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Understanding Yourself

It is often said that when seeking to promote social change the best place to start is with oneself. However, what is the connection between understanding oneself and intercultural education? What can psychological and educational sciences teach us about personal and professional identities, emotional regulation and psychological well-being? This first unit will guide you along this inward journey as a first step in promoting intercultural education.

The goal of this unit is to offer physical education teachers and coaches an opportunity to reflect on their professional identity and work settings and to provide insights and guidelines for helping them to prepare, promote and facilitate intercultural education activities.

Section 1 Introduction to understanding yourself >

Highlights the importance of relying on scientific and psychological knowledge concerning personal and professional identity. It introduces several topics that arise from the understanding of cognitive and emotional processes affecting interpersonal and work relationships with intercultural groups.

Section 2 The professional self >

Provides a review of what psychological and educational sciences say about personal and professional identities. It also covers how these topics raise specific issues for self-confidence and the acquisition of a “professional self” as well as how to build on the awareness of these topics for professional development and competences.

Section 3 The interpersonal self and personal agency >

Explains how belief and value systems influence mental processes regulating one’s social and professional experiences. It also provides information on ethnic or group stereotyping and scientific models for understanding personal agency and self-confidence as well as professional tools for promoting collective or group empowerment.

Section 4 Emotion regulation and psychological well-being >

Focuses on one’s control of situations that have strong and challenging emotional meaning for an individual and highlights what psychological science says about emotional regulation, situational awareness, perspective and empathy.

Review your knowledge >

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