The student experience of NEMESIS: cultivating self-positivity in the classroom

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The student experience of NEMESIS: cultivating self-positivity in the classroom

Having had the privilege to take part in and closely observe pilot period 1 of NEMESIS at Rockingham Junior and Infant School, I realise how important the power of self-positivity is. We all know what it means to be positive, and how this can sometimes be a struggle. So when ‘positivity’ becomes an intrinsic part of someone’s mentality, it can be extremely powerful. While ‘self-positivity’ may not be an element you can tap into in every part of your life, that does not mean it is not attainable. Even if you are only experiencing positivity in one aspect of it, this can be harnessed to permeate your whole mindset!

A new driving force

‘One parent noted that it made her son feel worthy – a powerful sentiment – which I know from my teaching career can increase motivation, engagement and feeling good about oneself.’

During the 9 month NEMESIS project, children took the lead in restoring the caretaker’s house at their school. The trends in behaviour visible over the course of this project were complex and intriguing to say the least! It seemed that the children’s motivation within the programme came from being given ownership over the project. Activities such as teaching adults how to record on tablets encouraged the students to see how valuable and important their work and ideas truly were. One parent noted that it made her son feel worthy – a powerful sentiment – which I know from my teaching career can increase motivation, engagement and feeling good about oneself.

Praise can take many forms

NEMESIS gives students a voice and we can make decisions” – a NEMESIS student.

As a teacher, I also understand that different forms of praise must be given depending on the child and situation in question. The children’s participation in the NEMESIS project, however, seemed to create a form of praise all of its own. The pupils were left feeling “valued, worthy and important“. This is because, in getting the chance to take charge of the operation themselves, they were not only being listened to… but heard! They were not merely dismissed as token children. As one 9 year old boy commented: “NEMESIS gives students a voice and we can make decisions.” The fact that their decisions were taken seriously became an implicit form of praise – implicit because praise didn’t always have to be verbal. Carrying out the ideas that the children had come up with was praise enough. As the adage goes ‘actions speak louder than words.’

Real life = real feelings

Working on something real to create a positive outcome for yourself and others brings about a sense of achievement, happiness and positivity. Knowing the project was really happening, and not just an abstract concept to write about in class, had a significant impact on the children: ‘it was interesting because we got to see the proper house,’ ‘I really like the house and hope it will be finished,’ ‘it’s not how I thought it would be – it’s bigger and better. Students would be comfy here.’ Children could take pride in the knowledge they were doing good for themselves and others. The contribution that they were making acted as motivation. It encouraged them to carry on…

 

Students at Rockingham School, In Sheffield (UK)

That communal spirit

“I can help alongside other people.”

Working with children and adults of all different ages and backgrounds was a novelty for the students of Rockingham. Despite the Junior and Infant school being a newcomer to the programme, however, the educational programme proved to be a resounding success. The collective feeling of working together towards something positive nurtured good feelings and positive results as the children, and adults, saw how two, three, four… (you see where I’m going with this) minds are better than one! The children all said that they enjoyed working with people more as the project went on while one adult noted the joint collaborative effort to be “very powerful.” It seems it’s not only the children that are motivated by this shared approach to improving the world.

All these important things, feeling empowered, valued, listened to and important, interlink in complex ways, mirroring the complexity of the human mind to bring about that wonderful feeling of positivity. The combination of emotional, cognitive, behavioural and agentic engagement was different in every child, usually comprising more than one element, to produce a combination that made them feel good. This, when sustained over time, can become innate in the child – making them happier, more motivated learners. Imagine if all education made you feel this good!

Author: Jen Wall

Author’s note: the research conducted was on a small group of 7 children aged 6 – 11 years old hence my qualitative findings are not generalisable. I am not suggesting this would be the same for everyone, merely sharing initial insights gleaned from my research.


NEMESIS is a Horizon 2020 project bringing together education and social innovation to empower the changemakers of tomorrow. The project started in 2018 and it will continue until 2021. At the moment there are ten schools involved from five European countries and a second pilot will start in September 2019, for which we invite more schools.

 Do you want to learn about other schools projects in NEMESIS? Click here.

Are you a school willing to learn more about NEMESIS or thinking about joining the project? Feel free to surf the web and drop us a line (hello@nemesis-edu.eu) or fill our contact form.

