The courses are for anyone, men and women, young or old of any background or ability. The courses are entirely suitable both for people who want to be more assertive in everyday situations and people who want to apply the skills in professional contexts. The more varied students are the better the c
DurationWhat is assertiveness?
Assertiveness is about getting over to other people what we want them to know.
It does not mean that we always get our own way, although generally we do end up getting more of what we want. The aim is to get to a point where the other person has understood and responded to what we want.
Becoming more assertive involves learning a variety of techniques for doing this - there are always various possible ways of handling any situation assertively. And it is more than this; the aim is for you to actually feel more assertive and self-confident and feel able to use the techniques.
Assertiveness means handling things appropriately, from your point of view. It is not possible to be “over assertive”, that is like being “too appropriate”. Often what people see as being “over assertive” is not assertive at all, it is aggressive behaviour.
Who are these courses for?
The courses are for anyone, men and women, young or old of any background or ability. The courses are entirely suitable both for people who want to be more assertive in everyday situations and people who want to apply the skills in professional contexts. The more varied students are the better the course.
Anyone who has not been on a long (e.g. weekly sessions, 20 – 40 hours total class time) holistic assertiveness training course can benefit from this training. If you have participated in, for example, day or weekend courses or courses that only focussed on techniques you will find there is much more to learn on Donington Training's courses.
Although these are serious courses on which students learn a lot, reading and writing are not required. If you know anyone who may have difficulty reading this who might like to join the class, please tell them about it. If they are at all uncomfortable about this they can contact us in confidence to discuss their needs.
Course content
The differences between assertive behaviour and non-assertive (aggressive, manipulative and passive) behaviours
Our needs and wants in particular situations
Choosing what to assert
Developing a range of more assertive ways of handling situations
Assertive rights
Assertiveness and emotions
Ways of responding to emotional behaviour in others
Together with the issues that students bring to the course, probably including:
Saying no
Asking for what we want
Dealing with criticism
Learning approach
These are practical courses: students work with issues from their own lives. In most sessions there is time for students to discuss their own experiences of trying or wanting to be more assertive.
The courses are also about personal development, students will be learning about themselves as part of becoming more confident and assertive.
The courses are light, friendly and supportive. No one is criticised or judged. Everyone is accepted as being equal - including the tutor!
Everything personal is kept confidential, so that students can discuss whatever issues they choose - and only what they choose.
I am an experienced trainer and qualified further education teacher. Donington Training is a not for profit entity.
I am also the founder of the Movement for Panocracy and originator of the Education For Its Own Sake initiative.
I live in Alvechurch, a village just south of Birmingham, in Worcestershire, UK.
Educating
I am a qualified adult education teacher and I have worked as a teacher, tutor, trainer and lecturer since 1986. Organisations I have worked for include Leicester University Extramural Deparment, De Montfort University, Wolverhampton University, Leicestershire and Derbyshire adult education services, The Co-Operative College, Charles Keene/Leicester College and the WEA. I have delivered training in Hungary, Latvia, Palestine and Sri Lanka as well as numerous private courses in the UK.
Co-Counselling
I was first trained in the fundamentals of co-counselling with Co-Counselling International (CCI) in 1984 and I have been having regular co-counselling sessions ever since.
I have also been trained in Re-evaluation Counselling (RC) and actively co-counselled with RC for a number of years. I teach CCI co-counselling and I was the UK contact person for CCI from 1996 - 2011.
Politics
I have been a member of the Labour Party and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) since I was a teenager. I have been very active in both in various times in the past. I was a Leicestershire County Councillor from 1977 - 1985.
I was involved with the Faslane 365 campaign particularly helping to run non-violent direct action training sessions for people planning to take part in blockading the Faslane base. I am a pacifist.
Voluntary work
I was a magistrate from 1978 to 1994. I was a Community First Responder for the East Midlands Ambulance Service from 2016 to 2019.
Philosophy
Questions were part of what took me into personal development work. What I have learned since leads me to believe that oppression is what underlies most of the world's problems.
Look at it this way. Our problems arise from people making irrational decisions, including the decisions of most people to let other decision makers, people in governments, businesses etc., get away with irrational decisions.
People make irrational decisions because they make them compulsively, they make the decisions that they feel they have to. In other words, people do not feel that they have much choice even though, objectively, they have a lot of choice. They feel powerless, which is is the same as being oppressed.
Being oppressed is not about what other people do to us, it is about being indoctrinated to believe that we have to put up with it.
The way out, then, seems to be through empowerment. This means helping people to learn about the possibilities that exist, learn how to act on more of these possibilities and learn to feel that they have the right to make their own choices about how they handle any situation. In other words to become more self-empowered, more in charge of themselves and their world.
I see most of the world as being organised in self correcting (step out of line and you are likely to be punished) self perpetuating (passed on from generation to generation) oppressive societies.
My work is all about finding ways in which we can work towards self correcting (supporting everyone to be self-empowered) self perpetuating empowered society.
My ethical position is that for anything to be ethical it must be empowering.
Engineering
I am a chartered electrical engineer. I worked for the UK National Coal Board for nearly 20 years, much of it at collieries - including plenty of work underground!
Computing
I am enthusiastic about open source computing and I do not use any Microsoft software. I use up to date Linux from Debian which I have installed on several computers, some of which will no longer run current Microsoft software and some which are used by friends for their everyday computing.
Apart from my interest in computers, this also has a political dimension. Microsoft's domination of software is oppressive, it leads most people into feeling that there is no alternative.
And it is not even rational to use Microsoft software. Microsoft software will always be inherently vulnerable to malware and it forces people to dispose of computers after a few years.
This course explores ways to increase your visibility, approach new people, and most importantly, boldly deal with difficult situations with composure.
Assertiveness is a life skill that can develop relationships, further our careers, reduce stress levels, and achieve more acceptable and mutually beneficial outcomes.
Our Assertiveness Training courses are designed to teach the relevant skills to help increase your confidence, not only in the workplace, but in all areas of life, such as dealing with difficult family situations, poor
Assertiveness is an essential quality in business and has a strong crossover in our personal lives. This course is for individuals who need to manage relationships effectively in a confident, self-assured manner.
We offer a training and development service which enables your employees to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver a high quality service. With most training providers
About Coursetakers.com
Coursetakers.com is more than a decade old course aggregator and Online course platform that helps students find courses and compare course prices from Training providers in the UK, by just submitting their inquiry through the website. Coursetakers also helps Institutes, Universities and Online Instructors market their courses, gain leads and get more students to enroll into their courses.
© 2025 coursetakers.com All Rights Reserved. Terms and Conditions of use | Privacy Policy
Online
USA
UK
India
UAE
South Africa
Canada
New Zealand
Australia
Malaysia
Singapore
Saudi Arabia
Egypt
Jordan