One critical issue that arose in the planning questionnaire is that there was a handful of boys that perceive their body shape as unrealistic. I had asked another closed-ended question; “Do you perceive your shape in an unrealistic way?” There were a large proportion of boys that had ticked yes, 15% more than girls. This links to what I mentioned about boys being exposed to well-built and muscled men from mass media in the previous paragraph. Year seven boys don’t usually have toned muscles because they have not yet fully developed their body since boys tend to go through puberty when they are teenagers. It had worried me that boys and girls in year seven had ticked yes in that particular question because for them to see their body type as unrealistic. We associate the word ‘unrealistic’ to impractical and unworkable. This meaning that the pupils saw their body shape as a problem that they could not change.
Another critical issue that had surfaced in the planning questionnaire is that there was a large amount of girls that had saw their body size to be a sign as a personal failure. There were a less than half of boys that had the same view. I had asked another closed-ended question that was; “Do you think that your body size or shape is a sign of personal failure?” To view your body shape or size as a personal failure is distressing because it can lead to eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, which is life-threatening because it can affect a person’s emotional, physical, social and intellectual. This is problematic since pupils in year seven are still developing. A personal failure is usually something we regret constantly and has more of an emotional affect because we often feel distressed due to viewing ourselves as worthless. This is another reason why I had decided to carry on my research with both genders because the year seven pupils are insecure about their body.
The last critical issue that ascended on the planning questionnaire is that both girls and boys felt embarrassed, mortified and ashamed of their body. The questions I had asked was; “Do you feel ashamed, self-conscious, and anxious about your body?” There was an equal amount of boys and girls had ticked yes, which had highlighted the fact that both genders are equally distressed about their body. This can be linked to what I had mentioned about the emotions leading to eating disorders that can affect their development. I had viewed this as a critical question because of the affect it has on the pupils. This further encourage me to pursue my health campaign on educating year seven pupils about valuing their body image.
The feedback questionnaire had shown the effectiveness of the workshops, which I had organised. I had discovered that the Building Self-Esteem workshop had an average of 7. I had asked the pupils; “How did you find the Building Self-Esteem workshop?” and gave them the option of scoring the effectiveness of each workshops from 1-10 (1 being bad and 10 being good). For the Building Self-Esteem workshop to have an average of 7 is viewed as a success because it shows that the pupils were able to learn something important and build up their confidents, which would build their self-esteem. The purpose of the workshop is was to encourage pupils to get involved and lead the activity with little help from teachers and the Youth Club leaders. I was expecting a handful of the pupils to not get involved in the performance and was surprised to see that a lot of them were joining in the activities and leading it. The building self-esteem workshop was a success because the pupils contributed to the workshop.
The Mass Media workshop had been more of a success than the building self-esteem workshop because it had achieved an average score of 9 in the feedback questionnaires. I had asked the pupils; “How did you find the Mass Media workshop?” I gave them a scale from 1 to 10 again. This is because if I wanted to calculate the average number rather than getting a simple yes or no. The reason why the pupils had favoured the Mass Media workshop over the Building Self-Esteem might be because the Mass Media workshop had highlighted to the students that celebrities, such as Taylor Swift have body image issues. The pupils had learned that body image insecurity can affect everybody, even those that they admire. An average score of 9 had shown that the Mass Media workshop was effective because it indicates that the pupils had learned something from the workshop.
The critical question I had asked in my feedback questionnaire was; “Did you learn anything from the campaign?” This was a closed and opened question because I had given the option of ticking yes or no and a space for those that ticked yes to state what they had learned from my health campaign. I am proud to say that all the pupils had ticked yes and majority of them wrote that they had learned to value their body shape and size. Some wrote detailed answered on specific activities and the impact it had on them. For example a student wrote that they had found the Building Self-Esteem workshop helpful because they had been successful in interacting with other pupils and had become more confidence. I was really pleased with the results of this question because it shows that my health campaign.
Overall, the questionnaires were helpful in creating my campaign and the impact it had. The planning questionnaire had helped me to get a generalised idea of why and how my target audience are insecure about their body shape and size. The planning questionnaire had also helped me design activities and workshop. I came up with the Mass Media workshop when the pupils had written that they were highly influenced by what they saw on the mass media, which consist of newspapers, magazines, televisions, mobile phones, internet and etc. I wanted to show the pupils that it is perfectly alright to be insecure because it is in human nature to be worried about how we look. This sparked the idea of using celebrities, who are the people that most young children look up to. If a celebrity, like Taylor Swift or Adele is insecure then it is perfectly fine to accept help from professionals, like the celebrities have done. The feedback questionnaire was useful in giving me an indication how useful my health campaign about body image issues. It had helped me know which of my workshops and assembly was more effective. This was the first assembly and the Mass Media workshop. If I ever decided to do another body image issues campaign for another year group; I can use the results of both questionnaires to help construct the campaign.
There was no unexpected outcome that was challenging. I had predicted that there would be less insecurity in the end of the campaign compared to before. This is because I had high hopes for the success of the health campaign. The pupils had cooperated efficiently in both workshops and assemblies. In the Building Self-Esteem workshop, the pupils had all taken their roles seriously and had performed extremely well. The outcome for most of people was really good because everyone was ecstatic and participating efficiently. I remembered watching the pupils performing in the Building Self-Esteem workshop with their goofy grins and joyful laughter. I was very pleased and shocked at the cheers and the cooperation from pupils and surprisingly teachers. Some teachers did volunteer in the second assembly to share their experience with accepting themselves. In general, I was glad of how well the campaign had impacted my target audience and some of the teachers and staff at my school, such as the dinner-ladies.
