A Comprehensive Approach to Enhancing Self-Esteem in Students

This essay delves into the crucial role of self-esteem in student development and academic achievement. It examines the building blocks of self-esteem—competence, virtue, power, and significance—and how counselors can help students maximize these elements. The essay explores the Adventure-Based Counselling (ABC) model and its integration with Adlerian theory, focusing on concepts like the Four Mistaken Goals (attention, power, revenge, inadequacy) and the importance of encouragement. It highlights practical strategies for educators and parents to foster self-esteem by avoiding discouragement, promoting social interest, and emphasizing learning over performance. The essay concludes by discussing school-wide implications, including the American School Counselor’s Association (ASCA) recommendations and the implementation of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and self-regulated learning to create a supportive and multi-ethnic environment that enhances students' psychological health and academic success. Desklib provides access to this essay and other resources for students.

Running Head: SELF-ESTEEM 1
Enhancing Self-Esteem in Students
Name
Institution

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Enhancing Self-Esteem in Students
The issue of self-esteem has been a growing concern in many schools. A number of
scholars have explored the concept of self-esteem and concluded that it is a crucial aspect of
children’s overall development. Deurzen (2012) defines self-esteem as “total perception of
self, which incorporates self-image, self-concept, and social concept.” Recent studies
underscore the fact that self-esteem and academic achievement are intertwined (Afari et al.,
2012). Students’ perceptions about themselves can influence their worlds in a positive or
negative way. This paper provides an overview on how to enhance students’ self-esteem by
employing applicable counselling theories and concepts. The leading principle in this study is
that improving student’s self-esteem is not just for enhancing their academic excellence,
rather to entrench a culture of regulatory behaviour that will serve them in all aspects of their
lives— even after school.
Operating within a school environment that emphasises on the measurable student
success requires a counselling approach that focuses on both student’s identity and self-worth
According to Social Comparison Theory, students tend to interact with fellow students whom
they perceive to have the same academic potential and self-esteem (Johnson and Johnson,
2013).
Building Blocks of Self-Esteem
Petko (2016) defined self-esteem as a concept that vests on four building blocks:
competence, virtue, power, and significance. The authors also identified belonging,
generosity, independence, and mastery as the integral components of the aforementioned
blocks. In order to build students’ self-esteem, counsellor must accentuate them and seek to
help a student maximize them.

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In order to be significant, students need to feel like they belong to the society. Some
of the methods than an individual can use to obtain significance include gaining power,
getting attention, and commiseration. In schools, students feel sense of belonging through
social reputations, academic, and extra-curriculum activities. Acceptance into social groups
improves students’ emotional health and confidence while rejection exposes them to
academic difficulties. Peer rejection lead to social dissatisfaction and low self-esteem among
the students. Rejected students tend to develop self-hatred.
Another block is competence— desire to succeed in a certain area. Repeated failure
discourages students from becoming competent. Counsellors can help students with low self-
esteem to become competent by setting small goals that are capable of achieving and
instilling the art of taking responsibility. Success, no matter how small, should enhance
satisfaction and self-efficacy.
The third component of the self-esteem block is power. Power refers to the desire to
be independent and free from authority. Students can gain power through team playing,
cooperation, and acting in selfless manner. Students with low self-esteem tend to fear and
helpless, and may give up on life.
Virtue is the reflection of a person’s generosity. Virtue gives one spiritual fulfilment.
Unlike students with low self-esteem, those with high self-esteem are mature, generous, and
caring.
Adventure-Based Counselling (ABC)
ABC counselling model employs experimental initiatives as a way of initiating
change among the counselees— by building a bridge between their activity and their lives
(Nelson-Jones, 2013). The incorporation of activities into the concept was to demonstrate the
metaphoric relationship that exists between goals of counselling and life. Proponents of ABC

