What better way to practice cura personalis than to use an approach to Growth Coaching that is based on ‘listening to the self, to others, to creation and to God?

This was the premise of the second workshop on Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm organised by the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Education Secretariat. The workshop combined Ignatian conversation with Growth Coaching and best practices on feedback giving.

The idea first emerged in Kamakura, Japan, where a team from St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, Australia conducted the Ignatian Teachers Program.

“The group agreed that a module on coaching and mentoring based on the Ignatian ministry of holy conversations would respond to an important need among educators in our Asia Pacific schools, and so here we are!” shared JCAP Education Secretary Fr Johnny Go SJ.

Twenty-six educators from the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau and Indonesia had gathered at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview for the workshop, which was held from November 11 to 17.

Fr Ross Jones SJ, Rector of St Aloysius and former Rector at Riverview, set the tone by talking about St Ignatius of Loyola’s ministry of holy conversation.

Bill Hobbes drew from his vast experience working with the former Jesuit Secondary Education Association in the United States to help the participants grow in self-awareness and understand the dynamics within organisations.

Scholastic Bagus Sugiyono SJ, a first-year regent at Kolese Kanisus in Jakarta, was grateful for the theoretical and practical things he learnt at the workshop. “There are several new insights that I got on how to practice cura personalis for students, as well as teachers,” he said.

Mandy Yu from Estrella do Mar in Macau was “excited and thankful” for the experience to “deepen my spirituality and help me grow”, and is looking forward to applying what she learnt in her school and in her teaching.

The participants were also joined by so-called “Companions” from Riverview who helped to model what coaching based on Ignatian conversation is like. The participants’ first-hand encounter with these expert practitioners proved to be a powerful learning experience.

“I still find it amazing how Ignatian Conversation can be seamlessly linked to Growth Coaching and how feasible it is in our own school setting,” shared Chaveli Ventosa Dela Cerna of Xavier School, Philippines, who found many possibilities for faculty and staff formation in Jesuit institutions.

Irene Cheung, Principal of Colégio Mateus Ricci, appreciated the new approaches she learnt in coaching and listening, as well as the use of tools such as the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator. “The feeding forward bridge,” she added, “is what I most want to master and apply.”

Likewise, Antonius Agus Sulistyono from St Peter Canisius Minor Seminary of Mertoyudan, Indonesia, said that the “feeding forward conversation taught me how to make others better and to lead them to God”.

For many of the participants, the workshop was an opportunity to examine their leadership style.

“I was able to step back and reflect on how I can be a better companion to the teachers and students I work with and how I can lead them to be better partners in the mission,” shared Chuchay Rolan-Lugapo of Xavier School, Philippines.

Vivian Cheng of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong hopes that after the workshop, “each one of us can be a better companion to our students and colleagues”.

For Ag Prih Adiartanto, Principal of De Britto College, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, his most valuable takeaway was, simply, learning how to listen.

Maan Estrellado-Domingo of Xavier School, Philippines shared a similar realisation: “It is not my brilliance, but the love that I put in the conversation that matters”.

The next education workshop will be on communal discernment from April 26 to May 2, 2019 at the Seven Fountains Retreat Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand.