Shaping Tomorrow
The Role of Role Models in Equipping Future Generations
Dr. Shelby Clark June 25, 2024
Start
Agenda
Who are your role models?
Background
Our Study
Key Findings
Resources
Take-Aways
Who Am I?
- Principal Investigator at Project Zero
- Work on The Good Project with teachers in a Global Community of Practice
- Formerly worked on a five year study of character development and social impact in international schools
- Received my PhD in Applied Human Development studying curiosity & character development from Boston University
- Former school counselor in St. Paul, MN
01
Who are Your Role Models?
Who are your role models?
What is it you admire about them?
Turn & Talk to someone next to you. What are the similarities in your answers? What are the differences?
Raise Your Hands Up!
- How many of you would say your top qualities were related to hard work, grit, or tenacity?
- How many of you would say your top qualities were related to flexibility, creativity, or curiosity?
- How many of you would say your top qualities were related to helping others, service, civic engagement, or responsibility to others?
Raise Your Hands Up!
- How many of you spoke about a parent?
- A media star?
- A sports star?
- A teacher?
- Other?
02
Background
What is a role model?
"a person who serves as an example by influencing others”
"individuals admired for their ways of being and acting as professionals”
“a person considered as a standard of excellence to be imitated”
What is a mentor?
"an individual with whom a youth shares a 'close, trusting relationship in which the mentor provides guidance and encouragement'"
Overlap, but here focusing more on role models
Why are Role Models Important?
- For adults, looking up to an ethical leader or "good professional" in the workplace is associated with:
- increased work engagement,
- job performance & satisfaction,
- psychological well-being,
- ethical behaviors,
- self-efficacy,
- life and family satisfaction,
- employee flourishing (or eudaimonia),
- group and firm level outcomes (e.g., organizational fairness).
Why are Role Models Important?
- For youth, looking up to a role model associated with:
- decreased high-risk behavior,
- higher happiness & confidence,
- higher interest in education,
- identification of future selves,
- prosociality,
- mitigation of race/gender bias,
- occupational aspirations.
Shifting Future of Work
New Skills Needed for the Future of Work
Who do youth admire?
Known or Accessible
Proximal or Inaccessible
Parasocial Relationships
Who do youth admire?
How possible or easy it is for the individual to emulate the role model’s behavior
How similar an individual feels to the role model
Attainable
Relevant
Hammond et al. (2022)
Inaccessible Role Models
How youth identified "Famous Character Models"
Parents & Family Members
88%
Found that a mother, father, or sibiling served as the most influential figures on students’ career choice
Accessible Role Models
32%
Percentage of UK youth in the sample who named parents as their most important role model
Percentage of young adults (ages 18 to 40) who said that their parents, guardian, or sibling was their top role model
41%
Common Qualities Identified in Role Models
Hammond et al. (2022) found over half the qualities youth identified as important in FCMs were character virtues (besides identity, appearance, success, etc.)
Altruistic/Caring
Gives Good Advice
Nice or Kind
Hardworking
Competent
Authentic/Honest
03
Our Study
But, what type of good work role models do youth globally identify, and what qualities and behaviors do they ascribe to these models?
3Es of Good Work
Beginning in 1996: The Good Project, founded by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, William Damon, and Howard Gardner, created a research-backed framework of “good work”:
Engagement
Ethics
Excellence
Meaningful & Purposeful. Caring about your work and finding it meaningful.
High Quality. Knowing your area of work well and striving to perform to the best of your ability.
Socially responsible. When faced with dilemmas, weighing the alternatives, considering who is impacted by your decisions, consulting with knowledgeable others, and trying to perform in the most appropriate manner.
Research Context
- Ongoing study investigating Good Project 45 minute lesson plans with global community of practice of teachers.
- Lesson plans that emphasize dilemmas, reflection, & discussion.
- For this study, a subset of 48 teachers from 14 schools, located in 11 countries: Colombia, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, UAE, USA.
- 685 documents.
Data Source
Coding Process
Qualitative Data Analysis
04
Key Findings
Who do youth identify as role models?
Who do youth name as role models?
"Cristiano Ronaldo is the #1 best player in history in my opinion, he is a player who worked hard to achieve what he did, he was a very poor person but he dedicated himself to what he liked, which was football, and brought his family out of poverty."
