2024 Guide to Student Personal Development in Secondary Schools and Colleges
A free, practical PDF guide for schools and colleges globally. Improve Wellbeing, Academic and Employability outcomes for students age 13-24, by unlocking Social-Emotional Skills in every classroom. “This guide is an invaluable resource that will help school and college leaders, teachers, tutors, pastoral leads, careers leads and guidance counsellors.” – Al Kingsley, CEO at NetSupport and Chair of Trustees at Hampton Academies Trust, UK
20-Mar-24
By Pete Read, CEO & Co-founder
A practical guide for schools and colleges globally
Now available to download for free: Our practical guide for schools and colleges to improve wellbeing, academic and employability outcomes for students age 13-24.
Our free downloadable PDF guide by Leila Khouja Walker and myself, with contributions from Jo Malone – and a forward by Al Kingsley, Chair of Trustees at Hampton Academies Trust – provides you with evidence of the benefits of adopting a Personal Development approach through Social-Emotional Learning in your school or college, with many ideas and resources to help you achieve whole school/college benefits, greater student wellbeing, higher academic attainment, better leaver employability and improved teacher wellbeing.
Equipping young people with Life Skills is non-negotiable
A future where young people are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to navigate life challenges is non-negotiable.
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The world is in the midst of a global “crisis of education” post-pandemic. The United Nations sees this as an opportunity for transforming education globally. It is a pivotal moment when governments and educators can choose to build back better… or go back to the outdated way things have been done for generations.
By 2025, automation and a new division of labour between humans and machines will disrupt 85 million job descriptions globally. And as the economy and job markets evolve, 97 million new roles will be created, according to the OECD. The future workforce therefore needs to be able to do the jobs that machines cannot, so alongside technical and digital skills, there is a massive requirement for a range of ‘softer’ skills, aka Social-Emotional Skills or Life Skills.
In Jul-23 the Pearson School Report reported that most students (62%) want to learn more life skills at school. A quarter of teachers even want to see life skills assessed, and more than one in five think digital badges should be awarded to recognise life skills.
Breaking down barriers
For many secondary schools and colleges catering for age 13 and above, student Personal Development and Social-Emotional Learning has traditionally been seen as something of an add-on. But our guide will show you how prioritising Social-Emotional Learning can actually break down barriers to achieve all-round positive student outcomes.
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The free guide will open your eyes to the importance of Personal Development for your students preparing for the adult world they will soon be entering. It provides you ideas and resources to help you achieve:
✔ Whole school/college benefits
✔ Greater student wellbeing
✔ Higher academic attainment
✔ Better leaver employability
✔ Improved teacher wellbeing
✔ Over 10x financial ROI
What's inside?
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The 97 page PDF download is a comprehensive guide to student Personal Development, in 12 sections, including:
Forward by Al Kingsley
Introduction: Why do Personal Development?
1. Whole School/College Benefits
2. Examples From Around the World
3. Positive Outcomes Start With Understanding ‘Self’
4. Understanding Students’ Personalities to Inform Pedagogy
5. Social-Emotional Skills for Personal Development
6. Delivering Personal Development
7. Skills in the Curriculum – Ten Classroom Strategies
8. Equipping Students With Skills for Climate Change
9. Measurement, Certification and Digital Badging
10. Spin-off Benefits for Teacher Wellbeing
11. Useful Resources
School and college case studies
Bringing our ideas and suggested approaches to life, the guide includes numerous examples of Personal Development implementation and Social-Emotional Learning at institutions such as Cognita, Wellington College, Tanglin Trust School and West Suffolk College.
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Plus: We have researched six real-life case studies on schools and colleges around the world, based on interviews and feedback from leaders, teachers and students:
- Seth M.R. Jaipuria Schools (India) – Senior Leadership Team perspective
- The English College in Prague (Czech Republic) – Student wellbeing
- Lewis & Clark High School (United States) – Classroom implementation
- Gaia Learning (online school) – Academic outcomes
- Ayla International School (Jordan) – Classroom implementation
- Wakefield College (United Kingdom) – Employability and digital badges
Download your copy!
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To claim your PDF copy of this invaluable guide, complete this short form for an immediate free download.
Persona Education offers free trials and affordable teacher packages for its Persona Life Skills online learning platform for secondary schools and colleges interested in developing their pupils’ social-emotional life skills, to boost wellbeing, academic success and employability.
About the author: Pete Read co-founded Persona Education in 2019 to bring the benefits of personality insights to young people. Before founding Persona, Pete built several consulting and software companies in Europe and Asia, one of which was rated the no.1 consulting company to work for in Asia-Pacific by Vault.com, winning best-in-class on diversity, gender equality and LGBTQ+ equality. www.persona-life.com
