POSITIVE EDUCATION

SECTION 02 — SCHOOL POSITIVE EDUCATION

Goal setting

Goal setting is an important part of all our lives and is a key skill we support our students to develop at GGS.

Humans are internally driven to strive toward goals that we set for ourselves. Because we have the capacity to tell stories, to imagine a future, to hope for a better future, we spend much of our lives pursuing goals – from big goals (like what we want to be when we grow up) to smaller everyday goals (like deciding what to eat for breakfast). Setting goals is important as it develops longterm vision, short-term motivation and can increase self-confidence. For young people who are not feeling particularly motivated at school, research shows that helping them set goals can spark motivation and boost their academic achievement.

Goal setting research suggests that the orientation, approach and motivation for a goal are critically important to achieving these goals. Goals with a positive orientation (Approach Goals) are more energising than goals with a negative orientation (Avoidant Goals). The science tells us that, for example, if you want to quit bingeing junk food at the end of a busy day (not a personal example at all!), you’ll have more success if you tell yourself, “I’ll put the packet of chips down because I want to be a healthy person”, versus “…because I don’t want to gain weight”. This optimistic approach to goal setting helps us feel more hopeful, motivated and confident in our abilities to succeed.

Researchers have also identified that people tend to approach goal setting in one of two ways: with a learning-focused approach or with a performance-focused approach. A person who is learning-focused is motivated by developing their competence and mastering new skills. A person who is performance-focused is interested in doing well to get praise and approval from others. As you can imagine, those who are learning-focused are more likely to plan, set goals, put in effort and practise, seek out and respond to feedback, and ultimately achieve the goals they are striving to meet. When we are striving toward a goal we have set, discomfort almost invariably arises – the challenge can sometimes feel greater than our abilities, and we may feel anxious and want to quit. Recent research suggests that reappraising discomfort is an effective strategy to keep motivated to achieve our goals. That is when an activity gets hard and we feel outside of our comfort zone (e.g. learning a new instrument, working on a difficult maths problem, trying mindful meditation for the first time), it is particularly helpful to view this discomfort as a sign that our brain is changing. It is creating new neural pathways and, therefore, we are learning new information and building new skills. Understanding and harnessing neuroplasticity – the science of how our brains change – helps foster a growth mindset, which is key to personal growth and success in all areas of our lives. As the famous Henry Ford quote goes, “Whether you think you can, or we think you can’t – you’re right.”

TERM 1 FOCUS AT TOORAK CAMPUS

Based on reflective conversations among staff and students over the past few years and recent student wellbeing data, Toorak Campus Positive Education Coordinator, Jacqui Moses, launched Project Hope – an ongoing initiative to equip Toorak students with the skills and strategies to look toward the future with positive expectancies, a hopeful outlook and the knowledge that they have the power to make that so. As part of this initiative, each term the Toorak Campus is focusing on a specific theme and explicitly teaching concepts related to hope. Hope centres on the assumption that all purposeful human action is goaldirected; therefore, Toorak kicked off the school year with a focus on goal setting in Term 1, as outlined on the opposing page. NAVIGATE AND PATHWAYS AT CORIO

Goal setting is built into the Navigate programme in Year 7 at Corio. In Semester 1, the focus is on understanding the story that shapes the setting of a goal. We have found that creating specific goals can prove to be a challenge – if we look at the headlines of our story, such as the grade we get or whether something is good or bad, we tend to get broad, shallow goals. Through Hive, we have been able to set up reflective tasks that help students explore the feedback they receive on the work that leads to their grades or learning behaviours. We have also been able to explore the VIA (Values in Action) strengths results and reflect on the various aspects that affect their wellbeing. This helps shape their story, enabling students to create a specific goal related to their learning or wellbeing that they are then able to action.

