Aspire
In 2008 I was one of the deans at my school. The job involved investigating incidents where students behaviour choices had been poor. We worked with students and the families in the hope that change would happen. More often than not change did not happen. In fact for many the behaviours would tend to escalate and eventually lead to stand down and/or suspension.
What we were doing didn’t make a difference. It seemed to make it worse. Relationships with students and their parents were eroding.
Myself and the other dean were getting frustrated. We were tiring of dealing with the same students doing the same stuff. So we decided to hold the mirror up. We looked at our practice and made the call that we needed to stop doing what we were doing.
As simple as it seems that reflection and decision was instrumental in leading to a fundamental shift in our understanding. We started to use the analogy of currency. We (the school) were dealing in a currency that held no value for the students we were working with. Trying to trade with them inside the rules of the exisiting economy was pointless. We didn’t have anything meaningful to them that was worth trading. So they didn’t buy in, they didn’t change and we kept going around in circles.
The space we created for ourself by deciding to stop what we were doing allowed us the opportunity to imagine new ways of doing things. With a focus on student need rather than compliance we were able to start to piece together what we believed was at the heart of the problem.
We reframed our thinking and chose to see these young people in a positive light. We held on to the belief that they wanted to be successful but that there were things in the way that they didn’t know how to navigate. Our job then became to figure out what these needs were and to help them learn them.
As we looked carefully at each of the students we kept finding that there was something holding them back in at least one (often all) of the following dimensions:
Behaviours (exercise, sleep, nutrition)
Thoughts (goal setting, motivation, planning, organisation)
Emotions (hope, empathy, optimism, resilience)
For each of these 3 dimensions we defined what “healthy” looked like and from there we devised a program that tackled each of the elements. Eventually, as all the pieces came together we built our program. The ASPIRE Program.
We pitched the program to the Principal and were fortunate to be given to the opportunity to run it.
The program was a 10 week full time program of learning that was run exclusively by the 2 Deans. For a term the students would do nothing else but participate in the program.
The program was hard work and intensive. We pushed the students to their limits and showed them how to succeed. We used physical challenge as our context and over 10 weeks we showed them that with effort and good strategies they had the ability to achieve extraordinary things.
The transformations were amazing. The students who participated in the program grew in confidence and found the spark inside themselves that had been missing. As the program finished we challenged them to take the lessons they had learned back into their regular education. Something they all did. Pretty much without exception we never had another “behaviour” issue with any student who completed our program.
Here’s what some of the students had to say:
“ I started my first week of the course, my first gruelling week.
And I tell you it was hell.
I was feeling pain in places that I had never felt pain before: my back hurt, my legs screamed and my arms felt like they were going to fall off.
But past all the pain, anguish and a lot of swearing, there was a feeling of accomplishment that I was doing something good, and it felt great, I felt great.”
————
“I’m sleeping better, I’m arguing less with my parents and best of all, I’m feeling better then I have all my life.
————
After all this I’m only four weeks into the course, and I can only wonder what way Duncan and Blair will torture us with next.
I am an Aspire student and proud to be.”
————
“My journey on aspire was the best thing I have done. Its helped me get a better understanding and knowledge of the things I want in life.
I noticed how the course changed me in many ways in terms of how I sleep, eat and how I seem to have more focus.
It was for the good all the way. I could never go back to my old ways. Now I seem to have an addiction for training and keeping in shape because when you exercise you release endorphins and they make you happy.
I have also noticed that my focus and determination in aspire has also passed through to my focus on achieving NCEA.”
————
I feel like I have inspired others by taking on aspire, such as my family.
My older brother has been offered the opportunity to be in Aspire and he took it. My mum is so proud of him doing this because she has seen the changes it made in me and and hopes it will do the same for him.
I have never seen people push themselves, or work as hard as they did (in Aspire) in my life. You get such a feeling of team spirit and respect and hard work when you walk into the Aspire room.
I think Aspire should be like a seed planted in every school. It’s a ten week course that as many students as possible could be put through each year to improve the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental well being of people in your community.”
————
“It gave me that want to push through my boundaries.
I started to see dramatic changes from the start of it all. Not only visually and physically but mentally and emotionally.
I was happier and more focused. I am now on a new level with myself in every good way.”
————
“I know what and how to change. I know that if I keep this up eventually I can become fit, healthy, and that a future previously closed off will open. “