Discovering what matters…
I’ve always considered myself to be an accidental educator. It was not something I aspired to when I was younger, nor was it anything I gave any thought to during my time at University. I fell into education by chance and I’m so very thankful that I did.
In the late 90’s I completed my Masters in Psychology. My thesis was a combination of different aspects of the discipline. There was a strong behavioural focus to it, but also elements of sport, health and cognitive psychology were woven through.
Through a degree of personal experience I’d come to realise that, for athletes who were injured, the rehabilitation process could take a toll. Anxiety, depression, lack of motivation and so on were very real and all to common an experience. From conversations with surgeons and physio’s the recurring message was that the attitude a person took to their rehab was a significant factor in the outcome they would experience.
So, my research looked at the application of sport psychology practices to enhance motivation for rehabilitation and hopefully lead to an improved physical and mental heath outcome. The short of it, was that these practices made a difference.
Anyway, with my Thesis complete, like many young New Zealanders I headed overseas on my big O.E. My ambition had been to land in the UK and in no time at all find work with a professional sports team as a sports psychologist. Finding that employment proved more challenging than I had anticipated and eventually I turned my attention to to finding any job I could.
I remember with such clarity how everything changed for me. I was riding the underground, reading a free paper. I noticed an advertisement. It asked:
“Do you like the outdoors… Do you like adventure..”
I answered yes to both questions and decided to give the number a call. The company was a UK based Outdoor Education company. They met national curriculum standards for outdoor education and had several sites across the UK.
I was interviewed for the job and offered a position with the company. For the first 2 weeks I was put through an intensive training program. I learned how to instruct everything from rock climbing to mountain biking! It was a blast and I met a great bunch of new people in the process.
After my training was complete I began work on the companies Isle of Wight site. I loved my time there. Every week I got to meet a bunch of young people and help them take on challenge and accomplish something meaningful. It was great work, very rewarding and led to my decision to move into teaching.
After leaving the Island, I settled in London and found work in a secondary school. I was part of the curriculum support team. The job was challenging as many of the students we worked with were facing some pretty significant difficulty in their life. My job was to support students with learning or behaviour needs to be successful in their schooling.
It was during this phase of my career that I learned the most valuable lesson. One that has stuck with me to this day and has informed the type of educator I am.
On a Friday afternoon I was given the task of a careers interview with a 15 year old boy. This boy could be challenging to work with and, to be honest, the prospect of working a Friday afternoon with him was not something I was relishing.
As we got into the interview I asked him what he wanted to do, and he replied that he wanted to be an electrician. As I probed this with him I got the sense he was holding something back. So pushed him a little, and asked him was there anything he dreamed of. He sat quietly for a moment, and then ever so softly replied, “well there is one thing. I love football and I want to be goalkeeper”.
As we spoke about this it became clear that he wasn’t in a team and he didn’t know how to get into one. For the rest of the afternoon we made this our focus. I helped him look up the phone numbers of the local clubs and then role-played the phone conversation with him. We did this over and over…
On Monday morning he was waiting at the door for me. Excited, he told me that he’d done it, he’d found a team and that he was joining them that week. From that moment on everything changed. He found trust in me and allowed me to help him with his learning. He’d bring me his class work to look at and we’d go through it together. His focus improved and with the study he put in he passed his GCSEs.
So what was the learning:
You never know the moment that you can make difference. So you’ve got to be present all the time and be prepared to seize it when it appears.
Relationships matter. If you care for and treat young people with respect and kindness you just might have a chance to change their life for the better.
Validating young peoples dreams is the most important thing we can do as educators. When we let them know that the things that are important to them matter and we show it through the actions we take to connect them to those dreams: then we can be the teachers that live in their memory as the one who made a difference.
Suspending judgement is important. Don’t let our thoughts and judgements become limitations for a students dreams. Sure they are hard work at times, but if we hold on to belief that they can achieve we create a much more positive environment for them. Success becomes far more likely.
I remain in touch with this Boy (now a fully grown man). I know I had an impact on him but it was nothing compared to the impact he had on me. I’m thankful to him for the opportunity he gave me to learn these lessons. The have informed everything I’ve tried to do and be in my work. Lessons that have paid off time and time again.