Educators' Professional and Personal Growth: A Case Study of European Teachers' In-Service Training Courses

In this paper, we consider the development of teachers' emotional skills by using arts and skills. In the theoretical background, we focus on the modern theories of motivation, learning and school culture and on cultural theories (Sapher & King, 1985) of school environments and views of learning. The main problem is to determine which skills the teachers can achieve during intensive training of emotional skills and arts. In the paper, we have used the course evaluations and post-evaluation material from one of the Comenius courses held in Cyprus in October 2008. The findings show that, in spite of the school culture, all the methods for teaching emotional skills can also be used for the personal and professional growth of teachers. Teachers' well-being and a positive school environment are essential in sustainable development and education.