Students make some big and life-changing decisions, that they are at a very tender age to determine.

Dermot Gunn (a relative of a Deputy Headteacher I recently met) said …

“Unfortunately, students have to make the biggest decision of their life when they’re least capable to do so…”

I stumbled across an article talking about American students’ views on higher education and their ability to complete their course of education. You can find it at http://www.publicagenda.org/theirwholelivesaheadofthem

It made some interesting observations, specifically that 45% of the students in the USA worked longer than 20 hours per week whilst studying.

The study suggested that students leave school because the stress of work and study becomes too much as they put ‘themselves’ through school.

My interest though was focused on a couple of questions in the study…

The First Question

The question in the survey said “Did you always know that you were going to continue onto higher education?” This is essentially a question of their self belief…

• 67% of those that eventually DID NOT graduate said “YES – they did always know”
• 83% of those that DID eventually graduate said “YES – they did always know”.

This means that a significant percentage of students genuinely ‘believed’ that they could and would make it to the next level.

The Second Question

“My teacher in high school probably thought I would go onto higher education”

• 68% of teachers said YES about those students that eventually DID not graduate.
• 83% of teachers said YES about those students that DID go on to graduate.

The measurement is all about what they ‘probably thought’ and therefore it’s all about ‘belief’ and certainty that the student is going to do something…

You can NEVER prove that they will, or won’t, but to me the level of ‘belief’ is the biggest measure of anything…

Let’s face it, life is tough, it will require mammoth sacrifices and it is your level of belief that gets people to succeed.

I’ll make a small bet that the time that YOU achieved most in your life was not when you were necessarily rich or poor, it was just when you most wanted to !!

We can all find examples of the most fortunate students that did ‘make it’ and equally there are the examples of students who have ‘made it’, from seemingly nothing.

Henry Ford said:

“If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re probably right”.

Life is all about desire and ambition and achieving your potential.

This is what we focus on with www.thebigpicture.eu.com

Let’s face it…. You can’t monitor them and you can’t badger them… they have to badger themselves!!!

What do I mean?

Well, firstly, do you think that really successful people have a vision or absolutely no idea what they want?

So, let’s assume that they did have a vision, you know that this is the truth.

You can be sure, that the time when you achieved most in your life was when you wanted something the most. It stands to reason.

This following exercise with your students takes just 15 minutes, it’s also very powerful and effective…

This is an exercise for them to complete with themselves. It’s not for you to mark or check or validate in any way. It’s about them managing themselves and their own mind.

You say to your students:

1. “What’s an important thing for you to do over christmas? (typical answers – going out, doing nothing, having fun or seeing friends etc….)”
2. ” Similarly, what’s important to you in the next year? (Holiday, exams, money etc…)”
3. “What’s important to you in the next 10 years? (job, house, family etc…)”

They write something down… under each of these headings (this is already a good start). If they try to be clever then they’ll say “nothing – I don’t want anything”. You say “That’s ok, you’ve achieved your dream in life then, because you’ve already got nothing !!”

1. “Which one of the three things (this month, this year or the next 10 years) is the most important to you today?”
2. “Which of these things will be the most important thing to you when you’re 70 years old?”

“Let’s face it, you want to achieve all 3 things right? (I mean, who wouldn’t?) “

• So, taking each section (NOW, this year, 10 years) one at a time; ask these 2 questions…

1. “What would be the most useful thing that you could you do NOW that will help you achieve all 3 things?”
2. “What would NOT be useful and would prevent you from doing these 3 things?”

This WILL get your students to think clearly about what they really want to do today for today… and also what they might have to think about or do today for tomorrow. Although they may ‘decide’ not to complete the whole thing; it doesn’t mean they haven’t thought about it.

Powerful stuff.

An article in ‘The Times online’ talks about how ‘a whistleblower tells how her fellow inspectors fret more over pupils lunch boxes than their literacy!! ‘

Why does this not surprise me; because knowing what I know about government organisations (I used to run Sheffield school dinners for the local authority for 5 years), I ‘could’ totally believe their interest in the latest gimmicks and fads within schools. I could also believe that they lose the sense of context and the reality of what they were designed to do in the first place.  This is a little harsh, but I agree with the author, it’s definitely true for me.

The article quotes…

“School shatters your dreams before you get anywhere.” – It’ hard for me to disagree with this when I see the students body language in the workshops I run, they look disinterested and not ‘bovvered’ before we’ve even started. I know that their aspirations are determined to a large degree by their parents and their environment. The problem for me, is that many of them seem to have ‘given up’ so soon !!!

It also quotes…

“Ofsted is subject to political pressure. The emphasis is on what makes the government look good rather than what might benefit pupils”. I can easily believe that this point is true. NOT being a teacher, I don’t know, but I can believe that there are so many new initiatives to contend with. My experience of government/local authorities is that they are very risk averse and are very good at ‘covering their back-sides’, rather than necessarily benefiting the students. Show me a ‘brave’ local authority !!!

For me I feel very fortunate because I don’t have anybody to answer to, I just get to talk about stuff that benefits and changes the lives of students.

My view is that if at the same time ‘it happens’ to fit in with the curriculum (SEAL, PSHE and Every Child Matters), then great, if NOT….  I’m not bovvered !!

There is no ‘political agenda’ with what we do, all we’re interested in is harnessing the ‘dreams of young people’. Everything we do directly benefits the pupil irrespective of whether it looks good or not !!

I’m sure that Cedric (the boy featured in the article) does possess considerable talent, but the BIG question is whether or not the education system or Cedric will ever get to find out !!!

It’s a bit political and a bit Ben Elton !!    and I like it…