out of work done at the MIT Center for Organizational Learning.

    In the fall of 2020, the British Columbia Ministry of Education announced its Mental Health in Schools Strategy, which identified three key strategies, one of which was Compassionate Systems Leadership (CSL). BC has a growing network of CSL practitioners who are expanding and supporting the integration of the work into all aspects of education in BC.

How will you benefit from this program?

  • Improved communication and self-awareness, which can help you cope with stress and improve interactions with colleagues, employees, family, and friends.

  • Development of contemplative practices, which help you set aside time and space to pause, ponder, and prioritize. 

  • Increased confidence in making decisions and trying new things.

Developing personal mastery leads to:

  • Improved ability to have open and honest dialogue. 

  • Strengthened relationships.

  • An approach to learning and growth that engages the community and reflects their needs.

Building interpersonal skills leads to:

  • Skills that support organizational learning and growth in ways that are easy to integrate into people's current work and optimize what is already working rather than adopting entirely new methods. 

  • Improved knowledge of how biases and stressors impact our lives and how to develop strategies to address them.

  • Creation and support of a staff wellbeing culture and climate.

Understanding systems thinking leads to:

CompassioNorth

Shirley Giroux, PhD, RCC

Shirley is a Compassionate Systems Leadership Master Practitioner, an experienced teacher/education leader, registered clinical counsellor, and sessional university instructor in Education. She holds a PhD in Health Sciences with a focus on teachers’ resilience in managing multiple caring responsibilities, and is a mother of two.

  • The child of two adventurous teachers, Shirley grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada’s North (all three territories at different points), and the village of Valemount, BC. She has recently returned to Valemount with her husband and two school-aged children to be the school counsellor. Working at both Valemount Elementary and Secondary schools, she has the unique opportunity to work with all students, education staff, and school families in the village.

    Shirley trained as a secondary science teacher and started her teaching career in BC’s Cariboo-Chilcotin region where she taught for 13 years. She spent three years as an elementary school principal. She also teaches sessional classes at two local universities.

    Shirley is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with an interest in resilience, attachment, and infant mental health (especially with regard to caregiver support). She completed a PhD in Health Sciences in 2019. Her research, which won two national awards, focused on the sources of resilience for female teachers who managed multiple caregiving demands in their daily work. Shirley continues to do independent research and is an EdCan expert contributor for their “Well at Work” series. She is particularly interested in how connection and resilience can be fostered for those living and working in rural and remote settings with fewer local resources.

    Shirley’s educational philosophy is centered on ensuring students are still curious and willing to take on learning challenges after each stage of their educational journeys. This assumesthat each student will be provided with the conditions, supports, and tools they need to feel safe and be successful. This must happen in a healthy school culture that actively models and privileges the skills and attitudes needed to build and sustain healthy, positive, trusting relationships for everyone. Shirley was attracted to Compassionate Systems Leadership and the opportunity to complete the master practitioner training because of its strong alignment with this guiding philosophy and with her work as a mental health professional.

Suchitra Sarda, MA

Suchitra is a Compassionate Systems Leadership Master Practitioner as well as an experienced teacher/education leader, international SEL consultant, and change manager. She holds a master’s in International Education Development from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Community and Applied Developmental Psychology at the University of Illinois, Chicago with Dr Kimberly Schonert Reichl as her advisor. She is a mother of two.

  • Suchitra Sarda is a certified master practitioner for Compassionate Systems Framework. She also has years of leadership experience in K-12, higher education, education consultancy, and teacher coaching. She has a master’s in International Education Development from Teachers College, Columbia University and a post-graduate diploma in Business Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Suchitra recently founded Compassionate Learning Communities (CLC) which supports the development and growth of Compassionate Systems in schools and school systems.

    As part of her master’s program, she explored and deepened her understanding of compassion, social-emotional learning (SEL), mindfulness and systems thinking in schools, development work, refugee contexts, and international institutions. Her master’s project on the Compassionate Systems Framework studied participants’ (representing 7 hubs around the world) understanding of the Compassionate Systems Framework after their introductory workshop.

    Strategy and planning have been central to Suchitra’s work. As the trustee of a K-12 school in India, she implemented the International Baccalaureate (IB) and International General Certificate Examination (IGCSE) programs in a low-income private school, a strategic change that allowed the school to focus on inquiry learning. She was actively involved in operationalizing the instructional and administrative changes. She has also founded, managed and taught in an English Language Institute.

    Suchitra’s experience at the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL), Columbia Law School, prepared her to work in education in the United States. As a teaching assistant at CPRL, she supported the implementation of district-wide social and emotional learning programs and helped a foundation establish community ties and develop continuous learning and improvement institutes and workshops for nonprofit leaders in education.

    In 2019, Suchitra was the Lead SEL teacher for grades K-12 at the Refugee Youth Summer Academy for International Rescue Committee, and a Research Fellow at the Lemann Foundation, Brazil. She also worked with SEE Learning, India partners on their implementation plan. In 2020, she joined PTC Consultancy and launched Compassionate Systems Courses in India. To broaden her reach, Suchitra founded Compassionate Learning Communities, which connects with master practitioners around the world to grow this work.

COMPASSIONORTH WORKSHOPS & COACHING SESSIONS

Note: The Roots offering is a prerequisite to registering in the other offerings available.

  • Learn and begin to apply the foundations of Compassionate Systems Leadership in your professional and personal life.

    Roots will give you:

    • The tools and practices to lay the foundation for a culture of wellbeing and a psychologically safe workplace

    • Help in articulating your vision for integrating wellbeing into your work in education

    • Growth in your self-awareness and role in leading change within your organization

    • Clarity on strengths of existing efforts/initiatives

    • Exposure to new ideas and ways of thinking that help build and sustain a positive and engaging environment

    • Awareness of how you can ‘show up’ in ways that promote and support wellbeing

    Includes:

    • 20 hours of workshop time, with flexibility in the determination of length, frequency, and schedule

    • Individual reflective practices and team breakout discussions

    • Practical exercises and tools to apply between workshops

    • Access to all workshop materials (i.e. slide decks, handouts, reading materials, resource links)

  • Continue building your capacity by applying Compassionate Systems Leadership to specific contexts and challenges within your workplace and professional life.

    Trunk will give you:

    • The opportunity to further develop and fine-tune your skills through practice within your specific context

    • Support throughout the design-thinking process to design and iterate practices that you want to strengthen, while achieving clarity in your effort to grow a culture of wellbeing on a system-wide level

    Includes:

    • One-on-one and small group coaching, customized to meet your specific needs*

    • Practical exercises and tools to apply between coaching sessions

    *These sessions are meant to be undertaken throughout a school year to allow each participant the time, space, and support to embed CSL into their work.

  • Based on the needs and interests of your team, build capacity and practice in specific areas of education.

    Branches will give you:

    • Support to navigate barriers you may experience in implementation

    • A foundation for sustaining the work

    • Capacity-building within specific areas (e.g. school wellbeing; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals)

    • Strategies to align this work with existing frameworks

    • Connections to a network of other Compassionate Systems Leadership educators

    Includes:

    • 4-hour workshops that will be offered throughout the school year with the frequency, scope, and sequence determined by your needs.

    • Workshops led by content area specialists from the CSL Master Practitioner community

    • Practical exercises and tools to begin applying in-between workshops

    • Access to all workshop materials (i.e. slide decks, handouts, reading materials, resource links)

Ready to begin? Fill out the Interest Form

All EdCan Membership categories – Individuals, School Districts, Not-for-Profits, Faculties of Education, and Corporations – receive an exclusive 20% discount.

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