The Miquel Martà i Pol institute in Roda de Ter is carrying out a pilot test to teach first-year ESO students to have a better knowledge of themselves to better deal with uncertainty, failures and gain well-being.
The program is based on positive psychology and is led by Elisenda Tarrats, professor and researcher in the Emprèn research group at UVic-UCC. “We give them tools to improve their resilience and well-beingâ€, explains the researcher.
Adolescence is a time of emotional effervescence and discoveries in a very broad sense. “We know that there is a percentage of female students with anxiety and depression problemsâ€, explains Tarrats, saying that “with the acceleration of new technologies, adolescence is not easyâ€.
What this program, called ‘Hallenge’, from the mix of Happy and Challenge, seeks is to give them the tools to improve their self-knowledge, detect their strengths and weaknesses, set goals and learn to “get back up” in the face of adversity, among other skills.
The researcher underlines that, behind the project, there is a scientific methodology that works at the same time that tests are carried out at the beginning and at the end to see the evolution. The project adapts to the needs of the students. “It is a progressive process where you work inside yourself, it is not like saying they have given me a positive psychology pill and I am already fantastic and wonderful, it is not like thatâ€, she remarks.
As skills are incorporated, side effects can also occur, such as a better relationship with others and even more motivation in studies. “Knowing who your strengths are also makes the path easier,” stresses the researcher.
Among the practices done so far was writing and performing a play where they worked on “emotional contamination and the boomerang effect” and how the consequences are one or the other depending on the response in each situation. Ester Alsina, one of the two educational counselors at the center who participate in the project, explains that this was one of the challenges to “look for adaptive proposals in everyday situations.”
One of the participants was Jasmeen Kaurp, a first-year ESO student, who details that “two boys and two girls had to work on tasks such as writing the script, practicing and carrying all the material.” She admits that the experience was “heavy” at times, but she also criticized herself: “Working in a group is not my favorite thing to do.” And she admits that this is precisely an aspect that she knows she has to improve.
Another practice they did is the sandwich technique. Marçal Canadell, also a student at the center, is clear about it: “It is making constructive criticism so that another person can improve what he does wrong or what others do not likeâ€. For him, it was a very interesting exercise that he also applies to himself: “I would like to improve how you put yourself in other people’s shoes more easilyâ€.
Ester Alsina admits that adolescence itself can be a strength and a weakness at the same time. “It is a vital moment that they live very intensely and be able to be a sponge of knowledge, but, if at the same time it is accompanied by a complex situation and with issues pending to be resolved, it can disorient and demotivate themâ€, she affirms.
The counselor believes that incorporating positive psychology is very beneficial at these ages and believes that it should even start in P3. From her point of view, “every child is different”, and what it is about is creating this space of knowledge and awareness in each one of them to continue improving. “It’s very necessary,” she remarks.
Tarrats has been applying this methodology to UVic-UCC students for some time now with good results and he also thought it would be interesting to apply it to younger students. The positive psychology entertainment program has started with the hundred first-year students of ESO and will last until they are in their fourth year, in addition to gradually incorporating them to start compulsory education at the center.
