Have you heard about Byron Katie and her transformative practice for all those interested in spiritual growth and personal development?

Byron Katie has known great pain and suffering in her life. In highly unusual circumstances she woke up one morning to a sudden and dramatic shift in awareness, which brought her an inner clarity. Since then she has been travelling the world demonstrating the value and simplicity of four very special questions, and how they work.

Byron’s practice, known simply as The Work, allows you to go inside yourself and find your own happiness, to experience what already exists within you, unchanging, immovable, ever-present, ever-waiting. She strongly believes that anyone is capable of ending their own suffering, whatever it may be. Have a go at the following exercise, which very much sums up what The Work is all about and can be applied to many situations.

Choose a person or situation and write down, using short, simple sentences, who or what it is. Point the finger of blame or judgement outward. Write from your present position and your point of view.

1. Who angers or saddens or disappoints you? What is it about them that you didn’t or still don’t like?

2. How do you want them to change? What do you want them to do?

3. Do you need anything from them? What do they need to give you or do in order for you to be happy?

4. What do you think of them? Make a list.

5. What is it that you don’t ever want to experience with that person, thing or situation again?

Now, one by one, put each of your answers up against the four questions below, and then turn around the statement you’re working on. Throughout the process, practice being open to possibilities beyond what you think you know. This is a way of discovering your don’t -know mind. Keep asking the question and wait. Let the answer find you.

Here are the four questions of The Work:

1. Is it true?

Take your time. There is no right or wrong answer. Just listen for your answer.

2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?

This is an opportunity to go into the unknown, to find the answers that live beneath what we think we know.

3. How do you react when you think that thought?

Make a list. How do you treat yourself, how do you treat the person you’ve written about, when you think that thought? What do you do? Be specific.

4. What would you do without the thought?

Close your eyes and wait. Imagine yourself just for a moment without that thought. What do you see? How does it feel? How is the situation different?

Now turn it around – rewrite the statement. This time write it as if it were written about you. Where you have written someone’s name, put yourself. Instead of “he” or “she”, put “I”. Consider whether or not the turn-around statement is as true as or truer than your original statement.

Now it’s time for you to continue applying the four questions and the turnaround to your own judgements, one at a time. Read all the sentences that you originally wrote and then one by one investigate each statement by asking yourself the four questions.

For more information about Byron Katie and The Work visit www.thework.org. If you would like try her online coaching programme, just click on Start Now! on the banner below. Good luck with The Work.

Please leave a response if you would like to ask me any questions about The Work, or indeed if you would like to share your experiences of implementing it.

One of the key elements of a good report is knowledge. Teachers deliver programmes of study through a sequence of lessons. As the lessons are being delivered and the pupils are learning, evidence of this learning is being compiled. The evidence may be transitory – through oral questions and answers, discussions and practical work such as that found in subjects like drama or physical education.

Good teachers need to be good assessors. They need to ensure that learning has occurred by assessing the quality of the outcomes from each lesson. In many cases, some recording of the outcomes should take place and the data added to on a regular basis.

A report is a statement that imparts this knowledge of the learning outcomes. It shows that a teacher has looked at the programme of study and has taken from it critical criteria that the pupil has had to meet to succeed in that subject. The teacher reports on this progress over a set period of time and the report refers specifically to this progress. The report encapsulates, for a parent, what the child has done over the school year and how their learning has measured up to the identified criteria and the skills that need to be mastered at the time.

Susan Davies (2006) states that a report should encapsulate and state:

• what has been taught
• what has been learnt
• how the pupil has done in relation to the expected norm for a child of that age
• what strengths the pupil has shown
• what weaknesses need to be addressed by the pupil
• the pupil’s attitude within the subject area towards classwork/homework/independent learning/working with others
• class targets for improvement that should be subject specific.

Ultimately, the report allows parents an insight into learning and ensures that they are part of a partnership made up of pupil, parents and the teacher/school.