Character Strengths Identified by Youth in Role Models
"I admire these people as they have had their own ways of achieving the goals they have set for themselves, while also influencing and impacting society in a positive manner. Therefore, I admire that these people have had enough dedication and will to work towards what they desire in order to have influence on people."
Behaviors Identified by Youth in Role Models
Describing Sandeep Maheshwari and other motivational speakers...
"Because they help people who are struggling with physical and mental health issues. They often bring a different perspective, turning ideas on their head, presenting them in different ways possible which can help people to see things differently and cope with their situations."
3Es of Good Work in Role Models
"Superman is a good worker because [he] excels at his job of defeating criminals, but also is ethical as he follows his code of honour and protects civilians from collateral damage, remaining engaged to his job through a sense of duty and to protect humanity"
Findings by Country
Colombia, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, UAE, USA.
*Not generalizable to the country at large, but thoughts for further inquiry.
Who do youth identify as role models... by country?
no significant difference in percentage of
Male & Female
role models named across the participating countries.
Perhaps because:
- Unlike historically, when research indicated women often had to rely on male career role models, women's employment has risen or is on the rise in most places globally.
- Male students tend to rely more on male role models whereas female students tend to rely more on female role models.
Who do youth identify as role models... by country?
What character strengths are identified... by country?
Hard work & dedication top strengths across countries
Kindness next most emphasized strength in US, UAE, India, & Nigeria
Perseverance next most emphasized strength in Mexico, Romania, & Turkey
Success next most emphasized strength in Guatemala & Poland
What behaviors are identified... by country?
"Spending time at work" valued in Mexico & the USA
"Spreading Awareness" was highly valued in Nigeria & Romania
"Helping others" top behavior across most countries
UAE listed "helping others learn" and "donating" as top behaviors
Colombia listed "overcoming challenges" as top behavior
"Considering other's wellbeing" valued in Poland and India
How is everything related?
05
Resources
Who is or isn't a good worker?
Turn & Talk
‘Your content is good, but it’ll engage much more if it’s interactive.’
- Genially
Other Ways to Integrate Role Models
Identify Anti-Mentors
Talk about your heroes
Our Core Concept Blogs
thegoodproject.org
Other Ways to Integrate Role Models
Watch Videos
Lesson Plan Teacher Examples
Discuss Dilemmas
thegoodproject.org
06
Take-Aways
Take-Aways
FAMILY & CELEBRITIES
MISALIGNMENT
GRIT
The 21st century skills that companies and researchers endorse as important for the "future of work" are not what students are valuing in their role models. Only "resilience" ("overcoming challenges") is in the top 5 of both.
Students around the world indicate that they believe a "good work" role model is someone who is a hardworking, dedicated worker.
There wasn't a significant difference between how much students spoke about male or female relatives, and students spoke about inaccessible and accessible role models equally.
We would like to thank the The John Templeton Foundation for making this work possible.
Questions?
Contact me
Shelby Clark shelby_clark@gse.harvard.edu
Thank you for attending!
Based on what we've learned about role models
If you were going to suggest ROLE MODELS for your Schools/classroom to research- Who would you suggest?
Shaping Tomorrow: The Role of Role Models in Equipping Future Gens
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Transcript
Shaping Tomorrow
The Role of Role Models in Equipping Future Generations
Dr. Shelby Clark June 25, 2024
Start
Agenda
Who are your role models?
Background
Our Study
Key Findings
Resources
Take-Aways
Who Am I?
01
Who are Your Role Models?
Who are your role models?
What is it you admire about them?
Turn & Talk to someone next to you. What are the similarities in your answers? What are the differences?
Raise Your Hands Up!
Raise Your Hands Up!
02
Background
What is a role model?
"a person who serves as an example by influencing others”
"individuals admired for their ways of being and acting as professionals”
“a person considered as a standard of excellence to be imitated”
What is a mentor?
"an individual with whom a youth shares a 'close, trusting relationship in which the mentor provides guidance and encouragement'"
Overlap, but here focusing more on role models
Why are Role Models Important?
Why are Role Models Important?
Shifting Future of Work
New Skills Needed for the Future of Work
Who do youth admire?
Known or Accessible
Proximal or Inaccessible
Parasocial Relationships
Who do youth admire?
