Promoting Responsibility and Leadership

In this section, we explore how and why to promote responsibility and provide young people with leadership opportunities. Responsibility is defined as “dispositions and abilities to reliably meet commitments and fulfil obligations of challenging roles.” 

This involves young people: taking on roles and obligations within your provision; encountering difficult demands; and drawing on resources to fulfil challenging roles and internalise accomplishment. 

This module will support you to: 

  • Define responsibility and leadership within the larger SEL framework​; 

  • Explore best practice techniques for supporting young people build capacity for responsibility and leadership; 

  • Utilise skills to support young people in understanding how their interests, strengths, and leadership style influence relationships and group dynamics; 

  • Apply techniques that encourage youth ownership, accountability, and decision-making over tasks; and​ 

  • Model skills that build clarity of roles and responsibilities among young people. 

The key staff and volunteer practices that support this skill area are: 

  • Providing structured but open-ended roles for young people; 

  • Modelling and fulfilling your own roles (e.g. as a staff member); and 

  • Coaching young people by providing high expectations, respecting young people’s ownership of their own roles, and providing help only as needed. 

We will explore and practice these approaches in the training. You can find more detail in your participant notebook (see below) as well as on page 83 of the Thrive Guide. 

Resources

A series of resources to support you to promote responsibility and provide young people with leadership opportunities. 

Promoting Responsibility and Leadership: participant notebook

In this workbook, you will find the following activities: 

  • Notes and Doodles 

Use this space to capture your ideas for ways to provide young people with leadership opportunities. 

  • Young people at the Centre 

For each of the scenarios provided, brainstorm ways to centre the experience on the young people that you work with and provide opportunities for leadership and responsibility. For each one, think about specific ways you can structure, model, and coach to support young people in these situations. 

  • Taking it Back 

Spend some time writing down ideas for how you will implement (or continue to implement) these practices for promoting responsibility and leadership in your work with young people. 

  • Reflection Questions 

Three questions to help you to reflect on and capture key learning from this section. 

See more

Further Reading

A selection of articles, books and websites offering additional resources designed to deepen your understanding. 

SESD Resource Hub: Developing Socio-Emotional Skills

For more tools and resources, check out the ‘Developing Socio-Emotional Skills’ section of the SESD Resource Hub. 

Explore here