CHARACTER EDUCATION
Research findings and discussion
247 pupils between ages 13 and 16 ( Year 9 to Y11 cohorts ) completed the online questionnaire ( 108 boys and 139 females ). Preliminary findings suggest there are gender differences in hope and wellbeing ; T-Test analysis shows a significant difference between boys and girls i . e . boys have greater sense of hope and wellbeing than girls .
Preliminary results suggest that formal leadership is positively correlated with leadership identity and responsibility and with school membership . Informal leadership is positively correlated with leadership identity and responsibility , school membership and hope . This suggests that there is a need to think more about informal leadership as maybe informal leadership increases student hope which in turn enhances student achievement .
Regression analyses indicated that leadership identity and responsibility , school membership , academic selfregulation and hope are strong predictors of student wellbeing ( R = 0.73 ). All predictive variables together accounted for a high 52 % of the variation in student wellbeing . School membership is a strong and significant predictor of wellbeing ( regression coefficient - 0.56 ); Hope is a strong and significant predictor of wellbeing ( regression coefficient - 0.50 .) Patterns of findings so far suggest that both formal and informal leadership are associated with self-concepts and experiences of leadership . Only informal concepts and experiences are related to pupils ’ sense of ‘ hope ’. The greatest predictors of wellbeing are a sense of school membership and higher levels of hope .
The findings suggest that having a formal role per se might not be the key driver for student leadership and that building a leadership identity through informal leadership behaviours such as community service , mentoring , helping others and involvement in organising school event or activities may be just as important as being selected to wear a badge .
Dissemination and future plans
This research has been accepted as a presentation at the European Congress of Positive Psychology in Iceland . It is hoped that the findings will be disseminated through further peer reviewed journal articles . The longer term aim is to promote the understanding of these links and choices that might be taken to create change in schools .
There is also scope for further research examining the influence of student leadership on academic outcomes and a potential impact case study if this research project could be developed into an intervention .
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