Non-violent communication in nursery schools

Many books about Nonviolent Communication discuss children in general. Barbara Leitner takes a different approach: she writes for early-years professionals and their everyday work in childcare centres. Across 200 pages, she explores appreciative relationships with parents, children, the team and yourself. Illustrated by Heike Reuter and published by Junfermann Verlag.

The book's basic premise is that the quality of relationships and interactions largely determines the quality of work in a childcare centre. It is therefore worthwhile to develop a positive attitude towards yourself and others, along with language that reflects that attitude. This is precisely where Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication begins.

Rosenberg himself saw two connected tasks in this: freeing ourselves from violence in language and thought, and questioning the power structures that gave rise to this violence in the first place. The book translates this into everyday life in a childcare centre, with exercises and practical stories about the team, the children, the parents and yourself, so that NVC does not remain merely theoretical.

Barbara Leitner is a process facilitator, trainer and coach who worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. She has been teaching seminars on Nonviolent Communication since 2008.

We also stock Barbara Leitner's ‘Wege zu mehr Gewaltfreiheit’, her ideas on self-regulation for educational practice.