Learner Background

After 16 years of working on learner motivation to learn, my conclusion is that the key factor is secure sense of self, being comfortable in your own skin. This builds and benefits from a young person's capacity to self-reflect. Consequently we have been developing a suite of self-reflection tools for learners. The Aspire Ring is a window into how learners see themselves and also offers a framework for understanding how learners' emotions impact on their attitude to learning.

The Aspire Ring consists of 48 paired descriptions that profile a young person’s energy for learning. The Aspire Ring invites learners to select the descriptions that best describe them and then portrays their selections within the Ring. The Aspire Ring helps young people reflect on their attitude to school or college by providing a framework to allow them to express what they know intuitively about themselves but couldn’t put into words.

This is a reflection tool, not an assessment or a test. Learners are not being judged, rather they are being helped to figure themselves out.

The array of questions gives the profile a degree of impartiality. The on line Aspire Ring gives immediate feedback to the young person in the form of a personal chart, allowing a structured and focused discussion of key issues. It triggers the natural motivation to know ourselves. Learners become so used to listening to adults telling them who they are, they can be in danger of not bothering to work out who they really are for themselves.

The process needs to be invitational and supported by sensitive interest and any interference avoided. The Aspire Ring lends itself to follow up coaching to discuss the learner's perceptions in a non-judgemental way.

Theoretical Background

The Aspire Ring helps pupils make sense of their motivation within a framework created by their psychological needs. The two foundational needs are Affiliation - to feel a sense of belonging and Agency - to feel a sense of progress. These needs set us priorities that can come into conflict. To help us fulfil Affiliation we have to cooperate with others, whilst for Agency we have to compete against others. The tension between these two motives is resolved through Autonomy - the need to be self-determining. Without compelling autonomy goals, we can be sociable and competent but aimless and purposeless. It is our autonomy goals that give us direction and motivation.

This model explores Autonomy through a new and powerful conceptualisation as having two distinct strands, namely Shared Autonomy and Personal Autonomy. These two strands are represented by two interlinking spirals. The spirals form the Ring of Autonomy. When one spiral balances the other we have balanced Autonomy that allows us to resolve the tensions between cooperation and competition and achieve maturity.

Personal Autonomy is our need to assert our individuality and achieve status. It generates self-determination and propels us to maximise our strengths and personal achievement. Personal Autonomy is grounded in and, in turn, further develops Agency.

Shared Autonomy is our need to contribute to something bigger than ourselves and have a sense of shared purpose. It generates cooperation and shared goals. Shared Autonomy grows naturally out of Affiliation, the foundation that allows us to build coalitions, and, in turn, Shared Autonomy deepens our Affiliation.

Affiliation and Agency are discrete needs but can be thought of as embedded within their own Autonomy spiral. as displayed in Fig 1 below.

There are two potential pitfalls with Autonomy, when the spirals becomes unbalanced. These form the underside of the Ring. When we are driven by self-interest to get what we want, this is Personal Autonomy. However if we take this too far we can become selfish and domineering. Personal Autonomy can overpower Shared Autonomy and slide into Corrupted Autonomy, where we use others for our own ends. The dark side to Shared Autonomy is when we become undermined by too much accommodation to others, leading to blind acquiescence or Surrendered Autonomy.

figure 1
Fig 1 The Autonomy Ring

We tend to have our own preferred Autonomy motive; we lean either towards Shared or Personal Autonomy. At times our preference dominates the weaker partner and can become our Achilles heel, as in 'pride comes before a fall'. The Aspire Ring works out each person's preference between the two main motives, namely

Being fair to yourself- doing well, independence, determined by the energies to

  • Progress - achieve personal goals, feel that we are in control and improving (Agency).
  • Challenging self - have confidence in ourselves, to express our individuality, call attention to and maximise our strengths, be assertive and achieve status, (Personal Autonomy).

Being fair to others- doing good, interdependence, determined by the energies to

  • Fitting in with others- get along, to be part of a group, to belong (Affiliation).
  • Supporting others- contribute to something bigger than ourselves, to do things with and for others, propelled by shared purpose. (Shared Autonomy).
figure 2
Fig 2 Energies and their Dark Sides

After completing the Aspire Ring, the individual's position on the ring represents how they resolve the tension between being fair to self and being fair to others. There are two potential pitfalls, either 'imposing ourselves on others' or 'putting ourselves down'.

The spirals are aligned to and offer a unifying framework that integrates the four capacities, the SHANARRI indicators and the HWB Experiences and Outcomes, as shown in Table 1 below.



BEING FAIR TO SELF
Confident Individual - Safe & Achieving; Challenging self

  • representing school encourages self worth and confidence
  • understanding of the human body
  • learning to assess and manage risk
  • knowing how to keep self and others
  • safe/travel safely
  • making choices to develop my interests

Successful Learner – Active & Healthy; Progressing

  • making full use of learning opportunities
  • learning to recognise my skills
  • identifying achievements, skills and areas for development
  • understanding relevance of learning and make informed choices
  • supported to plan for my transitions

BEING FAIR TO OTHERS
Responsible Citizen- Nurtured & Included; Fitting in with others

  • understanding, managing and expressing my thoughts and feelings
  • understanding there are people I can talk to
  • understanding the importance of wellbeing, coping skills and relationships
  • learning skills to cope with change and loss
  • valuing friendships and how they’re formed through fairness
  • respecting personal space and responding to verbal/ non-verbal communication

Effective Contributor- Responsible & Respected; Supporting others

  • bringing about positive change in my school and community
  • contributing to making my school welcoming
  • learning how to support others left out
  • understanding the qualities needed to sustain relationships
  • exercising my rights and responsibilities



This ring has been sub-divided into sections to form Learning Stances, as displayed in Fig 3 below. The Learning Stances help us make sense of how learners feel about themselves and their current intentions. They are temporary rather than fixed (dis)positions.

Learners can get a new perspective on themselves by reflecting on the Ring, comparing their ‘good day’ and ‘bad day’ stances. Importantly, a learner can occupy one stance in one situation and a different stance in a different situation five minutes later. The stances offer a common language for learners to discuss their wellbeing in a de-personalised and impartial way. Learners are more able to have a say in a two-way dialogue and this encourages them to be reflective and more likely to assume responsibility for themselves. The stances can also be used to find the right 'reset' button for learners who disengage.

learner ring
Fig 3 The Stances

Follow Up

After explaining the chart, ask learners to consider whether the profile is accurate or not: they may feel that their place on the Ring should be changed. Invite them to change the chart and ask them to justify this.

Highlight their strengths. Ask learners to asterisk their signature strengths, which they are most proud of. Are they given enough opportunities to make the most of these strengths?

Now look at the issues. Ask learners to underline one or two that they would like to work on as their personal target, that would make the biggest difference. They can add a new issue if their big issue has not been identified.

Ask them to underline their main 'good day' and 'bad day' stance. Is this reflected in their chart? Ask them if they are surprised by anything from the chart.

Ask learners to reflect- How do their issues get them into bother? What defensive stance do they get them into?

What will help get them out of this stance?

Could any of their strengths help?

What about how the teacher/school deals with it – does it help or hinder?

What would help you more?

Imagine they woke up tomorrow and their issue had been sorted.
What’s the first thing they might notice themselves (and others) doing?

How will they know that things are improving?

Who would be the first to notice this had changed? How would they know? What will they see that is different?