Case study - Education

Project scope

A prominent primary school decided to enhance learning by investing in a deeper understanding of their students. Alongside the standard aptitude testing and achievement evaluations that already were in place, they also assessed the personality style, team role and emotional intelligence of their students.

The challenge

A growing number of educators recognize that students who receive an exclusively academic education may be ill-equipped for future challenges, both as individuals and members of society. It is just not enough to feed only the mind.

The primary school teachers have long realised that there is more to academic and life success than depending on mere IQ, memory and repetition when learning. They recognised the importance of fusing social and emotional skills enrichment with that of cognitive development, and were ready and eager to act on it.

At the time many teachers were already applying various techniques to blend the different development components. However these were often based on practical experimentation, and lacked empirical backing that is critical in ensuring success.

Our solution

ePsy profiled the personality style, team role and emotional intelligence of the students, both individually and in class format. The results were matched and correlated with SAT scores, as well as the academic achievement results of the students. These aided in positioning the school as a whole, and also assisted in aligning the classes with the learning objectives set out for that year.

Teachers used their newly-acquired knowledge to strategically organize their students into work groups. The workgroups were based on models that brought out complimentary team roles, harmonious personality styles and supporting emotional competence.

In addition, the school board followed through on an ePsy recommendation: They funded similar assessment of the teaching staff! As part of a personal development initiative, teachers were trained to match their own profiles with that of their class and students. This step greatly increased teacher understanding of the effectiveness of their own teaching styles. Now they could reason why certain students respond well to them and others less so. The profiles gave them ways of addressing matches that may not have been optimal before.