Across Years 10-12, goal setting continues to be an integral part of the Pathways programme. At the start of each Semester students shape Student Action Plans, identifying: personally meaningful targets relating to learning, wellbeing and/or growth; steps to achieve their targets; and the strengths, strategies, and support they will utilise along the way. Across the Semester, students reflect on and refine their approach with their Learning Coach. This process is visible to parents via Hive and culminates in the completion of a Student Self-Report at the end of the Semester in which students reflect on their achievements across the Semester, as well as the obstacles faced in achieving their targets, the strategies they employed to overcome these, and the targets they will set themselves in the following Semester.

HOW TO SUPPORT GOAL SETTING

There are some simple ways we can foster a learning-focused approach to goal setting in young people. We can engage them in activities they care about – maybe it’s playing guitar, or learning about bugs, or

playing netball. When young people are engaged in an activity, we can use language that focuses on the learning process rather than just on their performance. That is, comment on the skills they are using and developing rather than just on how good of a job they are (or aren’t) doing. We can also give them specific feedback to help them improve their skills. You might say, “Wow, I really like how hard you’re working to learn that guitar chord. You are doing a great job of applying pressure to the string. Maybe try moving your finger closer to the bottom fret to get a clearer sound.” We can also help them set small, achievable goals and longer-term goals related to the things that are most important to them.

Consider your own relationship with goal setting – what has and hasn’t worked for you and why do you think this is? Personally, a recent tip I was given, which supported my love of To-Do Lists, was the habit of also writing a To-Don’t List. This has helped me focus on my priorities and reduce some of my unnecessary or ‘busy’ work!

Jennifer Hanson-Peterson Positive Education Collaborator POSITIVE EDUCATION

Project Hope

At Toorak Campus, we are focusing on a year-long Positive Education theme of Hope. We have aptly named it Project Hope and our intention is to equip our students with the skills and strategies for them to look toward the future with positive expectancies, optimism and the self-belief that they have the power to make that so.

Hope and its theory is essentially about goal setting (having something to strive towards), pathway thinking (identifying the resources and people we need to help us get there) and agency thinking (our ability to be motivated, committed and persevere). Across our campus, Positive Education lessons have been guided by an overarching theme and related concepts that are intentionally planned to increase hope and boost wellbeing. In addition to this, we have initiated Wellbeing Wednesdays. On Wednesday, our students are welcome to wear their PosiSocks! We begin the day with music and fun on the oval, we make an effort to incorporate mindfulness sessions in both the classroom and the garden, and we complete the day with Community Yoga whereby students, parents and staff are invited to attend a yoga session in the Toorak Wellbeing Centre.

In Term 1, our overarching theme relating to hope was Goal Setting. We supported our students to set goals using the SMART goal framework. This will help to ensure that their academic goals, health and wellbeing goals, and personal goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely (SMART). After this, we focused on the related concepts of Grit and Perseverance to support our students to form the belief that they have the capacity to set goals, work toward achieving them and identify multiple strategies for continually moving forward through continued effort, evaluation and reflection. Finally, we made the connection between healthy habits and our ability to achieve our goals. Students reflected on the elements in their lives that promote goal pursual and identified those that stand in the way of goal attainment.

In Term 2, our overarching theme was Mindsets. In an age-appropriate way, students across the campus discussed the impact that mindsets can have on our ability to be hopeful with the intention to develop an awareness of the connection between their mindset, their actions and good outcomes. Throughout our campus, students developed their understanding of fixed and growth mindsets at a level that was accessible to their age and stage. In Year 2, the students looked at how they can change a fixed mindset into a growth mindset by reading a variety of picture story books and discussing the messages of them. Our Year 3 students drew symbols to represent both mindsets and reflected on times that they have experienced them, and the Year Five students made up rap songs that epitomised their understanding, application and knowledge of both fixed and growth mindsets.

Towards the end of the Term 2, our Community Service Captains organised an event for the people of Ukraine. This day aligned with our final related concepts of Compassion and Empathy and was a lovely way to extend hope to others by taking action and raising both awareness and money for people in need.

Jacqui Moses Year 3 Classroom Teacher Toorak Campus Positive Education Coordinator