Blog: The language of empathy: Why interpersonal skills matter in MFL teaching
The NCLE is re-energising language education by developing teacher agency and strengthening system leadership, and equipping teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. NCLEs’ Maud Waret explores the power of mentoring for developing both mentors and mentees, especially for interpersonal skills and behaviour management.
Written by Maud Waret
All teachers are lifelong learners; but with little time and limited resources, what CPD opportunities should language teachers prioritise? Should it be enriching subject knowledge or discovering new ways to motivate pupils? Perhaps exploring assessment strategies?
Whilst these are all important, an underrated yet transformative development focus for language teachers is interpersonal skills. But why are empathetic listening, teamwork and relationship-orientated skills so important in the languages classroom? And, how can we develop and hone these skills?
The power of mentoring for interpersonal skills as a foundation for effective teaching
Developing and refining interpersonal skills is a lifelong endeavour, essential for building meaningful professional relationships and fostering a positive school culture. These ‘soft skills’ are key to successfully managing disruptive behaviour, exercising empathetic listening, working with a difficult colleague, demanding senior leaders, or even a grumpy IT technician… Core professional skills are infused with soft skills principles, emphasising collaboration and adapting to pupils’ diverse needs. Interpersonal skills feature in the professional teacher standards. They form the foundation of effective teaching and yet, can be hard to master for even the most experienced teachers. These skills are not innate; they must be taught, learned, internalised, and practised.
In chapter 14 of Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School: A Practical Guide (Molway & Gordon, 2025), teachers share their experiences of mentoring, highlighting how interpersonal skills can be taught and honed to support both new and experienced educators.
The languages classroom is, by its nature, an ideal environment for teachers and learners to experiment and discover aspects of the world and themselves. The multilingual and multicultural classroom, therefore, presents an ideal context to explore innovative strategies for connection and collaboration, enriching the learning experience for everyone involved.
Mentoring for developing behaviour management skills
Behaviour management also remains a perennial challenge for teachers (Prothero, 2025). Using positive shared language that represents the whole school ethos enables staff to work collaboratively toward collective goals while modelling desired behaviours.
Chapter 14 of Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School: A Practical Guide (Broom et al., 2015) underscores the role of mentors in supporting beginning teachers through reflective dialogue about language use, ethos, and collaborative practice to foster a cohesive and supportive school culture.
For example, affirming expectations such as, “I am expecting all my pupils to stand up behind their chairs at the beginning of the lesson” is a smoother and more effective way of addressing disruptions than directly confronting little Sonny who is sitting on his table. The habitus of using a professional tone coupled with neutral and clear vocabulary supports effective content delivery and fosters a calm atmosphere, which is foundational for effective teaching (Paulmann and Weinstein, 2025). Modelling a calm and respectful tone significantly improves classroom communication, fosters pupil autonomy, connectedness, cooperation, and contributes to positive behaviour management. In the language classroom, teachers can praise the pupils who are following instructions using the target language.
On NCLE’s CPD platform, Language Educators Online (LEO), in the Foundations for Learning module, there is an exemplar highlighting how target language can be used throughout a whole lesson, with a focus on behaviour management through routines and pupils’ self expression.
The most successful and resilient language departments are often those where staff work closely together, helping and supporting each other in managing workload and pupil behaviour. For example, when a pupil becomes too dysregulated, it can help if the head of department invites this pupil to attend their own lesson, providing a change of classroom, to de-escalate and reduce tensions. This process could be discussed, designed and agreed during a mentoring session. Part of good mentoring is asking the right questions and exploring specific scenarios. For example, when working with a trainee teacher, asking a simple but specific question such as: “What would be helpful when you are struggling with disruption in your classroom?” can lead to fruitful discussions. As noted by Witcher et al. (2020, p.143), “proactively planning alternative environments and support structures during mentoring encourages teachers to develop adaptive strategies for managing classroom disruptions effectively”.
Why become a mentor? It’s a valuable two-way street
Mentoring a colleague or trainee provides teachers with valuable opportunities for ongoing professional development. This co-learning environment fosters self-reflection on one’s professional practice, encouraging both mentors and mentees to critically examine and enhance their teaching strategies.
Being a mentor is an excellent opportunity to improve your own interpersonal skills. Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School: A Practical Guide (Molway and Gordon, 2025) is an excellent resource guiding mentors through each step, offering scenarios to reflect on how to handle complex human behaviours effectively. It is essential to follow structured guidelines during the mentoring process, and a well-designed handbook can offer crucial support for both parties.
Resilience and confidence in an ever-changing educational landscape
Investing in the development of interpersonal skills — such as empathetic listening, collaboration, and calm communication — is not a peripheral luxury but a central pillar of effective teaching and school life. Mentoring provides a foundation and structure to put these interpersonal skills into practice and reinforce collaboration between members of staff.
Explore further with NCLE:
- Sign up to NCLE’s free CPD platform Language Educators Online (LEO) and explore our modules on Languages Leadership and Foundations for Learning. Registration is free and takes just a couple of minutes.
- Specifically, the section ‘Mentoring models to promote system-led change’, covers mentoring models for trainees, ECTs and established teachers:
– Explore the features of effective coaching and mentoring.
– Compare different mentoring models.
– Examine how you might implement some of these ideas in your context.
References
Broom, K., Clare, J., Lamb, A., Panford, L., Roberts-Crystal, S. and Waret, M. (2025) ‘Supporting a beginning languages teacher who is struggling: a range of scenarios’, in L. Molway & A.L. Gordon (eds.) Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School: A Practical Guide. Routledge, pp.167-178.
Molway, L. & Gordon, A.L. (2025) Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School: A Practical Guide. Routledge.
Paulmann, S. & Weinstein, N. (2025) ‘Motivating tones to enhance education: The effects of vocal awareness on teachers’ voices’, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 95 (2), pp,551–564. Available at: https://doi-org.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/10.1111/bjep.12737 (Accessed: 2nd September 2025).
Surname, Initial. (Year that the site was published/last updated) Title of web page. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
Prothero, A. (2025) Teachers not prepared for increasing challenging behaviors. Available at:
https://www.rethinked.com/resources/teachers-not-prepared-increasing-challenging-behaviors/ (Accessed: 29 August 2025).
Witcher, A.E., Onwuegbuzie, A.J. and Minor, L.C. (2020) Classroom management and mentoring: Strategies for success. New York: Routledge.
Maud teaches secondary French and Spanish in North London. She is an active contributor to the Association for Language Learning’s Primary and Secondary Special Interest Groups, with a particular focus on decolonising the curriculum.