Professional Communication and Relational Trust
Develop the communication and relational skills that make interprofessional collaboration actually work — active listening, perspective-taking across professional identities, giving and receiving feedback across role boundaries, navigating status differences (certified vs. classified staff), building trust with people who have different training and different views of students, and having honest conversations when collaboration breaks down.
What you'll walk away with
Practise active listening across professional role boundaries, distinguishing attending-to-understand from attending-to-respond
Assess relational trust using Bryk & Schneider's four-component framework (respect, competence, personal regard, integrity)
Navigate status differences between certified and classified staff with communication strategies that equalise professional voice
Initiate and completes difficult professional conversations using a structured, relationship-preserving protocol
How a Learning Series works
Work through the snacks — short, evidence-based lessons that build your understanding. Each one gives you research, a classroom connection, and one thing to try or discuss.
Test your understanding in a low-stakes mini-experiment before you bring it to your classroom. Leverage our downloadable materials to support you in your teaching and classroom practice and let us know how it goes!
For credit towards an Accingo Course certificate, try something from this series in your own classroom, then complete a short, structured reflection on what you learned and what you would bring to your PLC and/or regular practice. You will see "Application Artifact" if required.
