What Helps Us Take the Next Step?

By Rafif Srour Daher - Dean of Programs

What would you do if you saw a classmate cheating? - It is one of the questions I ask through a short ethics survey in my statistics and mathematics classes. You might wonder why I make room for this in a quantitative subject. I do it because I believe our responsibility as educators extends beyond teaching specific concepts. We are also helping students learn to think: to question assumptions, examine their reasoning, and consider the implications of their choices.

The survey opens a discussion in which I encourage students to express their positions openly and explain why they hold them. Together, we explore the philosophical perspectives behind their responses, including the consequences of an action, individual freedom, and our duties toward others. These perspectives offer a language for examining their own judgement and understanding someone else’s. 

What matters to me is that students give thought to the reasons behind their choices. I want them to develop the confidence to express a view, the openness to reconsider it, and a sense of responsibility for how they act. This is part of a wider educational aim: helping students become thoughtful, active participants in their own education. It also raises a question I find myself returning to: what helps a student move from considering a possibility to taking a step toward it?

Agency offers a useful way to explore that question. Broadly, it involves acting intentionally and recognising that our actions can influence what happens. Within psychologist C. R. Snyder’s theory of hope, agency has a more specific meaning: the determination to begin and sustain movement toward a goal. It works alongside “pathways,” our perceived ability to find routes toward that goal.

Consider a student struggling with a statistical concept. They might identify several ways forward: working through another example, studying with a classmate, or asking for help. Those are pathways. Agency concerns their sense that they can get themselves started and sustain their effort, including when the first attempt is difficult. Hope, in this sense, brings together possible routes forward and the determination to pursue them.

This year’s IE Student Well-Being Report offers an interesting finding. Hope was one of the well-being indicators most strongly associated with GPA, with the association particularly linked to agency. Students who reported greater energy and determination in pursuing their goals also tended to perform better academically. These findings are correlational; they do not establish that agency causes higher grades.

Reading them makes me reflect on the moments when I have seen students take ownership of their education. I have experienced this several times through their participation in curriculum development: offering ideas, questioning how something is taught, and suggesting ways to improve their learning experience.

For me, these contributions matter because students are recognising that they have a part to play in shaping their education. They see something that could improve and take the initiative to contribute. Our response matters too. We have a responsibility to listen, consider their ideas seriously, and explain what we can do with them.

That responsibility also shapes how I think about my classroom. In statistics and mathematics, precision, reasoning, and technical understanding are essential. Giving students room to question an assumption, challenge an interpretation, or explain a different approach is part of developing that understanding.

Students also need clear expectations, useful feedback, and opportunities to try again. Taking ownership includes recognising when to ask for help, and educators have a role in making that step possible.

I want students to leave my classes better able to work with numbers and evidence. I also want them to leave more willing to ask a question, contribute an idea, and make a considered choice about what to do next.