Strengths & Sails - Resilient & Resourceful Young People. Clive Leach, Claire Dale & Patana Y9 JDs

Strengths & Sails - Resilient & Resourceful Young People Clive Leach, Claire Dale & Patana Y9 JDs

Flourishing = PERMA Positive Emotions Engagement Relationships Meaning Accomplishment Measuring Well-being for Public Policy - Seligman et al (2011)

Feeling Good & Functioning Well

Positive Education Definition The application of well-being science in educational settings with the aim of creating flourishing students, staff and whole school communities Dr. Suzy Green

PERMA goes School!

Positive Education Applies PERMA to enhance optimal functioning and well-being of the whole school community To prevent and reduce stress, anxiety and mental illness in adults and young people To increase life satisfaction & meaning To support better learning, creative thinking & academic/extra-curricular accomplishment, employability To create more virtuous citizens and a better society

Positively Psychology Interventions Meaning & Purpose - Visioning the Future Intrinsic self-concordant Goal setting Character Strengths & Virtues Forgiveness Gratitude Hope & Optimism Kindness & altruism Mindfulness & Relaxation Evidence-based Coaching

What is a Strength? Natural to us Do well & often Energising - FLOW! Beware strengths overplayed Beware learned behaviours Weaknesses or lesser strengths? Mission Critical or Not?

Strengths Blindness Studies show that only about 1/3 of people can identify their own strengths Only 17% of people say they use their strengths most of the time each day (Hill, 2001) (Buckingham, 2007)

Strengths Development 1. Discover strengths! 2. Ignite strengths 3. Build strengths!

VIA Character Strengths Universal Strengths cross cultural 17 languages, 2m + users, 193 countries High scientific validity many studies Corporate, Public, Military, Education Free Adult and Youth Surveys 24 Character Strengths 5-7 Signature Strengths

VIA Studies Young people using signature strengths in new ways increases engagement & hope Focus on character strengths improves school skills, engagement & enjoyment School success through Self regulation, Perseverance, Curiosity & Love of Learning Teacher s most common strengths Zest, Social Intelligence & Humour!! www.viacharacter.org/research

VIA Studies Use of 4 or more signature strengths at work = more positive work experience and greater sense of calling. Less stress predicted by less Creativity, Love of Learning, Perspective, & Judgment Greater life overall satisfaction predicted by Hope, Zest, Love, Curiosity & Gratitude

GROW Coaching Conversations Goal Reality Options Way Forward 1. What strength would you like to use more of? Why will this be helpful to you? 2. How are you using it already? Can you think of some examples? 3. What ideas have you got for how you can use this strength in new ways? Can I share an idea with you? 4. What is the best idea for you to try? What will you do next? Whitmore, 2002

Igniting and developing strengths at Bangkok Patana School

September 2013

October 2013

August 2014

November 2013

Kindness Why it matters It is a benefit to have this strength because it makes you a more likeable person and makes you feel better about yourself. Being kind allows you to experience the best little things in life that unkind people do not respect. Kindness is very important and makes us appreciate what being nice to others can do for us. What it means Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, sympathetic and considerate. The act of being kind can be showing support for others like in the photo. e.g. caring for others, enjoy helping people out, get happiness from being nice to people. Kindness can also be shown in very simple acts Develop this strength by Helping others. Contribute to charities in and out of school. Use manners and be polite. Be considerate of other people s feelings. Acknowledge kindness in others Respect other opinions. Do favours for others. Do good deeds..

Tools for staff

Tools for students

Examples... Perseverance; climbing 636 steps and not giving up. Kindness; she comforted and reassured me that everything would go well at the talent show, she made me a lot less nervous and made me feel calm. Bravery: He didn't really want to swim but after some encouragement he did and even went down the rocks! Leadership; leading on the icebreaker tasks and always making sure we are at the right place at the right time for our activities. Persistence and Creativity; At Erawan falls, creating a path for our group to cross the water without any difficulties.

Reflections Growing from negative behaviours/ experiences.

What behaviour(s) have caused a negative/unacceptable situation to occur? The behaviours which I feel unacceptable towards other students are teasing and making others want to join in. These behaviours cause other students to feel uncomfortable because teasing makes them embarrass to their friends that other students are making fun of his/her. Making others want to join in is an unacceptable behaviour because it makes other students feel like everyone is laughing at him/her so it makes them uncomfortable. How can you commit to changing these behaviours? I can change these behaviours by thinking before I do or say something that isn t that important to say and when I see my friends teasing others either walk away and not be part of it or tell my friends to stop it. My improved behaviour will be kind, careful, conscious and helpful because if my behaviours are like this I will not get in trouble and will not be bothering other students. February 2014

What do you think are your biggest strengths? Why? (You can refer to the Character Strengths we have studied this year see the help sheet) I would suggest you choose between 2 and 5. I think my biggest strengths are Humour, Creativity, Bravery and Honesty because (Humour) I make my friends laugh by telling them funny jokes and things but it can be bad to because sometimes I get carried away and bring in people who don t want to be part of it. (Creativity) I like doing creative things like designing, drawing and other things which I really like. (Bravery)I think I am brave because I try out new things and I like doing things that are new to me. (Honesty)I think I am very honest at most times because I know that if I tell the truth things won t be as bad as if I lie.

Which strengths would you like to develop more? Why? I would like to develop teamwork, fairness and kindness because I am not that much of a teamwork person but more of an individual which is sometimes good but sometimes bad and if I can develop this strength I will learn to help others more. I would like to improve my fairness strength because most of the time I don t seem to be fair to other students which is bad because I really should be fair to everyone. The other one I would like to develop is kindness because in this situation I have not been that kind towards other students which is unacceptable to me and others.

October 2014

June 2014

Where next? Student mentoring / coaching conversations Integrating into curriculum lessons IB Learner Profile links Developing interview skills / preparing for University and employment

JUNIOR DELEGATES 2014/15 A new leadership position for Year 9.

Who We Are and our Top Strengths (Remy) Strengths of a Junior Delegate. Why we applied. What we are learning. (Teresa / Jo) Key Character Strengths required to be Junior Delegates. (All) The Positives of Learning About Growing in Character Strengths School isn t just about grades. (Alex / Remy) Seeing Strengths vs Weaknesses (Teresa) Self Awareness Development (Remy) Keeping ourselves in check. (Angelika) Our biggest takeaways (Angelika / Jo)

Key Character Strengths of a Junior Delegate Kindness. You believe it s important for everybody to feel happy at school. You model kindness by being genuine and friendly to your peers. You do not speak ill of others and have the confidence to deter others from doing this. Social Intelligence. You embrace diversity and believe everybody has their own unique strengths. You get along with others and you make it easy for people to get along with you. Team Work. You are able to work in a group towards a shared aim. You are keen to contribute your ideas and put these in to action. You have the capacity to work productively with anyone not just your friends. Leadership. You want to make a positive difference. You can put yourself forwards and lead by example. You are prepared to speak publicly in front of our Year Group e.g. in assemblies and on residential. Fairness. Equality is important to you. You believe that every student should feel welcomed and valued. You are approachable and you will listen to other people s points of view.

Let Your Strengths Fill Your Sails! Thank You!