Abstract:

Teacher candidates and early-career educators are increasingly expected to support diverse learners and families through brief, goal-oriented conversations that promote inclusion while respecting professional and ethical boundaries. However, many teacher education programmes offer limited opportunities to practice counselling conversations in realistic, structured learning environments. This hands-on workshop presents an interactive training format that translates materials developed in the DITTE Erasmus+ project (Developing Innovative Teacher Training Methods for Inclusion and Equal Access to Education) into a collaborative online learning experience using the Miro application (an online collaborative whiteboard). The workshop is designed primarily for pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and educational professionals who wish to strengthen their practical counselling and communication competencies for inclusive education.

The workshop focuses on Social Awareness (SA), understood as the ability to recognize and respond to the perspectives, emotions, and needs of others through empathy, respect, and active listening. Participants explore core counselling micro-skills that help educators facilitate supportive conversations without giving direct advice or imposing solutions. After a brief conceptual framing, participants collaboratively construct a simplified counselling process suitable for school contexts. The process includes problem exploration, clarification of perspectives, information gathering, preparation for decision making, and action planning.

The central activity is a digital adaptation of the gamified dialogue exercise “Agree–Question–Challenge.” Participants work in pairs and discuss selected value statements related to inclusive education. A structured speaking rule implemented through a shared “pen token” on the Miro board regulates the dialogue: the person holding the token begins the conversation and may pass it only after the partner accurately paraphrases the message and provides reflective feedback. This process encourages active listening, perspective taking, and constructive disagreement. Participants document key insights, emotions, assumptions, and possible teacher responses on shared digital notes.

A facilitated group reflection connects these observations to counselling micro-skills such as open questions, paraphrasing, reflection of feelings, and summarizing. Participants also identify moments where teachers must recognize competence boundaries and collaborate with other professionals. The workshop concludes with an exploratory activity in which participants experiment with generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). In small groups, they test and co-create practical AI prompts designed to support preparation for counselling conversations, reflection on inclusive classroom dilemmas, and communication planning with students and families.

Participants leave the session with a reusable Miro template, examples of facilitation instructions, and a set of adaptable AI prompts that can support reflective practice in teacher education and school professional development settings. The workshop demonstrates how collaborative digital tools and structured dialogue techniques can strengthen educators’ confidence in addressing inclusion-related challenges while maintaining supportive, ethical communication practices.

Keywords:

Inclusive education, teacher training, pedagogical counselling, social awareness, counselling micro-skills, digital collaborative learning, Miro, dialogue-based learning, teacher professional development, Artificial Intelligence prompts, reflective practice, Erasmus+ projects.