Acknowledgments, Redirections, and Everyday Opportunities for Personal Development
Words: James Bowles, Deputy Head and Head of Senior School
Every day, our students are presented with choices. Some are significant, while others are common: whether to persevere with a challenging task, include a classmate, encourage a teammate, own a mistake, or speak up when something isn’t right. Yet it is often these seemingly small moments that shape the kind of person our students become.
Good character is not something that is developed only during dedicated lessons or special programs – it is shaped in the countless moments that make up everyday life.
At Central Coast Grammar School, every lesson, every sporting match, every friendship and every leadership opportunity presents our students with a choice as to how they will respond and as educators, our role is to help them to recognise those moments, understand their significance and intentionally grow as a result.
In their successes, disappointments, conflicts and service – and yes, even their mistakes – our students begin to shape the kind of person they are becoming and this understanding sits right at the very heart of our Character Framework.
Rather than viewing character development as something separate from academic learning or student wellbeing, we recognise that this process is already happening each and every day. As teachers, it is vitally important that we make this learning visible and turn what is often inherently implicit into something explicit.
Educational researchers have long recognised that character is developed through repeated experiences, reflection and intentional guidance, rather than through pure instruction alone. Psychologist Albert Bandura’s work on social learning reminds us that young people learn not only through instruction, but by observing the behaviours, attitudes and responses of the adults around them. [1]
Similarly, Professor James Arthur argues that character is ‘caught, taught and sought’ – developed not only through instruction, but also through the culture, relationships and everyday experiences within a School. [2]
Our School’s Character Framework reflects this understanding by making visible the learning that is already taking place in our classrooms, on our sporting fields, on our stages and throughout our community.
Here, teachers, coaches, mentors and parents all notice good character when it is on display and, just as importantly, they name it. A student who persists through a difficult mathematics problem demonstrates resilience. A teammate who congratulates an opponent after losing a match displays respect and integrity. A friend who makes a mistake and seeks to repair the relationship exemplifies kindness and courage.
When these moments are made tangible via an ‘acknowledgement’, our students begin to recognise that these choices and behaviours are not accidental – indeed, they are a core part of the person they are becoming. Acknowledgements recognise positive contributions, effort, leadership, kindness, improvement and other behaviours that reflect our School values, and can be viewed by parents through the Daily Digest email delivered each day, or on their child’s MyCCGS profile.
Our unique Character Framework gives us a common language for these conversations and helps our students to connect their everyday decisions with the broader qualities we hope they will develop throughout their education and beyond.
This same philosophy also shapes the way we respond when our students make less wise choices. Rather than focusing solely on consequences or correction, our approach emphasises ‘redirection’ and this choice of word is deliberate.
Redirections remind us that, while each of us may occasionally drift from our intended path, repair is always possible after rupture. A redirection is not simply about pointing out what went wrong; it is an intentional invitation for our students to realign themselves with both their own values, and the expectations of our School.
Research in developmental psychology consistently suggests that reflection following mistakes is one of the most effective ways for young people to develop empathy and sound judgement and in this way, these moments can become opportunities for growth, rather than simply moments of correction.
In their work on the subject, researchers Hattie and Yates identified the significant importance of feedback, error correction and reflection in learning, explaining that mistakes become most valuable when our learners are given opportunities to reflect on them and adjust their future behaviour accordingly. [3]
When students are supported to understand the impact of their choices, repair their relationships where necessary and consider what they might do differently next time, they are able to build the good habits that underpin strong character.
In this way, acknowledgements and redirections work together and over time, these seemingly minor or everyday interactions will accumulate. We know the impact of these interactions can be profound.
This is because character is not formed in a single Character Assembly, academic lesson, or co-curricular opportunity: it is shaped through thousands of conversations and decisions, and guided by caring, expert educators who intentionally help our young people to make sense of these experiences and positively shape the person they are becoming.
At Central Coast Grammar School, every day presents new opportunities for our students to reflect, realign, repair and grow, and become young people of good character and practical wisdom who are well-equipped to make a positive contribution to the world around them.
Ultimately, our hope is that at the end of their schooling, every student leaves Central Coast Grammar School with the judgement to make wise decisions, the courage to act with integrity and the commitment to make a positive contribution to the community.
References
[1] Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory.
[2] Arthur, J. (2021). The Formation of Character in Education: From Aristotle to the 21st Century. Routledge.
[3] Hattie, J., & Yates, G. (2014). Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn. Routledge.