We must build them up Helen Rose, pastoral lead and Assistant Principal (Boarding) at Rochester Independent College, offers a new analogy for self-esteem and asks... If confidence is born of positive experiences, what can we, as educators, do to influence this in our pupils?
ʻ Imagine poker chips are the currency of selfesteem. How do we get to fill our bag of chips? Positive experiences, no matter how small, generate poker chips.ʼ
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alk round your nursery, school and college. What do you see? Do you see the bubbly and laughing sociable characters that will always have their hand up in class engaging with life and learning? Pause to think for a moment. Ask yourself, what is that student feeling and experiencing? How are they able to make those connections with others and their learning? Look again… really look. Do you see a student sitting alone? Do you have students in your care that simply go through the motions of the day and not cognitively or emotionally engage in lessons?
Pause to think for a moment. What is that student feeling, sensing and thinking? Are you aware that one in 10 students between the age of 10 and 18 identify as lonely? We have a role to play in the lives of young people who we don’t just work with but who are part of our lives. We have a role in developing their self-esteem to enable them to engage and explore. I want to illustrate that role using poker chips. Imagine a bag full to bursting with poker chips; it is so full you do not think twice about gambling a couple a way as you won’t miss a few. Now imagine a bag with just a few chips in; I ask you now, how will you play? Will you play recklessly as you don't have much to lose, or do you feel you don’t have enough to even enter the game? Now imagine poker chips are the currency of 23
