TRANSFORMING EDUCATION FOR PUPILS USING THE YOUNG PEOPLE INDEX

by Helen Rivero, MSc.

Co-founder of The Young People Index and a Chartered Member of the CIPD

The Young People Index, is a revolutionary online instrument that is transforming young people's lives and enabling educationalists to identify and nurture the key talents of young people; the leaders and workforce of the future. The tool measures non-academic strengths, which raises self awareness, self esteem and confidence, showing each and every young person how they can make an impact on the world.

I recently visited BETT, an annual conference whose mission is to bring together people, ideas, practices and technologies so that educators and learners can fulfil their potential. Having spent the past few years developing The Young People Index tool for pupils and carrying out training with senior school leaders and teachers, it seemed like the best place to go to engage with more educationalists.

I wasn't disappointed - so many UK and international schools were keen find out more about how they could measure the contribution and impact of their leadership teams, teachers and pupils.

The Young People Index builds upon academic research of Professor Adrian Furnham and Dr. John Mervyn-Smith and their 'GC Index®', which was originally created to help organisations search the market for individuals who could deliver transformal change.

I was inspired to develop a version of The GC Index® for young people after reflecting on my own experience of her careers advice at school. When I took The GC Index® and became an accredited trainer, my intention was to use it within organisations as a consultant, but I soon reflected on the impact this could have had on me as a young person at school and what a difference it could have had on my career path. I felt so passionately about how I could make a difference with this knowledge, so I embarked on this idea and The Young People Index was born!

Having now worked with school leaders, teachers and pupils, the results have been fantastic, although I can see that one of the biggest challenges ahead for schools is to develop robust schools leadership skills, teachers CPD, and also look at the way we are teaching our young people in terms of the future skills they need.

More needs to be done whereby business and schools are forging long term relationships to better prepare schools and young people for the world of work, and to offer help and guidance for teachers and senior teams to develop their awareness of leadership requirements in the modern world.  In our experience we have seen many leadership teams struggling to develop the necessary skills they need to thrive in this rapidly changing world.  The GC Index® has been transformational in this area and helped these teams forge better relationships and give them a common language and framework to use.

The GC Index®, which powers The Young People Index, is an organometric that profiles an individual’s proclivity for making a contribution to a role, team and organisation. It is truly revolutionising the way people operate, shifting mindsets to focus on impact within organisations and schools. Using The GC Index® in schools has proved to be an insightful and collaborative experience. Not only have we helped teams improve communication and understand each other’s unique contributions, but we have also been able to help schools understand the challenges businesses face, and in return, working with businesses has helped educate schools in terms of understanding what skills are needed for the future.

We would love to work with more schools to help educate and support leaders and teachers so that they have the necessary skills to ensure their future organisational success - and to be confident that they are teaching our young people the right skills they need to reach their full potential.  

​If you would like to know more, please contact me at: info@youngpeopleindex.com