| How can praise be used to enhance pupil self-esteem and achievement? |
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Research taster
Self-esteem can have considerable impact on student’s achievement, their motivation to learn and the pleasure they gain from learning. Praise is a tool which you can use to boost your students’ self-esteem. However, not all pupils receive the same level of praise and recognition in school. 
Your evidence
You might like to work with a colleague to list the pupil behaviours and achievements that are often recognised and praised in your school, such as examinations, attendance, sport etc. and the ones which are not. Are kindness, good manners, unselfishness etc. just as well recognised as academic achievement or conforming to school rules? To build a bigger picture you might want to encourage other pairs of teachers to do the same thing and then, in a larger group bring the lists together. You could create a table with two columns: one for behaviours and achievements which are recognised and the other for those which go unrecognised. You could then discuss where pupils with low and high self-esteem would feature on the list, and the differences between the pupils. Moving forward Having built an overview of how praise is handled and how behaviours are recognised you might like to try to develop the use of praise to reinforce positive aspects of behaviour and to enhance learning that may have been left implicit. You could identify pupils with low self-esteem and use targeted praise to acknowledge their behaviour and achievement in class. Once you feel the new patterns have been established (perhaps after 3-4 weeks), you might want to monitor their development to see if your targeted praise has worked to make the pupils more motivated and confident.  Find out moreYou can find out more about the inclusive school practices project at: http://www.tlrp.org/proj/phase1/phase1asept.html Find out more about motivation at: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research/themes/inclusion/afterschool/ |
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