The style

Parents are not usually familiar with national curriculum jargon, so it is best to stick to plain English. Reports look more professional if the vocabulary is descriptive and concise, so do avoid using the words ‘good’, ‘well’, ‘bad’ and ‘average’. These words give a very general picture and they are not very informative. Here are some more interesting and useful comments:

• participates sensibly
• grasps new concepts quickly
• loves learning new skills
• understands clearly
• takes pleasure in
• concentrates for long periods
• enjoys being involved in
• lively imagination
• wide general knowledge
• has a wide range of interests
• continues to improve.

The tone

Be aware of not making the whole report too negative. Try to focus on positives as much as possible. Although you have to be honest about thechild’s shortcomings, it is important to highlight their strengths and your tone should displayyour own interest in and care for the child.

Here are some expressions that demonstrate a positive attitude to the pupil:

• I was pleased when…
• I hope he/she will soon…
• I should be delighted if…
• I hope she/he will develop her/his talent for…
• I enjoy teaching X because…
• I wish X well next year.

The following comments can be used to highlight the pupil’s weaknesses without causing too much offence.

For the less able:

• slow but perseveres
• tries hard but needs extra support with
• does his/her best but lacks confidence
• is fairly keen but has a short attention span
• often tries hard but can be careless
• needs a lot of practice at each level
• copes best in a small group
• needs extra practice at each level to keep up with the class
• acquires new skills/concepts after a lot of practice.

For the reluctant learner:

• makes avoidable mistakes
• needs to check his/her work more carefully
• needs to be supervised closely to keep her/him on task
• needs to put in more effort to keep up with the group
• is easily distracted
• often needs to finish off his/her work at break-times

For the child with poor social skills:

• needs to consider other children’s feelings
• has not yet learnt how to make friends
• does not realise that other children will treat him/her exactly as he/she treats them
• does not realise that other children deserve as much attention as him/her
• must learn that he/she will never get his/her own way by giving cheek

Hopefully, these tips and suggestions will make your daunting task of writing reports much easier.

It would be great if you could share your views and ideas, so please do leave a comment. I very much look forward to responding.

I share his passion very much. Visiting schools to observe my latest group of PGCE students, I have seen some wonderful use of ICT which has totally engaged the children in class. In fact, I’m seeing much fewer behaviour problems or disinterested pupils.

Please check out his site by clicking on the logo here:

‘Ideas to Inspire’ is a collection of collaborative presentations, which offer a large number of ideas for engaging lesson activities. They are the result of the collaboration of teachers from all around the world.

The presentations are grouped into different sections:

Curriculum Ideas

Providing ideas and resources, linked to specific curriculum areas. Here are some of the topics:

• Inspiring Writing
• Interactive Maths
• Amazing Art
• Marvellous Music
• Creative Geography
• ICT in the Early Years
• ICT Control and Modelling

Interesting Ways to Use ICT in Your Classroom

These presentations focus on one particular ICT tool and suggest ways of using that tool in your classroom.

Other Collaborative Presentations

This section contains even more collaborative presentations, covering a range of topics. Explore the wonderful ‘Techy Tips for Not So Techy Teachers’ or browse through the ‘A to Z of ICT’.

If you have any amazing ideas to add to the presentations on the site, or you can suggest a new topic, please get in touch with Mark: mark@teachingideas.com.

Where PPL is used, staff are encouraged to use as much positive praise as possible to reinforce good behaviour and ensure that maximum learning occurs. I have just today come back from visiting a trainee teacher on a placement, and positive reinforcement was a major topic of our conversation. I have seen so many teachers get totally consumed by the negative behaviour of certain individuals in their class. Not only does this take up valuable teaching time for those who want to learn, but it is also very stressful and draining for the teacher to have to be constantly nagging. Far better is to focus on the pupils who are behaving appropriately and positively.

