CHARACTER EDUCATION
The effect of student leadership roles and behaviours on motivation and well-being
Dr Ceri Sims Chartered Psychologist and Senior Lecturer , Buckinghamshire New University ;
Paul Thompson Head of Geography .
LEADER
“ It is not all about wearing a badge : How leadership identity in a secondary school is associated with motivation , hope and wellbeing .”
Introduction
The aim of this research is to investigate student leadership in secondary school and examine its relationship to self-determination , hope and wellbeing . We are interested in the academic motivation , hope ( defined as willpower and waypower thinking ) and well-being of students in relation to their perceptions of their own leadership behaviours . This quantitative study involved 247 pupils between ages 13 and 18 years ( year 9 to 11 cohorts ). There was also a comparison made between students holding positions of office and students who do not currently hold an official role within the School .
Literature review
Research indicates that opportunities for student leadership development in secondary education are still limited and driven largely by teacher ’ s decisions over positions of responsibility for the selected few , such as prefects and school captains or structured after-school activities that restrict opportunities for student initiative . Students given formal leadership roles have been shown to develop maturity quicker ( Neumann , Dempster & Skinner , 2009 ). However , this approach perpetuates the view that only a few pupils are deserving of leadership roles ( Hine , 2014 , Lizzio Dempster & Neumann , 2011 ). Recently some research has moved towards a youthcentric approach , respecting the student voice in gleaning an understanding of what leadership means to the students ( Dempster , Stevens & Keeffe , 2011 ) and the evidence shows that they tend to perceive leadership as a relational process involving pro-social outcomes that can happen in various contexts ( McGregor , 2007 , Whitehead , 2009 ) rather than solely involving someone in a formal position .
One human strength shown to influence academic achievement , psychological adjustment and student wellbeing is the concept of hope ( Gilman , Dooley & Florell , 2006 ). Snyder and colleagues ( Snyder et al ., 1991 ) characterised hope as having the capacities to clearly conceptualise goals , develop the specific strategies to reach those goals ( pathways thinking ) and initiate and sustain the motivation for using those strategies ( agency thinking ). Students with high hope typically are more optimistic , they focus on success rather than failure when pursuing goals ( Snyder et al ., 1997 ), they develop many life goals , and they perceive themselves as being capable of solving problems that may arise ( Snyder et al ., 1997 ). Higher levels of hope are related to greater
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