Motivating the downtrodden class

Transition Times: The phenomenon of the motivational guru has come to the Transition Year classroom, reports Louise Holden.

We've all seen clips of motivational leaders in action, firing up audiences with talk of personal empowerment and strategies for success. Leaders like these have replaced priests and preachers in some quarters as people search for direction in their lives.

Now Irish motivational expert Kevin Kelly is bringing the phenomenon to schools, specifically to Transition Year.

Kelly has just finished training a group of 19 teachers to take his messages into Irish classrooms. His blend of old- fashioned wisdom and ideas for action are designed to bolster students' confidence. Teachers should benefit too, Kelly believes.

"I've been working with people's thought processes for 12 years," he says.

"I hope that this programme, which is no different from the one that I deliver to business people and other adult groups, will enhance the students' self- awareness, confidence, communication skills and coping strategies. The teachers I've trained are very excited about it."

Kelly has visited a number of schools and says he can detect the feelings of defeat in the physical attitudes of some of the students.

"I walked into a classroom the other day and I could sense the negativity; the students physically displayed their feelings of failure. We did an exercise demonstrating the power of the mind and some of them were really switched on by it. The biggest challenge for me in classrooms is overcoming this idea the students have that they're just not good enough."

The programme is divided into four sections which are delivered over 16 class periods. The first section is concerned with self-awareness. Students are encouraged to look at the aspects of their behaviour that may have held them back in the past, and to try new approaches to solving old problems.

This section hinges on the adage: "If you always do what you always did, then you'll always get what you always got."

Section two examines some of the basic assumptions that we can make about human behaviour.

According to Kelly, if we keep these assumptions in our minds we will have much more successful dealings with people in every area, from relationships to job interviews.

The assumptions are: people love attention; they like others that are like themselves; they cannot lie successfully; they are overwhelmed by too many stimuli; they love to laugh, and they love to be appreciated. This section also places a lot of emphasis on teamwork.

The third part of the programme looks at personal goal setting. The programme makes liberal use of demonstrative exercises; this section opens with a physical example of how you can achieve a goal more successfully if you visualise it first. The rest of the section teaches students how to focus on a desired outcome, whether it is winning a match or getting a job. Over the course of the section students will write down their medium- to long-term goals and will work out ways of achieving them.

Finally, students are asked to assess what they have learned about themselves and others, and to give feedback in the form of a presentation.

The programme finishes off with The Gift - an exercise in which everyone writes a positive comment about each of their classmates. Each student then has a list of inspiring comments to help them go forward.

The programme, called Looking Ahead and Living Now, is running in nine schools, and will be in place in a further 10 by the end of the year. Kelly expects at least 150 schools to sign up next year. As well as providing training for all the teachers, Kelly must visit every participating school to see that the programme is being implemented successfully.

It's not cheap. Fortunately, the managing director of Supermac's, Pat McDonough, has seen fit to meet what he describes as the "substantial" cost of the programme. According to Kelly, the founder of the fast-food chain is on board until the programme has permeated the system. McDonough, who has seen the raw side of Irish youth at his late-night fast-food restaurants around the country, believes it's a price worth paying if it helps young people to find some direction in their lives.

"There are no resources for this kind of training in the education system," he says. "Students are all geared towards exams, and they come out the other side with no idea what to do next. They have many more choices to make than the generation before, and the pillars of society that we used as role models - politicians and clergy - are no longer held in the same regard. Family breakdown and peer pressure make it even more difficult for them to take control of their lives. I think we have big problems ahead of us."

McDonough does not expect miracles from this programme but he feels it might give some students inspiration for life after school. "Transition Year is so important. It's the first time that students get a chance to think for themselves."