As a guideline for PPL, it is suggested that in any lesson, a teacher should try to use positive praise at least three times more often than they use negative comments. Many schools offer rewards to pupils for sustained good effort and learning outcomes. Many primary schools offer stars or stickers on a chart, or in their exercise books. When they have been awarded a certain number, they are then given a prize. In some secondary schools, funding has been found to award special merit prizes of a bike, or a DVD player. Other schools also have a commendation system where staff identify pupils who have worked well and receive a letter home to their parents highlighting their achievement.

This notion of giving rewards has raised many questions recently, so I ask you:

What are your views on offering stickers, stars, stamps, certificates to children for behaving correctly or working hard?

Many people believe that too many rewards lead to a culture of young people who always expect to be given something back in return for doing the right thing. Many years ago, we used to call this bribery!

As is the case with many systems like this, schools will adopt and adapt a system that best suits their own ethos and needs. I know one secondary school where the merit system is used for the first three years, and then in Years 10 and 11, pupils are awarded credits in card form. At the end of each term there is a prize draw, so the more credits a pupil has, the higher their chance of winning the star prize.

Pupil planners are also being used more in schools as a way of keeping parents informed about behaviour and merits or awards received. Pupils are given a diary for the year, which has additional room for comments which parents and teachers sign each week. In the diary, parents can record reasons for absence and teachers can record merits awarded or information about behaviour, concerns about homework, and so on.

Does your school allocate pupil planners?
If so, how successful are they?
Are they used effectively?
Can the system be abused by older pupils?

Home/school agreements are a statutory contract between pupils/parents and the school, outlining what each party agrees should occur throughout the year. In some cases, these are built into the pupil planners, including information regarding the school’s expectations about the conduct of its pupils.

How does your school promote positive learning?
What systems work well in your school and why?

It would be good to hear your views, so please feel free to leave a response here.

]]> http://plainsailinginschools.com/education-news/ppl-promoting-positive-learning-in-schools/feed 0 http://plainsailinginschools.com/about-coaching/the-power-of-interactive-online-coaching http://plainsailinginschools.com/about-coaching/the-power-of-interactive-online-coaching#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 21:37:43 +0000 Ian Barrett http://plainsailinginschools.com/?p=318 The great Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius once said that reflection is one of the most important methods to learn wisdom, and yet why is it that it’s the one thing that most people have little time, or don’t know how, to do? Coaching Interactive provides the perfect opportunities through a range of programmes to finally give anybody, anywhere, the chance to really reflect on their life and how they would like it to be.

So why is it that we rarely have the chance to reflect? Think about how many times you have been in a situation where you have really struggled to put your thoughts together in a cohesive way.  Have you ever been in a situation where you felt rushed because of time constraints, and then when you tried to verbalise your thoughts, all the words came out in the wrong way?

To give some examples of when either of these could occur, think job interviews, an important meeting, a presentation to an audience, or an appointment with a doctor or a solicitor. Bearing all of these scenarios in mind, how often have you been put on the spot to give an answer or make a decision, but because of the pressure you were under, what you said was not the best you could have chosen?

To take this even further, how many times have you come away from one of these scenarios and then suddenly everything you should have said miraculously comes into your head? Maybe there have been times when you wish you had planned better by thinking through beforehand about what you wanted to ask or say.

The main point being made here is that in our fast-moving lives, full of stress and a great deal of information overload, we rarely find good quality time to reflect. In simply meeting the day-to-day demands of our everyday lives, all too often there is no time left over for reflection about where our lives are leading or, even more important, where it is supposed to lead. It is so easy to lose sight of long-term goals when you are busy dealing with more immediate challenges. Even in our schools today, timetables are so full with subject content involving the learning of knowledge, that children are rarely given time, or taught, to think and to reflect. These skills are vital for a whole range of activities in our rapidly changing world, such as: problem-solving, evaluating, assessing, adapting and modifying – to name just a few.

