Building resilience and self efficacy

Published: 04 Sep 2017
Audience:
Education
Parents
Schools
Topics:
Evaluation indicators
Teaching
Curriculum
Video
Improvement in Action Te Ahu Whakamua

Summary

"We’re going to keep failing until we succeed… You are your own success."

Students acknowledge the role leaders and teachers play in instilling in them the self-belief to become confident, connected, actively involved, life long learners.

Key messages:

  • An open to learning mindset enables students to see failure as a necessary part of the learning process
  • Progressing “one step at a time” helps students manage the learning journey and build confidence in themselves as successful learners
  • The active encouragement of others is important but it must be realistic and honest “I was never rewarded for doing nothing”

Things to think about:

  • What steps do you take to enable students to develop their confidence and resilience to be successful life long learners?
  • What else might you do?

The evaluation indicators this video illustrates

  • Domain 4: Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn

    • Evaluation indicator

      • Students have effective, sufficient and equitable opportunities to learn

This video is part of a series

This video is part of the series Improvement in Action Te Ahu Whakamua. We created this series to inspire schools with examples of success in action. These examples highlight the benefits of fulfilling the evaluation indicators we use to review schools.

Remote video URL

 

(We open on a classroom where a teacher stands in front of whiteboard, an empty blue computer screen projected on it. A row of girls in uniforms sit facing her, laptops in from of them. She greets one of the girls.)

 

Kia ora. How are you, Vanna?

Good.

Dora?

 

(The sound in the classroom fades out as a girl speaks in voiceover. The camera turns and pans over the classroom, where more girls type on their laptops.)

 

Our teachers, they're very important in helping us believe in ourselves.

 

(As she says “believe” the video briefly shows the girl speaking into the camera, before returning to the teacher in the classroom. Another girl now speaks in voiceover.)

 

You need help and encouragement from your teacher.

 

(We briefly see the girl speaking into the camera, a metal badge on her collar and a red wall behind her.)

 

You need to build your confidence to ask them for help.

 

(The video returns to the classroom while a girl’s voiceover continues. The camera pans across a row of students working intently on their laptops.)

 

When I came to school, I had a fixed mind-set.

 

(As the camera reaches the end of the row we see the teacher kneeling down on the ground as she speaks with the girl who sits there.)

 

And I was taught about being open, learning that you need to learn, not the mind-set that you've learned stuff and you don't need to learn anything else. And I understood, I was allowed to make mistakes. And so that's what made me feel comfortable in learning.

 

(We now see the girl who is speaking, looking into the camera.)

 

All the teachers would encourage you to make mistakes, so that they can help you find the right way to go about something.

 

(We now see a different classroom where a teacher addresses her class. A large poster with the periodic table printed on it is on the back wall. Girls in uniforms look on as they listen to the teacher, workbooks and stationary spread on the tables in front of them. The teacher asks a question of the class.)

 

So tell me again, what are abiotic factors?

 

(Several students yell out at once.)

 

Non-living--

Non-living.

Non-living.

 

(The teacher gestures into the air and yells out in response.)

 

Ch-ch-ch! One person.

 

(She points to a student near the back of the class to answer.)

 

Non-living.

Good.

 

(The student who answered smiles as the teacher repeats her answer.)

 

Non-living-- good.

 

(The teacher continues addressing the class in the background as a woman’s voice speaks over the footage. As she says “feel big” the video changes to show the speaker, sitting in an office speaking into the camera. On a shelf behind her sit a silver trophy, an art piece and a potted plant. Text on the bottom of the screen identifies her as, “Anne Miles, Principal, McAuley High School”.)

 

I've seen teachers who've gone out of their way to make a student feel big and valued when they've actually got something wrong in a classroom.

 

(The camera returns to the classroom. The teacher continues addressing the class. Anne speaks in voiceover.)

 

And I was observing in a class. The kids were just a little bit nervous, because they wanted to look good. And the teacher asked a student a question.

 

(We return to Anne in her office.)

 

And she gave the wrong answer. And someone else gave the correct answer. And a little later, she asked that same kid a much easier question, which she got right. And she praised her for that. And the kid's whole face beamed.

 

(We are back at the science classroom. Several students raise their hands and the teacher points at one.)

 

I knew what she'd done. And she knew what she'd done.

 

(As the girl the teacher pointed at answers, the camera zooms in on her.)

 

But it lifted the kid up.

 

(The camera shows the teacher addressing the class again as a girl's voice speaks in voiceover.)

 

They tell us to fail. That's something that they're always telling us. And it isn't like, do this.

 

(The teacher points at another girl and the camera zooms in once again as she answers.)

 

If you fail, it's fine. They tell us, we're going to keep failing until we succeed.

 

(We now see the girl who is speaking, sitting in a classroom talking into the camera. A girl sitting next to her looks on.)

 

And it's funny how that actually works. Because for me personally, when I continuously was not getting the marks that I was hoping for, I finally did.

 

(Her voiceover continues as the video returns to the teacher in science classroom.

 

I realised, oh my gosh.

 

(The teacher points at a student and the camera moves to show her as she answers.)

 

My confidence was slowly building. I was finally getting it. I was finally going to a point where I was like: OK, I've got this. I've got this, one step at a time. One step at a time.

 

(We briefly hear the teacher speak to a student.)

 

Keep going.

 

(Another girl speaks in voiceover. The teacher in the video continues to point at students to answer questions.)

 

Teachers here-- they don't rush a student into being this excellent perfect person. They take it step by step by step.

 

(Once again we see the girl speaking, looking into the camera.)

 

And it's very tiny steps. And those tiny steps make a huge impact. And I think, that's where our confidence is.

 

(We now see a different girl speaking into the camera. She wears various pins and badges on the collar of her blazer.)

 

In primary school, I was like: oh, man. You know, stuff school.

But I came into high school. And I saw the drive everyone had. And I was like: man, everyone's so excited about this thing-- school. And so I was like: oh, I'll just give it a goand see if it's for me. When I did give it a go, everyone was like: oh, yeah!

 

(Her voiceover continues as the video shows girls in the first classroom, typing into laptops and writing on papers.)

 

You're on it. You're on the grade, you've got school on lock.

 

(Zooming out, we can now see the teacher standing over the girls, smiling as she speaks to them.)

 

And so I felt good about what I was doing.

 

(The camera pans across the classroom as the girls work intently on their laptaps.)

 

And I was never rewarded for doing nothing. They kept pushing me to go further.

 

(The voiceover changes to a different girl as the camera shows a teacher helping a student.)

 

You are your own success. You have your own success laid out before you.

 

(We see the girl as she speaks into the camera.)

 

And so they don't put pressure on you from people before.

 

(The video now shows a group of students sitting at a table, studying together.)

 

They tell you that you don't have to be exactly those people, but you can be on the same status. All you got to do is just believe in yourself and be exactly who you are.

 

(The voiceover changes back to Anne Miles.)

 

It's a constant journey. And you know, the curriculum document is one of the most wonderful documents.

 

(We briefly see Anne in her office once more before returning to a teacher speaking with a student in a classroom.)

 

And it clearly states, you want confident, connected, actively-involved, lifelong learners.

 

(The camera pans across the students seated in the room with their laptops.)

 

Because that's what they have to be.

Who knows what the world's going to offer them in the future, what challenges are going to face them.

 

(A teacher leans over a student to assist her.)

 

They need resilience.

 

(Back to Anne in her office.)

 

And they need to be able to adapt and change and connect.