Growing as an Individual: Community and Communication

By Catriona Fraser

“The programme has helped me grow as an individual. It has also helped me interact in a way that others see me as a good role model and a great support role.”

– Year 12 student

Oppidan’s Growing as an Individual trilogy entails a series of three articles, of which this is the second, that explore the link between self-growth and community by analysing qualitative data from Oppidan’s programmes, alongside survey data from: a) 1,200 pupils about to begin the peer-mentoring journey, and b) a case study of 70 pupils who have completed the PMTJ programme in Spring Term 2023. Oppidan’s first article explored the importance of community in schools, and outlined concerning trends in pupils’ declining sense of belonging across OECD countries, particularly for marginalised pupils and underserved populations. The article also explored programme data suggesting peer-mentoring helps harness a stronger school community by increasing positive peer interactions and nurturing peer-to-peer dialogue. This article will now consider those interactions in more detail, analysing how pupils can engage in effective communication to establish stronger and more cohesive school communities 

Figure 4: Communication Skills

Oppidan’s programme data suggests peer-mentoring has a clear positive influence on pupils’ speaking skills. Year 7 pupils, for example, experienced a 21.3% rise in communication skills after the programme, measured using questions from the Skills Builder Framework (figure 4). As one student put it, “I enjoy mentoring. It is good for my social skills”. But what kind of communication matters in developing a better school community? Analysis of Oppidan’s qualitative data points towards three recurring motifs: listening; empathy; and opening-up.

Year 12 mentors are taught how listen in an active way in their training, and they also explore the meaning of empathy and how to display empathy in mentoring sessions. The influence of this training is reflected in the data. For example, pupils often refer to listening when discussing the skills they believe they developed most in the programme, such as one Year 12 pupil noting, “I really developed my listening skills. Being able to listen to someone and help them feels comfortable”, and another stating, “my favourite part of the programme was listening more, and being there to listen to someone”. As such, the kind of peer-interactions required to harness a sense of connection are those marked by ensuring others are heard. Interestingly, pupils place this in the context of self-development (“I really developed”), suggesting the process of listening to others helps one ‘grow as an individual’. Another aspect of the qualitative feedback is a recurring focus on empathy and perspective taking. As one pupil put it, the programme made them ‘more aware about people in school and what could be going on behind the scenes…what might be troubling them’. Another suggested ‘being able to talk to students much younger than I am helped change my perspective on certain subjects we spoke about’. The sense of being more aware of the thoughts and feelings of others points towards a more empathetic school culture, but it also suggests pupils develop their sense of self through this caring environment, encouraging them to ‘change perspective’ and see the world in different ways. This growth in empathetic interaction is reflected in our quantitative data. For example, Year 7 pupils’ empathy increased by 20.3% on average over the course of the programme, measured using the basic empathy scale, and their pro-social behaviour increased by 14.2% (figure 5).

Figure 5:

A final motif that frequently occurred during the data analysis in reference to communication was ‘opening-up’. Pupils suggested that, over time, their conversations led to peers ‘opening up’ about themselves. As one pupil put it, “my favourite part of the programme is the way it opens up your feelings”. Opening-up is curious as it suggests positive peer-interaction leads to pupils’ sharing internal feelings previously hidden. It is also interesting to note that pupils refer to opening-up both in reference to others and in reference to themselves – ‘opens up your feelings’. This suggests the process of communication helps pupils understand emotions about themselves that they did not know before.  

This article has explored how positive peer-interactions for stronger school communities are defined by listening, empathy, and opening-up. This enables a process of augmenting self-growth and self-concept clarity. Oppidan’s final article in its’ Growing as an Individual series will explore the link between self-growth and community in more detail, considering the relationship between belonging, self-esteem, and pupil agency.  

References 

Becht et al 2017, “Clear Self, Better Relationships: Adolescents’ Self-Concept Clarity and Relationship Quality with Parents and Peers Across 5 Years”, in Child Development.  

Allen et al 2018, “What Schools Need to Know About Fostering Belonging: a Meta-Analysis”. In Educational Psychology Review. 

Riley et al 2020, “Place and Belonging in Schools: Why it Matters Today”. The Art of Possibilities & UCL, Institute of Education.  

Riley 2019, “Agency and Belonging: What transformative actions can schools take to help create a sense of place and belonging?”, Journal of Educational & Child Psychology.  

Lamb et al 2021, “How is Virtue Cultivated?: Seven Strategies for Postgraduate Character Development”, in Journal of Character Education.  

Allen et al 2020, “Belonging, Behaviour and Inclusion in Schools: What does Research Tell Us”. The Art of Possibilities & UCL, Institute of Education.  

OFSTED 2022, “Securing Good Attendance and Tackling Persistent Absence”. In Gov.UK < https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/securing-good-attendance-and-tackling-persistent-absence/securing-good-attendance-and-tackling-persistent-absence>