After speaking in over 750 schools across Australia, I am often asked what senior high school students need the most. The answer surprises many people. What senior high school students need most is not another exam technique or study skills workshop – it is something far more foundational and far more powerful.
I am aware that the word hope does not resonate with everyone. You might prefer to call it positivity, belief, vision or faith. However, whatever your expression, we can all agree that hope is essential in the struggle to both survive and thrive. And yet, it is precisely this quality that so many young people are running dangerously low on.
The Mental Health Challenge Facing Senior Students
A significant number of Australians report experiencing a mental health or behavioural condition. Senior high school students today carry considerable stress. Students worry about academic performance, navigating their online and offline identities, and family and peer pressures. Their world is increasingly complex – socially, environmentally and politically. In fact, many educators describe it as the most challenging time in a generation to be a young person.
I have really bad anxiety and am depressed. On some nights I feel like my life is not worth living. You told us all we were important. That hit home for me that minute. I was holding back tears. To be told you are important is something everyone should hear – not just once but many, many times. Being called important really hits a heart string.
Year 10 Student, Kingscliff QLD
A student sent me that message after a school visit. It is one of hundreds I have received over the years. Above all, it tells us everything about what senior high school students need. Young people do not primarily need better marks or more structured study plans. What they truly need is to feel important, to feel seen, and to have hope. In short, hope is the foundation of everything else.
A VUCA World: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous
Researchers and educators describe the current environment as a VUCA world – an atmosphere that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. How do we prepare young people for a world where change is rapid and disruption has become the norm? This environment causes many students to flounder. Drifting from their true identity, forgetting their purpose, and losing themselves in societal pressures and global fears – this is a real and growing crisis.
Therefore, senior high school students need more than academic preparation. They need a true and strong sense of self, and the ability to develop their innate brilliance. I believe there is one element that, if we foster it correctly, helps our senior high school students not merely cope, but truly thrive. That element is hope. Furthermore, the research consistently supports this view – and so do the stories I hear every single week from students around the country.
What this means for teachers and parents
Understanding what senior high school students need is the first step. Acting on it is the second. Teachers and parents who intentionally create environments where young people feel important, capable and purposeful do something profoundly powerful. As a result, they build hope – and hope changes everything.
The Hope Formula That Changes Everything
Professor Snyder, the world’s leading expert on hope, discovered a formula: Goals + Pathways + Self-Efficacy = Hope. Motivational strategy is a far more robust science than the hype-filled approaches of the past. The data is clear – hope can be instilled and increased. Once we foster it, it can influence every area of a young person’s world. Furthermore, hope correlates positively with self-esteem, positive emotions, athletic performance, health and wellbeing, and greater academic satisfaction.
Let us take a closer look at each of the three elements. Understanding them is the key to understanding what senior high school students need most.
Element One: Goals
Samuel Coleridge said it well: “Hope without an object cannot live.” A goal provides endpoints and anchors our thoughts to a set outcome. Hopeful goals must contain a sense of uncertainty. Goals with a 100 per cent probability of attainment do not require hope. Therefore, goals must always be a stretch – meaningful enough to matter and compelling enough to inspire action.
When I work with senior high school students, one of the first things I do is help them get clear on what they actually want. Not what their parents want for them. Not what their school expects. What they genuinely want for themselves. This clarity alone can transform a student’s energy and entire outlook.
Element Two: Pathways
The second element shows us that pathways are vital. When I coach students, a large portion of my time goes into helping them map out alternate routes to their goals. Many students fall into a pattern of thinking there is only one way to get from A to B. When that pathway feels blocked, they feel hopeless. However, B can always be reached through a variety of possibilities. This shift in perspective alone can dramatically increase a student’s capacity to hope.
A little over a month ago I found out my dad was diagnosed with cancer. My self-esteem plummeted, my anxiety levels rose drastically and I could not concentrate. Hearing your talk to the Grade 11s and hearing your story – I can see that no matter what happens in life, overcoming is possible.
Year 11 Student, Coorparoo QLD
That student found a pathway through an impossible situation. Not because the situation changed – but because their perspective did. Of course, that is easier said than done. Nevertheless, it is one of the most important things we can teach senior high school students: that a new perspective opens new pathways.
Element Three: Self-Efficacy
The third and final element in fostering hope is self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in their capacity to produce desired effects through their own actions. Indeed, this is the best part of my job – to see the eyes of a young person light up when they discover the truth of their own capacity to change. When a student genuinely believes they can make a difference to their own life, something remarkable shifts.
Moreover, self-efficacy is not about telling young people they are perfect. It is about helping them understand they are capable – capable of growth, capable of change, and capable of contributing something meaningful to the world.
Hope Can Be Learned
Dr Shane Lopez, Gallup Senior Scientist and author of Making Hope Happen, outlines several foundational assumptions about hope. Hope theory is a cognitive model of human motivation. Everyone has the capacity for hopeful thinking, and that capacity can grow. We are time-oriented – evaluations of the past and the future both influence the present. Nearly all situations can take on a hopeful framing. In addition, experiences and social expectations shape the development of hope over time.
Have you ever seen someone transform a seemingly hopeless situation into a challenge to overcome? A person can make themselves happy or miserable, irrespective of what is happening around them, simply by changing the contents of their consciousness. That is hope in action. The capacity to develop a hopeful mindset is vitally important – not only for succeeding in life, but for genuinely enjoying it.
After all, when we ask what senior high school students need most, the research and the real stories both point to the same answer: hope. Young people need someone to tell them they are important. A belief in their own capacity to change is equally vital. And above all, they need adults who are intentional enough to help them build goals, find pathways, and develop the self-efficacy to pursue both.
Ready to build hope in your school community? At The HopeFULL Institute we deliver powerful seminars that help senior high school students discover their strengths, build resilience and find their purpose. Book a school seminar or visit The HopeFULL Institute to learn more.