Attributes for Success

With that in mind, I wanted to share our five employer endorsed attributes for getting the most out of college and achieving the best results you can.

1 – Being professional

What do I mean by this? Well, thinking about college like a job is probably a good way of framing it. Just like a job, we expect everyone to turn up every day, on time, and ready to learn.

And just like an employer, we don’t accept people coming in late, missing days and being unprepared, as we know that when this happens people don’t achieve as well on their course.

Our own research into our learners’ success rates shows that students who attended more than 90% of lessons were more likely to succeed and get their qualifications. With our A level students, we know that if you’re attending more than 90% of your lessons it more than doubles your chances of getting A*-B grade compared to having a lower rate of attendance.

By preparing in advance and making sure you have everything you need for your lessons, you’re removing stress and anxiety from your life, which helps your brain to focus and learn.

2 – Being confident

Confidence is something that can help you to make new friends, find new interests and succeed in your learning. While it may be hard to feel confident, we believe there are three traits that help people to develop their confidence.

We believe that when someone is motivated, inquisitive, and proactive, confidence is something that follows.

Being motivated and focusing on your career pathway, helps you to get to where you want to be. While being inquisitive and asking questions about things, helps you expand your understanding of things and builds a mindset that is about learning and growth.

Taking control and being proactive, rather than waiting for things to come to you is something that builds confidence, because when you’re like this people treat you differently. It shows maturity and is a trait that employers and universities look for.

3 – Being aware

Being self-aware and understanding more about what makes you tick, is something that will make you a much better learner. Knowing how you work best, the environments you thrive in and the things that affect your ability to learn are all important to your successes.

A big part of being aware is showing others respect in and around college, which helps to create an environment where everyone feels safe and secure. We know that breeds an environment where people can thrive!

Also, awareness needs reflection. Thinking about our behaviours, the things that challenge us and the interactions we’ve had and wondering how we can improve and learn is important to our development and successes.

4 – Being enterprising

What do we mean by enterprising? Well, we think that enterprising is when you’re able to come up with creative solutions to problems. It’s when you’re resourceful and make the most of any given situation and use the things you have at your disposal. It’s also about taking risks and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

5 – Being resilient

For most people, the greatest learning only comes after some failure, and to develop and be successful you need to learn how to fail. At Activate Learning, we know that people’s experiences and previous failures can lead to a negative mindset, where you close yourself off to learning as you feel you can’t do something.

No one is ever great at something first time. It takes practice and perseverance to develop the neural connections in the brain and the emotional strength to keep going even when results aren’t what you would hope for. The brain is like a muscle, the more you practice, the cleverer you become.

Being resilient is about adapting to the challenges you’re facing and having the self-reliance to know that you’ve got it covered.

Take care,

Cheri Ashby

Deputy Chief Executive