So why is the ability to reflect so important and what exactly does it involve? The verb ‘to reflect’ originates from the Latin word ‘reflectere’ – meaning to bend back. By a simpler definition, to reflect involves thinking and/or expressing carefully considered thoughts. If we look at the noun ‘reflection’, its sense comes out much stronger – it means a thought or opinion resulting from careful consideration during mental concentration. To give an example in relation to the earlier scenarios, you could say after an interview: “Upon reflection, I wish I had expressed my opinions and ideas more clearly.” In many ways, that sentence highlights the major problem – there was no time for reflection during the event, and this is very common in our lives.

Effective and excellent coaching should always involve a great deal of thinking and reflecting. These are vital ingredients for a coach to be able to take the coachee forward and help them find solutions and pathways to facilitate the necessary changes required. It’s a two-way process – the coach frequently reflects on the required action and strategies appropriate for the coachee, and the coachee reflects a lot on how they are going to take the action and what obstacles or barriers they might encounter along the way.

Up unto now, coaching has traditionally been carried out on a one-on-one basis – either face-to-face or over the telephone. Modern technology, as rapidly changing as it is, even now allows us to talk over the internet with a headset and speakers. The next step on from this was only ever going to be a short matter of time away – namely eLearning based programmes with automated responses and/or feedback via email. And now, Coaching Interactive has arrived to bring affordable and reflective coaching to the masses, wherever they are and at whatever time.

The beauty of interactive online coaching is that, unlike traditional one-on-one coaching, it allows more quality time for reflection in a choice of environments – many of which are much more conducive to reflective thinking. Going back to the scenarios outlined earlier in this chapter, most of those situations contain factors which inhibit reflective thinking – such as limited time, feelings of anxiety or nervousness, being intimidated, and simply not feeling comfortable in a highly pressurised environment. Coaching Interactive enables the coachee  to work through coaching programmes in the comfort of their own home and at a time that is most suited to them. In fact, you can take as much time as you need before committing to answering a question – and if you change your mind, you can go back to it and make amendments.

The coaching environment is a key element of effective coaching and getting productive results from a client. In this light, there are certain characteristics of environments that can promote and support reflective thought. The table below illustrates the extent to which Coaching Interactive meets these characteristics.

Characteristics of environments supporting reflective thinking	Coaching Interactive……..
Provide enough wait-time to reflect before responding.	enables clients to take as much time as they want to type answers to questions and to save drafts that can be returned to and edited as many times as is necessary.
Prompt thoughts by asking questions that seek reasons and evidence.	Programmes have questionnaires built into them with many open-ended questions to enable the client to really analyse their thoughts.
Provide good explanations to guide thought processes.	Programmes are carefully structured in a step-by-step approach. Each step is very clearly explained in easy to understand language.
Provide a less-structured environment that prompts a person to explore what they really think is important.	provides many opportunities for clients to give their views and opinions on issues affecting their lives, for example by identifying and exploring their values and beliefs.
Provide a reflective journal, as an aid to the process of recording and analysing actions, thoughts and feelings.	provides a built-in system of storing data such as questionnaires, emails, tasks and the online calendar – all of which form a personal journal for the client.

The Reflective Journal is a method that most coaches introduce to their clients and is most effective as support for the whole coaching process. The written word, or in this case the typed word, is an excellent way of reflecting. By recording your experiences, thoughts and feelings in a systematic way, it enables you to analyse what you have written and as a consequence gain more insight. Increased insight is another very important part of being coached, especially in terms of planning life goals and how you are going to get to where you want to be. It is also the ideal way of identifying the barriers and obstacles you may encounter along the way, and which potentially may jeopardise your progress towards achieving your goals and aspirations.

Many people who keep daily diaries find this an excellent way to reflect on a range of everyday problems and situations – perhaps by asking themselves: What went well? What didn’t? Why? How do I feel about it? By writing these things down, thoughts and emotions are allowed to gradually come to the surface. You could say that reflective writing is essentially a kind of loose processing of thoughts and feelings about an incident, a situation, an event, or any experience at all.

