Frontiers Enablement Model
The Frontiers Enablement Model is a complete approach to teaching that develops all aspects of a student's character, rather than just focussing on the academic.
Professional Development Resources Enablement Model 8. Identity
8. Identity
However, many students don't feel that they are good at anything (particulary if they are regularly undermined, teased, abused). In this case, they can often become "the best at being the worst", for example, the best at being disruptive, manipulative or aggressive. They then form a harmful identity which unconsciously seeks to reinforce itself by projecting a range of behaviours into their environment and then drawing out responses from that environment to reinforce that identity. This is explained in our Identity Model below. At Frontiers we aim to help young people form a positive identity by encouraging them to be as good as they can be at everything they do. 
The Identity ModelOur identity tends to be reinforced by our filtering out the responses we get from our environment, only acknowledging those which support this identity. For example, say we have an identity of a victim. If we leave our watch on the floor and someone treads on it (a behaviour), there are several responses that we might get, e.g. "Idiot, you left your watch on the floor" or "Sorry, I accidentally trod on your watch". If we have a victim identity, we will tend to filter these responses so we only hear those that support this identity, i.e. "Idiot, you left your watch on the floor". This then reinforces our identity of being a victim, and we might say "People are always picking on me!" At Frontiers, we try to change an unhelpful identity by bringing awareness to this pattern and helping students break out of it. |
Our identity is often formed from the things that we can do well.For example we may see ourselves as being a strong leader, a keen sportswoman or an articulate speaker.