The Head of Sixth Form at my school had personally asked me; if I was considering doing my campaign again for other year groups. I had considered doing my campaign for students in year eight and ten because when I was in those year groups I was insecure about my body and I had heard that other students are worried about the way they look as well. The teachers that were involved in the campaign had asked some specific questions regarding the campaign and the local youth club I attend because I had people from the youth club helping me organise the campaign. I had given them the information about the campaign and the youth club.
Evaluation of the Health Campaign
The first assembly was the introductory period where I introduced myself and I informed the children about what would be happening for the rest of the day. I had also explained the importance of body image insecurity and the impact it can have on a person. The student had listened effectively and I had not run out of time. The assembly was insightful to many pupils because it had informed them of what would be the problems of accepting yourself. The second assembly was also a success. However, it was more time consuming because some of the teachers had volunteered willingly to discuss the issues they had experienced with valuing their body shape and size. I did appreciate it and thought it had been a valuable and beneficial for the campaign.
The Building Self-Esteem workshop was effective because the pupils had cooperated effectively. They had performed the short play as a group and no one was excluded. The workshop did take longer than expected. This might have been because the pupils had performed the activity a little slower than anticipated. It wasn’t problematic because the groups had performed their play the period before break. This meant that I could take a bit of their break time to make up for the few minutes that was necessary to finish the workshop. The students were not disappointed and were actually having fun performing and watching their peers. The cheering of pupils did get out of control. I had to ask them to clap after the play is finished because it was hard to hear the pupils performing. The pupils did follow instructions.
The Mass Media workshop had gone to plan because the pupils had absorbed the information. I was not surprised at the success of the Mass Media workshop because I had predicted it to be a realisation. The pupils were clueless about the fact that insecurities of body shape and size can affect anyone. The workshop was quicker than the Building Self-Esteem workshop because it had finished on time; all group had been successful in completing the task without any problems. There were a lot of praises from pupils and teachers for the Mass Media workshop. I think this was because the workshop had included people that they I idolise and watch on television.
The resources I used to promote my campaign were leaflets and posters. I had handed the pupils and the teachers the leaflets at the end of the second assembly. The leaflets had included the presentation from both assembly in order to remind the students of what they had learned on the day. I would want for the pupils to remember what had happened in the campaign and therefore, I would use the leaflets and the badge as a way for them to remember. I had placed the posters around my school; in the canteen, toilets, corridors and classrooms. I had decided to put the poster up three weeks before the actual campaign. This way the children would be informed of what was happening in a couple of week.
The Head of Sixth Form in my school I had provided me a budget of £50 to spend on my health campaign. I decided to spend the money that was provided by my school on a personalised badge from Camaloon. This is because the personalised badge can be a small reminder to my target audience in valuing their body. The badge had said “There is No Wrong Way to Have a Body.” This quote had helped increase the pupils’ self-esteem because it would show the children that there is nothing wrong with their body type. The personalised badge had cost £39.65 and the quantity is 100, which is helpful because there is 90 students in year seven. The badge had cost £28.09, and there was a VAT increase of £6.88 and the delivery charge was £4.67, altogether it had cost £39.65. I really liked the design because it had attracted both genders and they didn’t exclude anybody due to the colours being red and black, which are mutual colours. Boys and girls won’t be ashamed to wear the badge. I was given permission from the school to use their account in Camaloon to create and purchase the badge. I did have to order the badge in advance, just in case of delivery delays. The badges had arrived a week before my health campaign event and I was successful in not spending over the budget.
The approach I used for the campaign was educational and behavioural. This is because I wanted to teach children in their first year of secondary education to value themselves as a person. I had used the activities to change the pupils’ behaviours because their self-esteem would increase. This had made the pupils more confident and outspoken. The Building Self-Esteem was an activity that I created to make the children feel valued. Identify that beauty, well-being and strength come in all sizes. Carol Johnson, author of Self-Esteem Comes in all Sizes says that “actual beauty includes what’s inside, your passion for life, your playful spirit, a smile that illuminates up your face, your sympathy for others.” This is a good quote to show that all sizes are beautiful. I want to set an example of admiration for size diversity. Children naturally come in different sizes and builds and that is fine.
I feel that I have met my aims and objectives because the pupils in year seven have cooperated well in the workshop and had told me personally that the campaign was very useful. My aim was to educate young females and males that have just started secondary education into valuing their body. This was because girls and boys in year seven tend to be more insecure about their body compared to other year groups in secondary education. This may be due to puberty or a new environment. Primary schools had a smaller classroom size than high schools. This can make girls and boys that were already cautious about their body changing, more insecure because of a larger peer group subculture. Early or late bloomers may feel like they are developing differently to their peer groups. My objective was to tackle low self-esteem in preteens in the first year of secondary education by organising a focus group in the school I attend. I had put the focus group for pupils in year seven only. I had found out if I had accomplished my aim and objective from the feedback questionnaire. The students had given the workshops a high average score (I’ve mentioned this on the impact of audience) and had found the campaign to be useful.
If I was doing this task again I would like to expand the campaign for pupils in year 8 and so on. This is because low self-esteem and body image issues can occur in other year groups. I would very much like to educate the other years. Unfortunately, my main focus on the campaign was on year seven because that is the starting point for most children. There are some pupils that have not been taught why it is important to value your body. I might use a different approach because they would be older than my target audience. This might be done by adding another workshop about self-harming and the affect it has a person’s health. That might be interesting for pupils.
by
aisha_issaoutlookcom (student)