All the data a client enters by answering questions in any of the programmes on Coaching Interactive is stored within their journal and can be returned to and amended over and over again. Time restrictions within traditional one-on-one coaching sessions do not allow as much for this level of re-visiting and re-thinking. It is the perfect way of fine-tuning your thoughts and reflections, facilitating a much greater chance of success and achievement. This level of repetition, often by going over something several times, helps to give a broader view and check nothing has been missed. Again, this is an experience we are so rarely afforded in our lives – whether it is as a student in the classroom or as a potential employee in the interview. This type of online reflection is an extremely useful way of getting the best out of someone, which is one of the main priorities for any coach.

The coach too, during interactive coaching, can record notes in response to a client’s answers to the questionnaires and refer to these when planning future sessions. The coach can also set tasks for the coachee and the calendar system acts as reminder of what needs to be done. All of these processes contribute to building up a reflective journal for each coachee. It can really help confidence by being able to look back over a journal and see progress, how difficulties were dealt with, and how the ideas have moved on.

Another very important element of reflection is that it turns experience into meaningful learning, helps us to make sense of the world around us and to learn from previous experience. How many times have you looked back on an event, thought about what happened and then considered what you would do differently in the future? These experiences can sometimes become blurred unless they are written down. When you are in an interview it is extremely hard to stand back and reflect when you are so caught up in the nerves of the interview. ‘Standing back’ helps give a better view or perspective on an experience, issue or action.

Coaching Interactive provides a structured step-by-step process to help you think about the issues in your life and what can be learned from them. Many of the questions are designed to help you reflect on events, situations and feelings in your life. This reflective process is illustrated in the following table.

1.     Identify the experience, situation, or event which occurred.	For example, a failed relationship.
2.     Describe the experience or situation.	What happened? Who was involved? What did you do? Why did you do what did you do? How did this affect you?
3.     Analyse the experience or situation.	What were you thinking or feeling? What was good and bad about the experience? What skills were used or developed? What were the consequences of your actions for yourself and others?
4.     Learn from the experience or situation.	What else could you have done? If it happened again what would you do differently? How can you improve your knowledge and skills? How can you use what you learned from the experience in your future practice?

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of online coaching is that the level of reflection it allows enables the coachee to express deeper honesty. Reflection is often associated with ’striving for truth’, and online it is much easier for people to acknowledge things that they find difficult to admit in the normal course of events. Face-to-face coaching or one-on-one coaching over the telephone can often lead to feelings of being put on the spot or embarrassment. Are clients always totally honest in these situations? Do they not sometimes feel awkward about telling the coach certain things that they think will make them look silly? These issues are much less likely to arise online, as there is a certain level of anonymity attached to it and far less fear of being judged.

Ultimately, reflecting about your life through an online coaching programme can also bring much greater clarity, like seeing events literally reflected in a mirror. This can help at any stage of planning, carrying out and reviewing activities. It also enables more balanced judgements to be made by taking everything into account, and not just the obvious. If you forget what you said in the previous session, you have the option to look back and review your statements and observations.

Finally to conclude, it would be useful to examine the thoughts of John Dewey, who is one of the most renowned writers about reflective thinking. He said:

“We all acknowledge, in words at least, that ability to think is highly important; it is regarded as the distinguishing power that marks man from the lower animals. But since our ordinary notions of how and why thinking is important are vague, it is worthwhile to state explicitly the values possessed by reflective thought. In the first place, it emancipates us from merely impulsive and merely routine activity. Put in positive terms, thinking enables us to direct our activities with foresight and to plan according to ends-in-view, or to come into command of what is now distant and lacking. By putting the consequences of different ways and lines of action before the mind, it enables us to know what we are about when we act. It converts action that is merely appetitive, blind and impulsive into intelligent action.” (p.212, John Dewey on Education, University of Chicago Press, 1974)

Dewey makes several key points here that not only highlight the benefits of reflective thinking, but also how online coaching provides greater opportunities for this to take place. For example, he mentions “merely impulsive and routine activity” – this surely illustrates how people generally go about their lives, especially when faced with a challenge. In an interview, most of the answers we give are impulsive as there is little time to truly reflect. However, in answering important questions about yourself and your life through an online questionnaire, you are able to take your time and perfect your responses by changing it as often as you wish – giving a much more honest and accurate answer.

