Academic article from SAIL Director (Wellbeing) Dr Jasmine Green.

 

Our research in schools has clearly shown that adolescents tend to be lower in positive aspects of motivation such as self-confidence, valuing of school, persistence, planning and learning focus – and tend to be higher on negative aspects of motivation such as anxiety, fear of failure, helplessness, and disengagement (Green, Liem, Martin, Colmar, Marsh, & McInerney, 2012). So, what can educators and parents do to help navigate students through this difficult terrain? Here, we explore an approach that draws together two cutting-edge concepts that are showing promise – personal best (PB) goal-setting and valued action.