Conjure an image of your 4-year-old daughter poised to leave the house. You’re in a hurry so, in an effort to speed things up, you bend down to help with the clasp on her sandal. No doubt you are met with a stern “Stop, I can do it myself!”, the tone of the retort prompting a swift retreat.
Fast forward to a replay of this scene halfway up a mountain in Murramarang National Park during Year 9 Camp. This time a teacher bends down to assist with the lace on her hiking boot. The response is not the same; she capitulates. She sees the rest of the group up and ready to go and she looks for an exit: she complains about the blisters on her heels; the weight of her pack; the hunger; then whispers hopefully “I overheard the camp leader saying there’s a support vehicle ...”
Why the regression? Cognitive science has some answers. The 4-year-old thinks primarily of herself and her own needs. She imitates the actions of others, is slowly developing motor skills and is thus accustomed to the failure associated with repeating actions until she can perform them as well as the grown-ups around her. A more benevolent view of her belligerence recognises the persistence and resilience required merely to function in the world at this age.
The 14-year-old is beginning to think beyond herself. She measures her performance against others, making her hyper-alert to difference. She may perceive deficiencies in her physical ability or her character, and look to others for validation. Again, a more benevolent view of her avoidance recognises the emotional resilience required to navigate an increasingly complex world of social relationships with her teenage peers, especially when new friendships are often grounded in comparison which is only exacerbated through social media.
So, how do we help the 14-year old girl to the top of the mountain, blisters and all?
Last year, the Alliance of Girls Schools shared some research which suggested that girls are prone to learned helplessness because well-meaning adults in their lives attempt to reduce stress by removing barriers. This might seem helpful in the short term, but in the long term it is a hindrance; it sends an intrinsic message that adults think girls incapable of managing healthy levels of stress or challenging situations. Teenage girls are particularly attuned to intrinsic messaging so these small actions can do much to diminish self-belief. The researchers observe that:
learned helplessness results from the repeated perception that the outcome of a specific stressful situation is independent of an individual’s behaviour when confronted with that situation.
It is clear then: we need to carve out space for girls to make both decisions and mistakes, and in doing so we affirm our confidence in their capacity to acquire wisdom and resilience through experience. Teachers, parents, and students must encourage girls at every ability level to rise to challenge and embrace areas of weakness as indications of where best to deploy energy for maximum gain.
With this overarching objective in mind, we will be piloting from Term 2 a structured Smart Study program for Years 9 & 10. Wellbeing lessons have been slightly extended to accommodate a series of research-informed activities to increase academic confidence in students. Topics include: motivation/goal setting; help seeking/peer learning; structuring a productive study environment; high and low utility study strategies; improving recall and understanding through retrieval practice, spaced practice and interleaving; designing effective graphic organisers; and elaborative questioning.
With the assistance of a grant from the Association of Independent Schools we are working with Associate Professor Paul Evans from UNSW in tracking the efficacy of the program. More information, including resources for parents, will be circulated when the program commences in Term 2.
One final point emerges from the research: community support and collective responsibility are crucial to the success of individuals.
When the 4-year-old trips over, she looks to her parents for a cue; if you dust her off and send her on her way, she’s pretty good at following your lead and getting on with things. When the 14-year-old doubts her capacity to complete the hike, she may look to her teachers, but it will be her peers who pick her up, smear her face with ochre war paint and distract her with war cries and songs all the way back to camp.
Our girls have their best chance of success in a learning community, where teachers equip them with skills for independent study; parents support the application of these skills out-of-hours, and girls motivate each other to rise to academic challenge.