How possible or easy it is for the individual to emulate the role model’s behavior
How similar an individual feels to the role model
Attainable
Relevant
Hammond et al. (2022)
Inaccessible Role Models
How youth identified "Famous Character Models"
Parents & Family Members
88%
Found that a mother, father, or sibiling served as the most influential figures on students’ career choice
Accessible Role Models
32%
Percentage of UK youth in the sample who named parents as their most important role model
Percentage of young adults (ages 18 to 40) who said that their parents, guardian, or sibling was their top role model
41%
Common Qualities Identified in Role Models
Hammond et al. (2022) found over half the qualities youth identified as important in FCMs were character virtues (besides identity, appearance, success, etc.)
Altruistic/Caring
Gives Good Advice
Nice or Kind
Hardworking
Competent
Authentic/Honest
03
Our Study
But, what type of good work role models do youth globally identify, and what qualities and behaviors do they ascribe to these models?
3Es of Good Work
Beginning in 1996: The Good Project, founded by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, William Damon, and Howard Gardner, created a research-backed framework of “good work”:
Engagement
Ethics
Excellence
Meaningful & Purposeful. Caring about your work and finding it meaningful.
High Quality. Knowing your area of work well and striving to perform to the best of your ability.
Socially responsible. When faced with dilemmas, weighing the alternatives, considering who is impacted by your decisions, consulting with knowledgeable others, and trying to perform in the most appropriate manner.
Research Context
Data Source
Coding Process
Qualitative Data Analysis
04
Key Findings
Who do youth identify as role models?
Who do youth name as role models?
"Cristiano Ronaldo is the #1 best player in history in my opinion, he is a player who worked hard to achieve what he did, he was a very poor person but he dedicated himself to what he liked, which was football, and brought his family out of poverty."
Character Strengths Identified by Youth in Role Models
"I admire these people as they have had their own ways of achieving the goals they have set for themselves, while also influencing and impacting society in a positive manner. Therefore, I admire that these people have had enough dedication and will to work towards what they desire in order to have influence on people."
Behaviors Identified by Youth in Role Models
Describing Sandeep Maheshwari and other motivational speakers...
"Because they help people who are struggling with physical and mental health issues. They often bring a different perspective, turning ideas on their head, presenting them in different ways possible which can help people to see things differently and cope with their situations."
3Es of Good Work in Role Models
"Superman is a good worker because [he] excels at his job of defeating criminals, but also is ethical as he follows his code of honour and protects civilians from collateral damage, remaining engaged to his job through a sense of duty and to protect humanity"
Findings by Country
Colombia, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, UAE, USA.
*Not generalizable to the country at large, but thoughts for further inquiry.
Who do youth identify as role models... by country?
no significant difference in percentage of
Male & Female
role models named across the participating countries.
Perhaps because:
Who do youth identify as role models... by country?
What character strengths are identified... by country?
Hard work & dedication top strengths across countries
Kindness next most emphasized strength in US, UAE, India, & Nigeria
Perseverance next most emphasized strength in Mexico, Romania, & Turkey
Success next most emphasized strength in Guatemala & Poland
What behaviors are identified... by country?
"Spending time at work" valued in Mexico & the USA
"Spreading Awareness" was highly valued in Nigeria & Romania
"Helping others" top behavior across most countries
UAE listed "helping others learn" and "donating" as top behaviors
Colombia listed "overcoming challenges" as top behavior
"Considering other's wellbeing" valued in Poland and India
How is everything related?
05
Resources
Who is or isn't a good worker?
Turn & Talk
‘Your content is good, but it’ll engage much more if it’s interactive.’
- Genially
Other Ways to Integrate Role Models
Identify Anti-Mentors
Talk about your heroes
Our Core Concept Blogs
thegoodproject.org
Other Ways to Integrate Role Models
Watch Videos
Lesson Plan Teacher Examples
Discuss Dilemmas
thegoodproject.org
06
Take-Aways
Take-Aways
FAMILY & CELEBRITIES
MISALIGNMENT
GRIT
The 21st century skills that companies and researchers endorse as important for the "future of work" are not what students are valuing in their role models. Only "resilience" ("overcoming challenges") is in the top 5 of both.
Students around the world indicate that they believe a "good work" role model is someone who is a hardworking, dedicated worker.
There wasn't a significant difference between how much students spoke about male or female relatives, and students spoke about inaccessible and accessible role models equally.
We would like to thank the The John Templeton Foundation for making this work possible.
Questions?
Contact me
Shelby Clark shelby_clark@gse.harvard.edu
Thank you for attending!
Based on what we've learned about role models
If you were going to suggest ROLE MODELS for your Schools/classroom to research- Who would you suggest?