Dewey explains how thinking “enables us to direct our activities with foresight and to plan accordingly to ends-in-view”. How many people in their everyday lives plan with great foresight? Generally, they have ideas floating around in their heads about what they would like to do or achieve, but how rigorously is this planned for? Many people are afraid to plan and set goals because they fear failure. What they don’t realise is that achieving the goal isn’t half as important as setting it and then taking massive action towards its attainment. Coaching Interactive enables the coachee to focus through reflection and prepare for taking action – “intelligent action”, as Dewey calls it. We all know that the harder you prepare, the greater the chances of success.

Lastly, to return to Confucius – we are all constantly searching for greater wisdom. Wisdom that will help enhance our lives so that we can be as happy, successful and productive in all our endeavours, as is possible.  At last, the convenience of the internet, skilled coaches and powerful online tools, are combined to enable anybody to learn wisdom through structured and effective reflection.

Why not try a FREE interactive online coaching session now?Just go to the home page and click on the blue banner.

Let me know how you get on with it.

]]> http://plainsailinginschools.com/about-coaching/the-power-of-interactive-online-coaching/feed 0 http://plainsailinginschools.com/coaching-tips/how-to-stop-thinking-like-a-victim http://plainsailinginschools.com/coaching-tips/how-to-stop-thinking-like-a-victim#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 14:56:14 +0000 Ian Barrett http://plainsailinginschools.com/?p=298 The world is full of victims, and by this I mean people who think their problems are nothing to do with them and everything to do with a world that is unfair.

Take a look at these, and see if any of them apply to you:

• You want others to know that you have had a bad time
• You think everything that happens to you is ‘unfair’
• You believe it is always other people who get the breaks
• You feel secretly pleased when others feel sorry for you
• You see the world through the eyes of defeat

If you can identify with most of the above, then I suspect you are one of those people who believe the world is out to get you. You probably feel that you are at the mercy of everything. The media doesn’t help, as newspapers and TV programmes are saturated with people telling us what terrible lives they have.

There is a growing blame culture out there. For many, it’s always the fault of someone else that their partner left them, that they are overweight etc. We are surrounded by images of ‘normal’ life as never having problems, difficulties, obstacles and arguments. But the truth is that the challenge of life is actually about overcoming the difficulties to get the things you want.

It’s not always easy to get what you want out of life, but whoever said that life had to be easy? Sometimes, even when you put 100% effort into something, it still doesn’t turn out how you want it to. That’s just how things are sometimes. Unfortunately, many so-called victims believe that what has happened to them has nothing to do with their own actions – largely because they have chosen to take a certain view of the world. Victims believe that the world revolves around them.

Victims frequently appear to not care so much about others because they are self-absorbed. They are always ready to tell you how much harder their life is.

At the end of the day, victims may feel like the world has screwed them up, but ultimately they need to sort their lives out. If this is you, why not try these:

• Give yourself a different label: Change the way you think about yourself in a more positive way. If you are a self-pitying, overweight alcoholic, then you will remain one. People who think in a more positive way actually believe they can become what they think they are.
• Rid yourself of destructive behaviour: Try to be around people who can support you, and not those who are negative influences. Involve yourself with people who are also interested in self improvement.
• Act instead of talking about it: Stop making excuses all the time. If you feel you are about to start moaning or complaining about something, change the subject and/or your thoughts straight away. Try the 20 Second Rule, where you focus completely on something positive for 20 seconds.
• Stop comparing yourself to others: Don’t measure yourself by the achievements, successes, deeds and possessions of others. You may admire some of these people, but you don’t need to waste valuable time worrying about what others have got. Focus on your own life and goals, and put all your energy into building the life you want.
• Make the most out of the worst: Successful people tend to be able to use times of difficulty to reinvent themselves and change their lives. They don’t think like victims, instead they learn from their misfortunes, bad luck and mistakes.

