Empathy and understanding in our future career paths

Berkamsted Sixth Formers are being prepared for their roles in the future

At Berkhamsted Sixth, we aim to help our students to prepare themselves for the future by focusing on the character strengths and skills that will help them to thrive, not just whilst in the Sixth Form, but also once they have moved into the world of higher education or work. We believe it is important for students to become more aware during their time with us, more self-aware, more aware about effective learning through the use of metacognition, more aware of others’ backgrounds, experiences and opinions, and more aware of global issues.

One way in which our Careers Department helps the students to develop this awareness is by using the Strengths Deployment Inventory from the company, Core Strengths. Each student completes a short questionnaire, after which they receive a personalised report with feedback on their motivational value system, how that affects the way they behave in a normal situation, and how their motives change when they are in conflict. They learn about the extent to which they are interested in, and motivated by, the welfare of people, performance and achievement, and processes. This helps them to understand that different people on the same team will have different perspectives, priorities and ways of communicating; they learn that getting the best from people and the best results is achieved through individual relationships as pastoral staff also gain a better insight into how to understand and motivate their tutees.

The extent to which they develop self-awareness is striking as they learn about their personal strengths and overdone strengths. For example, by overdoing “perseverance”, they may come across as “stubborn” or they may see that one person’s “ambition” could be interpreted as “being ruthless” by others. As students learn that we all see the world through slightly different lenses, they develop greater empathy, become more skilful communicators and can learn to “deploy strengths” appropriately. This personal development strategy marries well with a growth mindset, and it is important to note that the students’ strengths are not fixed and do develop as they mature.

By learning about conflict sequences, students understand the value of being able to disagree without being disagreeable, and how to use their voices in a constructive manner. After all, we know that companies will want to employ youngsters with the confidence and skill to make their own individual contributions constructively, whilst being curious about others’ perspectives.

As we start to build a brand new Sixth Form Centre, our focus remains on noticing and developing individuals’ strengths and skills which will, we believe, help us to prepare remarkable people for an exciting future.

MARTIN WALKER, Headteacher of Berkhamsted Sixth

www.berkhamsted.com/new-sixthform-a-vision-turning-into-a-realityfor-berkhamstedians