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Kanjertraining

Blog 4: Tirza Scheffer


When I was in primary school in the Netherlands, we had a programme to help improve our social skills. It was called Kanjertraining (or Herotraining in English). Looking back, I realise how much this method influenced how we interacted with each other in class. There were posters everywhere in the school and we regularly had lessons where we would act out different social situations. Sometimes the teacher would show us an example of someone behaving badly, and then help us think about how the same situation could be handled in a kinder, more respectful way.

The method uses four different coloured hats to help children understand different types of behaviour. The white hat, often linked to a tiger, stands for calm, confident, and trustworthy behaviour. The red hat can mean someone is silly or just trying to get attention. The yellow hat represents feelings of insecurity or nervousness, while the black hat can be a sign of a bossy or bullying attitude. The idea is not to label children permanently, but to help them recognise behaviours and learn how to respond to them in a positive way. We could try on different roles and feel what it was like to be left out, supported, or treated unfairly.

Now that I'm older, I see how important this kind of education is. Programmes like Kanjertraining teach children how to think about their actions, how to trust others, and how to make sure everyone feels safe in the classroom. If you're a school that wants to stop bullying and help students get along, this is a good way to do it. The fact that so many Dutch schools are still using it shows how good it is.

Resources: 

Onderzoek naar Kanjertraining. (z.d.) https://kanjertraining.nl/kenniscentrum/onderzoek-naar-kanjertraining

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  1. Salma Garrijou BouzyaneApril 14, 2025 at 6:53 AM

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  2. Salma Garrijou BouzyaneApril 14, 2025 at 6:55 AM

    Thank you for sharing your experience with Kanjertraining, I had never heard of this program before, and it sounds like a very powerful tool for social and emotional learning. I found the idea of using colored hats to represent different behaviors especially interesting. It’s a creative and non-judgmental way to help children reflect on their own actions and understand the emotions behind others' behaviors.

    Reading your post made me reflect on my own experience in primary school in Catalonia. Unfortunately, we didn’t have anything like Kanjertraining. Social and emotional education was not really part of the curriculum, and I now realize how much it could have helped us. I remember several cases of bullying in my school, and most of the time, they were not addressed properly. Students didn't really have the tools or the safe space to talk about how they felt or how to deal with these situations.

    I truly believe that if we had a program like this many of those bullying cases could have been prevented or handled much better. What I find inspiring about Kanjertraining is not only its structured approach but also the fact that it invites children to experience different roles. That kind of emotional involvement is so important for real learning.

    Your post reminded me that preventing bullying is not only about punishing bad behavior, but about educating children to build healthy relationships and manage conflict respectfully. I really hope more schools in Spain start implementing programs like this.

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