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argue that it can influence counselee physically, educationally, spiritually, and
psychologically by fostering areas of self-concept, confidence, and efficacy (Lapworth,
2012). The fundamental aim of the ABC theory is to enhance the counselee’s self-concept.
This can be achieved through trust-building problem solving, and goal setting— individually
or as a group. Morrison and Ruiz (2012) hold that ABC programs enable the counselee to
have the ability to identify faulty thinking and increases their problem solving skills.
McHenry et al (2014) argue that ABC can be effectively applied in enhancing self-
concept and self-esteem through communication, cooperation, challenge, creativity, skill
development, excitement, and fun. These activities are practical in counselees’ and focusing
on them provides counselees’ with springboard to improve in making decisions as well as
developing competence, which subsequently enhances their self-worth.
Integrating ABC Counselling With Adlerian Theory
Adlerian Theory, according to Ivey et al (2012), “provides a holistic conceptualization
of personality.” The theory is underpinned on the notion that counselees’ behaviours are
interwoven with their goals. Counselees’ goals are absolute reflection of their private logic
that is influenced by their life experiences and their apperceptions about them. According to
Henderson et al (2016), private logic has huge impact on a person’s “lifestyle and lifestyle
convictions, which continue to affect counselees’ views of themselves and the goals which
they base their behaviour.” Applying Adlerian ABC model can be effective in enhancing
students’ self-concept, which in turn reduces stress, depression, and ability to avert
delinquency.
Adlerian Concepts
Alfred Adlerian is considered as one of the fathers of psychology who contributed in
development of how to work with children (Goldsmith, 2011). Adler proposed many ideas of

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improving self-esteem among the students, in order to enhance their academic performance.
He introduced the theory of Four Mistaken Goals, which focus on understanding the
students’ behaviour. The theory provides guideline to school counsellors on how to work
with students to improve their behaviour.
Four Mistaken Goals
The theory is entrenched on how promote self-esteem and subsequent academic
achievement. Understanding students’ behaviour and exploring effective ways of improving
it requires counsellors to focus on the students’ goals. According to Ivy et al (2012), students
are social being and they are always seeking for sense of belonging. Since every behaviour is
goal-oriented, the basic assumption is that this is “every students’ underlying goals” (Rose,
2012). To make this effective, the first step should be identification of their immediate goal
by applying the Four Mistaken Goals: power, attention, revenge, and inadequacy.
Undue attention
This is the first mistaken goal that most discouraged students that seek sense of
belonging use. According to (Johnson and Johnson, 2013), this goal conjures up annoyance
on adults. Students that exude undue attention tend to making obnoxious and loud noises or
disrupting their fellow students during teaching session. In most instances, the teacher
responds by recognizing the student either through scolding or by yelling at them, which is
exactly what they were seeking. Under such circumstance, doing something unexpected is not
is not helpful since it only gives the student his/her desired undue attention, which increases
his/her bad behaviour.
Power Struggle
Power struggle is another mistaken goal that causes anger. An example of power
struggle if refusing to comply with an adults’ request, which makes beleaguers an adult

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makes to be tempted to punish the student. The best way to handle such situation is by being
gentle to the student and trying to resist any attempt to punish him/her. The adult can employ
logical consequence to help the student amend his/her behaviour, for instance, asking the
student to read a passage that interests him/her. The aim of this approach is to redirect
student’s negative impulse into doing a more productive activity (Pushkarama, 2017).
Retaliation
Retaliation, a third mistaken goal, can result to hurt feeling. In this case, the student
may be violent and use physical force to hurt others or apply glue on the teacher’s phone.
Although the student might cause injury or hurt other students, the most appropriate solution
is to encourage the student. This is because punishing the student for the act can exacerbate
the situation and elevate it beyond revenge (Gerald and Gerald, 2018).
Inadequacy
The fourth mistaken goal, which is inadequacy, hold that the student has given up and
apparently, the student’s advocator has despaired. Such student tends to fail terribly and does
not attempt to do even simple tasks, for fear of challenging his/her self-esteem. The most
suitable solution is by consistently encouraging the student and exercising utmost patience
with the student by “setting smaller goals and achievable assignments with achievable
acceptance” (Cottone, 2017). Through commitment, school counsellor can help the student to
enhance his/her self-esteem and academic performance.
Encouragement
One of the effective ways of helping students with low self-esteem is to avoid
discouraging them (Corey, 2017b). Authority figures play a critical role in the academic
performance of students. The four mistaken goals are because of accumulating
discouragement that students encounter. Instead of labelling the students as bad or sick,

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teachers should encourage them by giving them sense of accomplishment and sense of self-
respect. Elements of encouragement include active listening, patience, compassion, and
working collaboratively with students.
Another way of encouraging students with low self-esteem is stress improvement.
Teachers should draw a distinction between students and their behaviours. According to
Corey (2017a), the leading principle in changing human behaviour should be improvement,
and not perfection. Seeking perfection conjures up the spirit of superiority, which is not the
ultimate goal. Perfection, if anything, will only discourage the student further. Therefore,
teachers should emphasize on providing students with short-term goals that are not beyond
their capability.
However, encouragement should not be mistaken with controlling or pampering
(Lapworth, 2012). The process of boosting students’ self-esteem should not lead to
humiliation or overprotection. Since home influences also affect students’ performance,
parents should also work collaboratively with teachers to help the student. According to Rose
(2012), pampering or overprotection may worsen the students’ academic performance.
Considerably, over-controlling students makes them feel frustrated and helpless while under
controlling them worsens their self-esteem. Adults should be careful so that their interaction
with the student does not hamper their self-worth, value, or self-esteem. This can be done by
embracing failure and avoiding comparison.
Another critical aspect in encouraging students with low self-esteem is social interest.
Adlerian theorists defined social interest as participation, contribution, feeling acceptance,
and loved and doing the same to others (Morrison and Ruiz, 2012). It is imperative that
parents let children to pursue their own goals. Imposing goals to students usually lead to
failure because in most cases, they do not fit the students.

