The psychologist William Damon stated that “the biggest problem growing up today is not actually stress; it’s meaninglessness”. Young people are growing up in a rapidly changing and increasingly digital world. Many adolescents experience uncertainty about the future and are searching for meaning, belonging, and direction. Given that adolescents spend so much time in education, schools are in a unique position to support this search. The question of how we can make education more meaningful and supportive of purpose development seems even more relevant today.

My PhD research explores how schools can create conditions that support the development of purpose in adolescents. Damon defines purpose as ‘a stable, long-term intention to accomplish something that is both meaningful to the self and consequential to the world beyond the self’. Adolescence is a unique period in life – a developmental window of opportunity – when young people start asking important questions that lay the foundation for purpose development: Who am I? What matters to me? What kind of future do I want to create? While schools are good at helping students gain knowledge and earn diplomas, they can make a more conscious attempt at helping young people find meaning, direction, and ways to contribute to the world around them.

To explore this in a realistic setting, I am currently working with teachers and students in a secondary school in Rotterdam using a method called a Change Lab. Rather than bringing in external solutions, teachers and students work together to examine current school practices, discuss challenges, and explore and design new possibilities – using insights from adolescent development psychology and purpose development research.

Initial findings from the Change Lab highlight the importance of moving from simply talking about purpose and introducing separate programmes, to creating opportunities for students to explore, connect, contribute and reflect as part of their entire school journey. Two concrete interventions we are experimenting with this coming schoolyear are the ‘Contribution Opportunity Map’ – which helps students discover meaningful ways to contribute (both within and outside of school) using their talents – and the ‘Interest Exploration Pass’, which enables students to explore interests and possible pathways through the wider network of parents, alumni and community members. Together, these initiatives reinforce a model of joint responsibility, in which the team around students provides a supportive scaffold of relationships, opportunities and reflection, while students have agency in shaping their own direction. We are excited to learn more through testing these interventions. Watch this space for further updates and reflections in the course of the year.

If there is one thing I hope people remember from my research, it is that helping young people explore and develop a purposeful approach to life should not be viewed as an extra task for schools. Helping young people discover what matters to them may be one of school’s most important contributions to both individual and societal development. Purpose development does not necessarily need to compete with academic achievement. Instead, it creates a strong foundation for continuous learning and community building both for students and teachers!