Behaviour and behavioural change

When the members first attended they would each stifle what each other was saying. They would criticise what each other said. There was an air of intimidation towards certain members.

Phrases of ‘I will bang you’ or swear words were often heard. The more aggressive and dominant members controlled the sessions and influenced what the younger members had to say.

It took a while for the members to open up and discuss their behaviour and claims of what they would do if someone either challenged them or did something they did not like.

One of the major changes in the young people was the original collective behaviour of one person does something and the rest simply follow. If one person refused to engage the group refused to engage. If one person was disruptive the whole group were disruptive. By the final sessions all members participated as individuals with individual opinions and individual actions. No person was afraid to express their thoughts in fear of retribution or ridicule.

Self esteem and confidence

Many of the members were very confident and had high self esteem the problem was that they were using their self esteem and confidence to brag, boast, swear, undermine each other and the project. This we believe was more to do with them testing us then a direct refusal to participate and engage or low self esteem and confidence.

By the final session (in the pilot) the young people were proud of what they had done on the project. Staff were getting a sense of achievement and high self esteem. The young people wanted their peers, teachers and Elevated Aspirations' staff to see what they had achieved, to see the work that they had done and were demanding that their work was displayed in the school.

Attendance

Most of the young people continued to attend their respective sessions after the first week in term one and term two. However, in the NEETs group for the pilot programme there was a reduction in attendance of about 40%.