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School Implications
Although some studies emphasize on the programs that enhance self-esteem as
effective ways of improving their academic excellence and mitigating future failure, some
seek alternative methods. American School Counsellor’s Association (ASCA) provides
recommendations that adults should apply to improve students’ self-esteem (McHenry et al,
2014). The fundamental solution is that counsellors should ensure that the school delivery
system has the capacity to support student development through counselling. ASCA provides
four components of improving students’ self-esteem: guidance curriculum, responsive
services, system support, and individual planning esteem (McHenry et al, 2014).
Individual planning is a preventive procedure that counsellors can apply by advising
students on their career goals. Guidance curriculum emphasize on outlining goals preventive
activities that can be used in both parents and students workshops. Responsive services are
interventions that focus on the attitudes and behaviours of struggling students. System
support is used to launch and sustain overall guidance program by using personnel and
resources (McHenry et al, 2014).
Focus on Learning
According to Duru and Balkis (2017), counsellors should concentrate on learning
rather than performance. This is because psychological aspects like emotional process,
expressions, feelings, social interactions influence learning, and have the efficacy to facilitate
or deter learning. Other ways of improving students’ self-esteem is by creating a conducive
multi-ethnic environment and addressing discrimination issues.
Social emotional learning (SEL)
SEL is used in guidance curriculum to promote high academic achievements as a
gateway to improving students’ self-esteem. Corey (2017a) defines SEL as “the process

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through which individuals become socially and emotionally intelligent.” SEL has five major
components: social awareness, self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-
making skills, and relationship skills. Ideally, SEL provide students with opportunity to
enhance their behaviours, thoughts, and feelings. Students can learn to accentuate and
manage their reactions to experiences to peers and adults (Corey, 2017b). The main aim of
SEL is to enhance pro-social behaviours that promote students’ psychological health. Besides
increasing students’ self-esteem, SEL provides springboard for students to enhance their
academic achievements and social interest.
Self-regulate Learning
Self-regulated learning is a fundamental component of guidance curriculum. It
encourages students to improve their self-esteem by becoming architects of pursuing their
goals (Cottone, 2017). Under this approach, students identify how they can utilize their
strengths to improve their conditions. Self-regulated learners, according to Cottone (2017),
always find a way of succeeding during difficult times. This is because they tend to be active
in their own academic experience and being accountable to the outcomes of it. Self-regulating
learning involves helping students to undertake planning, self-evaluation, self-monitoring,
organization skills, and setting goals (Deurzen, 2012). These skills focus on social emotional
learning, particularly on decision-making and self-awareness.
Appreciations
The school should develop a habit in which people appreciate each other, both students and
the staff. This can be done by forming circle and having a facilitator who encourages peer
appreciations.

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Cooperative Learning
According to Pushkarma (2017), students’ exposure to social contexts has far-
reaching implications on their self-esteem. Therefore, to enhance self-esteem, it is incumbent
to support children’s psychological development by encouraging peer interactions and
relationships. One of the most threating aspect to self-esteem among students today is social
media. Nelson-Jones (2013) argues that peer disapproval via social networking profile
diminishes individual’s self-esteem. In another nuanced study, Petko et al (2016) finds a
connection between low self-esteem and cyberbullying, particularly among the young people.
Therefore, as a counsellor, there is need to address issues of cyberbullying during sessions
that focus on self-esteem.
Conclusion
The paper has provided an in-depth analysis on the concept of self-esteem. Based on
the recent studies, there is undeniable evidence that demonstrates a direct relationship
between students’ performance and their self-efficiency. Although there numerous
counselling models, the paper affords the ABC Adlerian and ABC models as the best
approach to enhance students’ self-esteem. Counsellors have the capacity to influence
students’ self-esteem development. Whichever approach or model the counsellor adopts, it
should focus on maximizing the four building blocks of self-esteem.

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