Mariana Cabral Familiar
Position: Tutor
“Teaching from the heart is the way to touch the heart of the students, and this becomes magic that allows you to achieve wonderful things.”
About Mariana Cabral Familiar
My name is Mariana, I am Mexican and I have been a psychologist and teacher for more than 12 years. Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work in different areas of psychology such as clinical psychology, special educational needs, and organisational psychology, and undoubtedly in which I found my vocation was education, so I decided to study for a master’s degree in teaching, which allowed me to improve my work as a teacher.
Later, after working in various institutions, began to emerge in me a great interest in the study of the well-being of people, that’s when I started to explore the positive Psychology applied, and in 2017 I took flight and moved to Spain to study a master’s in Positive Psychology Applied, this exciting area of psychology is responsible for the study of the positive traits of people, positive experiences, human strengths, emotional education and flourishing, among others. This decision definitely changed my life, as it allowed me to acquire important tools and resources that have significantly enriched my practice as a teacher. In this process, I had the opportunity to be trained by professionals of international stature such as Rafael Bisquerra, Pablo Fernandez Berrocal, Marisa Salanova, Margarita Tarragona, among other outstanding researchers in the field of Positive Psychology.
I am currently working on my doctoral thesis in the field of education, my degree project is a programme for the development of emotional competencies in teachers.
Mariana’s Teaching Philosophy
My path in teaching began more than 10 years ago, during which I have had the opportunity to work in different public and private institutions in face-to-face, b-learning and e-learning modalities, at high school, university and master’s levels.
In my work as a teacher, it is fundamental that in each module the expected learning is achieved, but it is also very important that the teacher connects with the students and makes them see the great potential they have and above all that they feel supported, in this way the probability that they reach their goals is greater.
My teaching approach is based on constructivist theory, I use students’ previous experiences and everyday examples for better assimilation of content and to achieve meaningful learning. In my teaching work, it is essential that students acquire the expected learning of each subject, and develop cognitive skills, but also develop emotional competencies.
Nowadays, companies need staff with a solid academic background, however, there is another element that organisations are increasingly looking for in their collaborators, and that is emotional competencies, as it has been proven that they improve people’s performance and productivity, some of these competencies are: the ability to communicate effectively, to work collaboratively, to be resilient, creative, adaptable, empathetic, assertive, compassionate. As is evident, these competencies are not formally taught in most curricula. Personally, my teaching practice includes emotional education in a transversal way, ensuring that students are aware and interested in the subject and realise the importance of these competencies for their professional and personal well-being.
There are two phrases that express my feelings about my work as a teacher:
“Freedom is doing what you like, and liking what you do is happiness”
and
“Choose a job you like, and you will never have to work a day in your life”
Therefore, I am happy and I do what I am passionate about, dedicating myself to education.
Qualifications
- Bachelor degree in Psychology
- Master in Teaching
- Master in Positive Psychology Applied
- PHD Education (Candidate)
Research / Industry Participation
- Anorexia and bulimia, a proposal for an ERT-based intervention programme for teenagers.
- Emotional education programme for students at the University Jaume I
- Evaluation of an emotional education programme for Mexican teachers
