Staying positive (resilience)

Global societal and technological trends are shaping the future workplace, such as changes brought about by AI, automation and as the world looks to reduce the impacts of climate change. Core transferable skills such as staying positive (or being resilient) are becoming increasingly valuable to employers along with these shifts and can transfer across different roles and industries. 

Teach students that staying positive, or being resilient, is about using self-management tactics and strategies to overcome setbacks and achieve goals. This skill helps students build a growth mindset, understanding that challenges are opportunities to learn and improve from for the future. 

Through activities, discussions and a resilience quiz, this lesson helps students to develop the skills needed to overcome setbacks by exploring how they could respond in different situations, using scenarios and introducing the 4A’s approach – Avoid, Alter, Adapt, and Accept.

Teaching resources:

• Staying positive: Lesson plan and presentation slides – for use with a group of students in the classroom
• Staying positive (resilience): Student worksheets
• The Importance of a challenge – quick fire activity – 10-minute activity for a group of students in the classroom, can be used as an icebreaker for the lesson plan
• Reflection on dealing with pressure: Short film – hear from Ian Wright, a television and radio personality and former professional footballer who talks about dealing with pressure during his career
• Secondary school: Skills tracker – an optional resource to support students keep track of the skills they have developed and plan how they can practise them
• Staying positive icon: available to download and incorporate in your wider teaching materials to help students recognise other contexts where they are learning and utilising staying positive skills. 

Lesson learning outcomes:

By the end of the activity students will be able to:

• Explain the importance of staying positive (resilience), including in relation to the workplace
• Understand the importance of learning from experiences, even if they are negative
• Explain different strategies they can use to build resilience and manage personal challenges and setbacks.
   

Reflection on dealing with pressure: Short film 

In this short film, students will hear from Ian Wright, a television and radio personality and former professional footballer, who talks about dealing with pressure during his career. 

Continue to develop your students’ staying positive (resilience) skills

Continue developing your students’ resilience skills with the Stress Bucket Challenge, an online 5-minute film which teaches them 7 tips to help manage stress. 

This lesson features in the employability skills scheme of learning for 11-14 year olds.  They provide a ready-made sequence of curriculum linked resources to help you build progression in your learners' knowledge over time. Visit the Scheme of learning homepage to support with your planning.