So, don’t let self-pity and feeling like a victim take control of your life and destroy all the chances you have of being happy and successful.

John Bird (2006) states:

You are no longer a victim if:

• You do not believe the world owes you a living
• You know you have to go through thorns to find roses
• You refuse to hang around with victims
• You know the grass is not always greener on the other side
• You refuse to use your past as an excuse
• You take setbacks as an opportunity to gain strength
• You spend more time thinking about others
• You replace excuses with action.

It would be great to hear your views on this post, so please leave a response.

If any of these issues are affecting your life, please get in touch with me.

The great philosopher Galileo once said “You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.” This quote is profound as it sums up coaching in its purest form. Life Coaching is about living your life in keeping with what’s important to you. It enables you to:

• take stock and get clarity
• regain control and
• achieve balance in your life.

Coaching addresses all manner of issues:

• Where am I now?
• Who am I?
• Where am I going?
• What do I want?
• How do I resolve this particular issue?
• How do I sort out my often confusing and stressful life?
• Which career path should I pursue?

When explorers set off on an exhilarating journey, they may well take a guide or indeed a map. When they complete the journey and celebrate their achievement, they know they are responsible and have achieved their dream. But they also know that they probably wouldn’t have done it without the help of the guide or map. The guide did not make the journey for them, but it was there at every stage to encourage, motivate, help with the navigation and remind the explorer why they took the journey in the first place and kept them on course.
Similarly, having a coach is all about YOU and assisting YOU in finding the key, to see through the fog and to give you the tools and insight so that YOU can achieve everything you wish to achieve.
Finally, take the elastic band analogy. An elastic band stretched has energy going all ways. When you let it go, you don’t know in which direction it will fly. So, it is that energy and direction that life coaches harness and identify, encouraging the client to let go and to use those powerful and positive forces to their benefit rather than their detriment. The positive power and magic of coaching is without doubt immeasurable.

The author of a recent Cambridge University report warns that too much emphasis on testing the basics could “impoverish” learning in areas such as the arts. Professor Robin Alexander says this could mean a “deficient” education.

The report says inadequacies in the primary curriculum stem from a mistaken belief that breadth in the curriculum is incompatible with improved standards in the “basics” of maths, literacy and numeracy. History, geography, science and the arts have been “squeezed out”, it argues. The report’s authors suggest learning in primary schools is skewed towards subjects which are formally tested in the national tests, used to draw up league tables.

The review suggests the primary curriculum should be “re-conceived” with 12 specific aims, which it arranges in three groups:

• The needs and capacities of the individual: wellbeing; engagement; empowerment; autonomy
• The individual in relation to others and the wider world: encouraging respect and reciprocity; promoting interdependence and sustainability; empowering local, national and global citizenship; celebrating culture and community
• Learning, knowing and doing: knowing, understanding, exploring and making sense; fostering skill; exciting the imagination; enacting dialogue.

These aims would be achieved through eight “domains”, rather than a small number of subjects. The domains would be: arts and creativity; citizenship and ethics; faith and belief; language, oracy and literacy; mathematics; physical and emotional health; place and time (geography and history); science and technology.

This seems to me to be quite similar to the framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, along with its’ six areas of learning – the Early Learning Goals. I have always found this to be a very effective model for curriculum planning, and lends itself to a more thematic or ‘topic’ approach, which is how things were done in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It seems fundamental to me that children do not view their learning, or the world, in terms of separate compartmentalised units. In contrast, they need to see that everything is interrelated.

