This session is all about getting to know yourself, each other and the programme.

We want you to be as excited about the programme as we are so this is an opportunity to

• get to know one another and share hopes and goals for your development
• get clear on how the programme works
• clarify group guidelines and boundaries so that everyone feels comfortable to truly be themselves and get the most from our time together.

When workload is overwhelming, you lose perspective. Life easily becomes distorted with musts and shoulds. You become weary with the weight of tasks and responsibilities. Something needs to change but where do you start?

This unit enables you to

• clarify what’s possible, necessary and preferable for your school
• identify what can change
• move towards experiencing the fulfilment and delight of making a real difference. 

As a practivist you are committed to taking action but what if the job leaves you so depleted that you can’t even get started? Often the most important action you can take is meeting your own basic needs.

This unit explores how

• understanding the stress cycle can completely change the way you respond to stressors
• to get out of your head and back into your body so that you meet your basic needs
• to work mindfully with the energy you do have rather than powering through and burning out.

To do well in this society, most educators want to be as good as (ideally better than) others. You compete with, and are judged on, standards and grades that often you don’t believe in. Practivists take steps to unlearn conforming. This requires unflinching self-belief in the face of risk.

This unit focuses on

• recognising what really gets in the way of you taking principled action
• the pain and risk of conforming; the pain and risk of non-conforming
• step by step practices for self-acceptance and self-compassion. 

Summoning up the bravery to push for change requires vulnerability but in a system where accountability is high, vulnerability can feel risky. It’s not long before shame rears its ugly head.

This unit helps you to face the challenges of vulnerability by

• increasing awareness of your personal armour
• identifying the conditions to remove it
• thinking about the benefits of a more vulnerable culture in your school. 

Practivists know the importance of communicating well if you are to truly engage someone. This means adapting what you need to say to match the needs of the people and the situation.

This unit walks you through

• your impact on others and their impact on you
• how your behaviour, and the way you relate to others, changes under pressure
• steps to adapt what you say so you strengthen your relationships at work, especially through differences. 

Practivism is all about playing the long game and that means you can’t do everything. With self-sacrifice woven into the fabric of the education system, how will you ever feel that you do or even are enough?

This unit helps you to clarify

• the impact of toxic productivity, people pleasing and perfectionism on your sense of what is enough
• what your own personal criteria for enough are
• what boundaries you will need to put in place to safeguard these criteria. 

You have to find your purposeful voice to be able to speak up about what really matters. This means changing your relationship with self-doubt so you can get through those heart-thumping, dry-mouthed moments when your voice needs to be heard.

This unit gives you ways

• to understand what’s going on with your inner critic and rise above it, undeterred
• to anchor yourself in your values when making choices
• to trust yourself in the face of fear. 

‘This is all well and good’, you may be thinking, ‘but I’m scared I might lose my job over this!’ It is indeed important to find appropriate ways for your purposeful voice to be heard and acted upon. Our hope for you is that you become the individual you want to be, the practivist who makes a meaningful difference as an educator with influence.

To achieve the above, this unit gets real about

• the culture, the system and the timeline of your plans
• the energy you need to pursue your vision
• coping with fear. 

There are different approaches to resilience. Daily habitual practices that strengthen how you cope with adversity; developing mental toughness and emotional stamina under extreme pressure; and deep resilience, where you are in tune with meeting your needs for a meaningful existence.

This unit aligns these three approaches by

• ensuring you keep well through keeping your resilience habits on track
• clarifying your coping strategies
• highlighting ways to prevent pain so that you find fulfilment. 

Practivists know that to be part of change is to be part of a movement; we can achieve so much more together than we ever could alone!

This unit is an opportunity to

• explore how connection fuels practivism
• consider what type of connection works for you to make the changes you really believe in
• identify and begin to build practivist networks that provide inspiration, accountability and joy. 

It’s time to think about how you can sustain your practivism beyond the programme!

This unit will help you to

• reflect on your journey as a practivist
• celebrate how far you’ve come
• get excited about your next steps.