Are you a social innovator who – as those mentioned here- would like to collaborate with the schools in your area? Click here for more info on how to become a mentor

How to implement Social Innovation Education effectively in your school?

Change is the only constant. – Heraclitus, Greek philosopher

Our world is changing fast and many European education systems are changing accordingly. This requires school leaders to lead changes as effectively as possible. Drawing from well-known change management models, the NEMESIS consortium partners have developed a new change management model especially for primary and secondary schools that want to become a NEMESIS school and therefore need to implement Social Innovation Education. This model will enable school leaders to plan and manage the implementation of the NEMESIS educational model, so that it can become part of their schools’ pedagogies.

The model focuses on the most important elements to implement sustainable change in schools. It will enable school leaders to get insight into the barriers to organisational change and how to tackle these barriers. This is important for a successful implementation of Social Innovation Education. The elements that play a central role in the model are:

  • Inspiration: the ability to inspire
  • Vision and strategy: ability to create a common understanding of the schools’
    identity
  • Leadership: the ability to lead changes
  • Community involvement: the ability to include the community
  • Resistance to change: the ability to accept change and facilitate change
    acceptance
  • Resources: the ability to allocate sufficient resources

 

 

The overall purpose of the model is that Social Innovation Education becomes part of the school’s identity and is supported by all school members. Their commitment is essential for the success of the implementation. A well-executed inspiration step will ensure that staff members are more likely to contribute to the new or adjusted strategy.

The NEMESIS organizational change model was tested by more than 100 school heads and teachers in whole Europe. This extensive testing approach has ensured that the model is well applicable and easy to implement in schools. In addition, the model takes into account the needs and possibilities of the target groups. During the development of the organisational change model, various supporting tools have also been developed, such as the change management guide and guidelines for school leaders. School members, not only school leaders, have to complete a questionnaire before the school starts with the implementation of Social Innovation Education. These questionnaire aims to give insight into the development areas of a school and serves as a starting point for discussions in a school’s management team about how to tackle barriers that the school still has to overcome. Participating schools in the NEMESIS project can also share their outcomes with project members after which they will receive advise on how to tackle the barriers.


Are you a school member and do you want to implement Social Innovation Education in your school? Feel free to surf the web and drop us a line (hello@nemesis-edu.eu) or fill our contact form.

Are you a social innovator who – as those mentioned here- would like to collaborate with a school? Click here for more info on how to become a mentor.

Social Innovation in Schools. A proposal for the future of education.

For the last 30 years, students have been taught the same way. We keep teaching them how to acquire and memorise knowledge, even if what they need in this era of ‘information overload’ are skills and tools that allow them to make sense of that information  – and act accordingly. That is part of what we’re going to discuss in this NEMESIS event in Zaragoza.

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Introducing NEMESIS schools

In every journey there is a a group of brave pioneers whose involvement and commitment are essential to succeed. Such is the case in our schools. We are already on the hunt for more schools to be involved, so keep an eye on this page – we will be updating!

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Developing the entrepreneurial citizen

How can the incorporation of democratic citizenship, entrepreneurial competences and social innovation practices in education contribute towards the empowerment of students as active citizens and drivers of positive social change?

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Meet our Social Innovation Practitioners

In NEMESIS we are trying a social innovation education model for and with schools to empower the changemakers of tomorrow. For that to work, the combination of teacher and social innovators expertise is essential. In three years, we aim to develop a European social innovator community and engage around 200 SIPs (‘social innovation practitioners’, our code for social entrepreneurs). We have begun working closely with four of them already.

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NEMESIS partners meet in Seville

What is social innovation? Is it about finding imaginative solutions for social problems? About subverting power relations? About bringing systemic change? Is it the same that social entrepreneurship?  Trying to define social innovation was one of the challenges NEMESIS partners faced at our second project meeting, held in Seville.

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3, 2, 1… NEMESIS!

Fürth, Germany. October 10th 2017. Around twenty people from fourteen organizations across Europe meet for the first time. Some have known each other for years. For others, this is their first encounter. But we are all here for the same reason: to build a bridge between education and social innovation. Welcome to NEMESIS kick-off meeting!

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