Principal's Message

Developing Resilience in Our Young Men

The annual release of NAPLAN results, OLNA testing dates and the schedule for upcoming WACE examinations is normally accompanied by the ongoing debate about the merit of such standardised testing, particularly regarding the effect that such measures may have on the self-esteem and wellbeing of students. Education columns suddenly appear and often present varied and often conflicting ‘expert opinions’ about the importance of always giving praise to students, compared to the life lessons that can be gained from occasionally failing or experiencing disappointment.

Within our context at Trinity College, establishing safe conditions and learning environments for our boys to experience both praise and occasional disappointment, presents opportunities to build resilience as an important aspect of their formation as good young men.

It is important for every person to have a positive mindset. A focus on the positive rather than the negative is an admirable one. However, it is equally important to be a realist because in life, difficult situations will present and at times, negative outcomes will result. Encountering failure is likely to happen at some point in every person’s life journey. It is the ability of our boys to bounce back from such situations – to demonstrate resilience, that will determine their formation as young men and greatly add to their character as young men. 

While it is vitally important that children consistently receive praise and affirmations for their efforts, such recognition must be genuine and appropriate. The College Pinder Boor Certificate of Excellence which awards excellence in effort and application is an example of this. However, it is equally important that we do not establish systems that artificially praise; or programs in which competition is totally removed; or always direct situations in which hardship or failure never occurs. It is impossible to always get what we want, or what we apply for, or to win every time. This is not how life works! 

Affirming every child’s self-worth is an important role for parents and schools, however we must equally encourage situations where young people develop a real and genuine sense of resilience. Experiencing both failure and success helps develop such resilience. Making mistakes, and even occasionally failing, are important mechanisms for our overall development. History is marked with many examples of great discoveries and important initiatives that emerged after many failed efforts. Developing determination, showing perseverance and appreciating the importance of remaining committed to the task are all important aspects of building resilience.

Resilience in children can be enhanced by the approach adopted by the significant adults in their lives. I refer to their parents, families, teachers and coaches. Parenting has always required an exceptionally strong set of skills such as caring, encouraging and negotiating. Similarly, parenting is also about leading, teaching and modelling behaviours and attitudes. When moments of hardship or failure do occur, and life experience would suggest that they will, we need to view such situations as ‘teachable moments’ – as real opportunities for adults to help children grow and learn from such challenges. Recognising and grasping these teachable moments is all significant adults, can help children become resilient and better deal with setbacks they will encounter now and into the future. 

When children are experiencing hardship, frustration and difficulty, our natural instinct as parents (and as teachers) is to step in to protect them. However, when we focus solely on a quick fix, we may miss valuable opportunities to help children learn and grow. The big learning opportunities are often found within situations such as missing out on team selection, or failing a topic test, or receiving a consequence for consistently being late. While we never wish these things upon any child, such moments do afford us with a chance to explore lessons about the value of striving for your best, turning difficult situations around and appreciating that hard work and commitment ultimately bring rewards. 

At Trinity College, an important aspect of our vision is to form good young men for others. Establishing resilience is an ongoing task and a vitally important aspect of such formation. The introduction of The Resilience Project (TRP) in recent years has certainly added to this pastoral focus. The feedback data that we receive as part of the TRP Student Wellbeing Survey has consistently shown significant improvement in this regard. While we can enjoy and celebrate moments of triumph, it is equally important to use those occasional moments of hardship as an opportunity to learn and grow. We hope, and indeed we pray, that developing resilience is an important part of every boy’s journey into manhood.

Live Jesus in our hearts

Mr Darren O’Neill 

Principal