Trinity provides a supportive community within which our young people can strive to achieve a sense of purpose and agency – and they can have a lot of fun too!
Living life to its fullest One of the first teaching roles that I had back in the late 1970s was in a government school located in a community north of Perth. Many of the students came from families who were experiencing significant social and economic disadvantage. A number of them would arrive at school in the morning without breakfast and having had little sleep. Before they could even begin to think about schoolwork, they would need to be fed. It would be reasonable to say that for many, school was the stable centre of their lives: it was the community where they felt safe, where they connected positively with others and where they were valued as individuals. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it was this formative experience that impressed upon me the importance of schools – all schools – in providing models for positive community. Underpinning this view was a particular theory I had studied at university with which I am sure many
6 | THE TRINIT Y GRAMMARIAN
of you will be familiar: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. A conceptual idea first proposed in 1943, Maslow’s Hierarchy is a simple five step psychological model designed to represent the different and particular needs that Maslow felt should be fulfilled if an individual is to be ‘self-actualised’ – that is, capable of living life to its full potential as a human being. The model has been challenged for its simplicity and for the inherent assumption that one level of the hierarchy must be completely achieved before being able to progress to the next. Nevertheless, Maslow’s model has been a very useful tool in assisting schools. Young people cannot be effective learners unless their physical needs are attended to and that they feel safe; a sense of self and purpose cannot be generated unless an individual feels a confident identity within a broader social context.
I have always felt, however, that Maslow’s model – by the very nature of its hierarchical structure – undervalues the critical importance of the collective, or communities, in ensuring that fundamental needs of the individual – physiological and safety – are initially met. There is an organic and dynamic interrelationship between the three hierarchical levels – physiological, safety and social connections – that challenges false segmentation. And for me, too, it is community – with its shared identity and common values – that provides both the cultural framework and practical support that enables individuals to flourish. Of course, within this, it is the values – the things that matter, the things that are of critical importance – that are the heart of a community’s culture.