What are you views on this? What impact will it have on teachers?

Low self-esteem can have devastating consequences, such as:

• Anxiety, stress, loneliness and depression
• Difficulties with friendships and relationships
• Seriously impairing academic and job performance
• Underachievement and increased vulnerability to drug and alcohol abuse

All of these negative consequences only serve to reinforce a person’s negative self-image and can take them into a downward spiral, often leading to non-productive and self-destructive behaviour.

There are many different definitions of ’self-esteem’, but I like to refer to it as the extent to which we like and respect ourselves. The word ‘esteem’ comes from the Latin word which means ‘to estimate’ – in other words, it’s how you estimate yourself. A good way of assessing a person’s self-esteem is by asking them these questions:

• Do you like yourself?
• Do you think you are a good human being?
• Are you deserving of love?
• Do you deserve happiness?

People with low self-esteem often find it hard to answer ‘yes’ to these questions.

Self-esteem develops and evolves throughout our lives as we build an image of ourselves based on experiences with different people and activities. Experiences during childhood play a very large part in the shaping of our basic self-esteem. Low self-esteem is often the result of failed experiences, such as failure in sports, being harshly criticised, being ignored, ridiculed or teased, and even being yelled at or beaten.

Later on in life, self-esteem can be an outcome of what we do, and this is usually influenced by the choices we make for ourselves. I firmly believe that you have to do something well in order to feel good about yourself. I have worked with clients who have tried telling themselves over and over again that they deserve to feel great, but unless they start to do something well at the same time then it’s hard for self-esteem to rise.

The build up of past negative experiences in life only fuels a person’s so-called inner voice – by that I mean being a harsh inner critic, constantly criticising, punishing and belittling their accomplishments or lack of them. On the other hand, people with healthy self-esteem have an inner voice that conveys positive and reassuring messages.

So how can you overcome poor self-esteem? Look out for the next blog offering some simple steps to overcome it.

We all know that to get good results we have to take new actions, and of course all our actions start from a decision: the power of decision is the power of change. After all, it is our decisions, not the conditions of our lives that determine our destiny. So, what would happen if you could always make the right decisions to help you feel happier, earn a better living, become more successful, have a better relationship, or improve virtually any area of your life?

Maybe you need to make a decision to give up smoking or drinking. Maybe you want to find a way to lose weight and get fitter. Maybe you need to find a new job or make your business more successful. Maybe it is a decision to study and develop some new skills to allow you to earn more. Maybe you simply want to start each day with a better attitude, no longer blame others and figure out some new action to make your life better. The trouble is that most people find it incredibly hard to make some of these decisions on their own.

Do you know what the major force is that controls your decisions? The force that influences how you think and feel all the time, and determines how you feel about everything that occurs in your life? That force is your beliefs. The problem is that the majority of people have a whole load of self-limiting beliefs that can almost cripple them, and they have no idea how to eradicate them and create new empowering beliefs.

Most people have something they want to change in their lives, but they do not know how to do it. The obvious way to change things is to change what you are focusing on. Focus controls how you see the world and what you do about it. Your focus can literally save your life. But again, it can be hard on your own to find the discipline, motivation, tools and techniques to steer your focus in the right direction.

When you hear about successful people achieving extraordinary, seemingly impossible goals, do you always assume that they were just fortunate? Or that you could never possibly be as successful? Most people are afraid to set goals because they fear failure. What they do not realise is that achieving the goal is not half as important as setting it and then taking massive action towards its attainment. Remember, the harder you prepare, the luckier you will get!

We all need to set inspiring goals to give our lives more focus and move in the direction we want to go. We also need to develop action steps to achieve our goals within a carefully planned and structured timetable. If you think you need some help with deciding to make important changes then please keep tuned to this site for more practical ideas and support.