For the second topic of the course we are thinking about students, their well-being and how to support them to develop their well-being skills. This is maybe the most familiar topic of all these three. Not in a sense that I would have the solutions and answers to all the issues this important topic raises but this is the topic I have been working with a lot in my university. Although it was really interesting to go deeper with the studies done in different universities about student feedback, I was inspired by this “wild card” that was part of this theme.

For me it was really interesting to hear and learn about the Behavior Window by Thomas Gordon (1974, 2006). Ulla Klemola’s video was really interesting, especially because in this spring, I have also started my supervision studies (työnohjaajaopinnot, in Finnish) and thought and talked a lot about interaction. This Behavior Window was new to me as a theory but in practice I have faced it many times and thought about it. Why is it sometimes easier to accept some people and their bahavior than others? Of course, your own state of mind and body as well as earlier experiences have an effect but would it be possible to broaden the tolerance somehow? For me, even being aware of this kind of theory makes it easier in the interaction to stop and think about what is happening, what am I feeling and why. And how I could change my behavior so that the other person would be entitled to be treated well and to be seen.

In my work I am not guiding students directly so my initial thoughts went to the everyday interaction situations with my 4- and 1 year old boys and my husband. Especially with my 4 year old: how could we stay in the area of cooperation although disagreeing. Usually about putting on clothes or something similar. Already years ago I noticed, that usually the clothes are dressed easier and with nicer atmosphere when we’re all in the same page and trying to work together instead of having to stubborn persons trying to win the match.

This has to do with the guidance situations as well. The age doesn’t make us much wiser in this sense, I think. If we are talking, listening, trying to understand one another and find a solution, or at least some answers, we will get a lot further than thinking that we have different goals. Then it’s about collaboration instead of having a winning opinion or advice. In guidance, I have always liked the image travelling together instead of having two opponents: a guide and a guidee. Maybe I will cherish this idea forward in my own journey as a pedagogical specialist but also later in supervision (työnohjaus).