Supporting better learning and life outcomes for your child

A learning platform to develop non-cognitive skills for your child

Passion Arena’s content is designed to support the learning and life outcomes for young students through the introduction and application of non-cognitive skills. Non-cognitive skills (the attitudes, behaviours and strategies thought to underpin success) are increasingly considered to be as important to positive outcomes for young people as cognitive ability in areas such as literacy and numeracy. (For more information on the impact of non-cognitive skills, take a look at this report from the Institute of Education at the University of London). 

In addition to a focus on success, our content is designed to encourage greater engagement with teachers, peers, parents and the wider community through a sustained focus on empathy, and the development of quality relationships.  We aim to engage and inspire students to see the opportunities that education presents, while seeking to create within students a positive attitude and internal belief that with applied effort and sustained practice, positive outcomes can be achieved.

Our Introduction Series introduces the core fundamentals of our program based on our core habits, and introduce most of the skills that are fundamental to a life of success, meaning and happiness.

Who is Passion Arena for?

The content we’ve developed has been designed to be introduced to students from Year 7 (approx. 11 years of age) onwards. There are two reasons for this. We believe that Years 7 & 8 are transformative years for students within their schooling careers and represent a key transition point from child to young adult. This provides an opportunity for students to develop positive habits at this age which can serve them well as they progress through their later years in education.

Secondly, research into adolescent brain development suggests that introducing a new line of non-cognitive thinking at this young age, will help to make the content feel more familiar and accessible as children begin to move into the adolescent phase of their brain’s development. This sense of familiarity helps students to take on board new ideas while giving them more confidence to try out new positive behaviours which may support better learning outcomes in both the short and long-term.

Students should continue to benefit from Passion Arena content throughout high-school and well into post-graduate studies – especially as we continue to expand the content available.

How will my child benefit from a Passion Arena subscription?

The goal of our content is to help students to build a wide range of habits and skills that will ultimately support them in any endeavour they wish to pursue. We do this in the first instance via our Introduction Series which essentially lays the foundation for all future skills development. We believe just working through the videos and exercises within the Introduction Series, should help encourage your child to take a positive approach to education and begin to establish the behaviours and attitudes necessary for successful outcomes in life.

Specific results will of course vary from child to child, but we’ve been careful to ensure that our content will not lead to any adverse outcomes. Your worst case scenario is that your child sees little to no improvement in their current engagement levels with education.

How do you actually help students achieve?

The content provided in our episodes is based on many scientific studies which have each been shown in numerous cases to deliver positive outcomes to both young and old. Our content combines the learnings from multiple studies into one simple format, expressed in simple language to make it more accessible to students. Each of the concepts we present has been shown to deliver positive outcomes, so we’re very confident that combining these ideas into one educational series will deliver students (and parents) significant positive outcomes.

Do you have links to non-cognitive skills research?

Absolutely.

Listed below you'll find links to three reports collating the data from multiple, peer-reviewed studies into the impacts of non-cognitive skills in education, work and life. 

 

How do I help my child make the most of Passion Arena?

We recommend to take the time to watch each episode with your child whenever possible. We don’t have a single episode over 10 minutes in length and the vast majority are under 7 minutes, so it doesn’t need to take a lot of your time. We believe spending this time with your child will provide you with two benefits.
First, you’ll be more aware of the concepts your child is learning through our platform. This creates an opportunity to discuss the ideas presented with your child and to help them align new concepts to their day-to-day environment. Helping your child to understand how these ideas apply in their own life will help them to take on board the information more easily, as well as see how it’s relevant to their unique situation.
Second, if you have knowledge of the concepts we present, it will help you to identify the attitudes, behaviours and actions of your child that run counter to these ideas. By being aware of the ideas we present, you can remind your child of these ideas at the appropriate time. For example, one of the ideas we present relates to noticing a ‘fixed-mindset voice’. This might be saying things like “I'm not good at languages” or “I can’t learn maths.” By being aware of their ‘fixed-mindset voice’ you can help your child to recognise it and correct it using the techniques we provide.

I understand you have additional resources for teachers—can parents access these?

Yes. You can access them here.

We've developed a range of supporting resources modelled on the support resources we provide teachers.

 

Does your content include faith-based or religious teachings?

No.

Our content is based on the latest research in a wide range of specialist fields, including human performance, positive psychology and neuroscience. We don’t provide any episodes that would focus on, or favour, any religion or its teachings over another; we’ve sought to remain as independent from religious themes as possible. That said, we do have one episode that relates to ‘The Golden Rule’, but this is a concept common to all the world’s major religions (which we point out in the episode) and we do not present it from the perspective of any particular religion.

Most importantly, our content is designed in such a way that it will not contradict or discourage the teachings of any particular faith or religion and we wholeheartedly support the right of every individual to study and practice their chosen beliefs.

How can I get my school to provide Passion Arena content?

The easiest way is to send them a link and have a chat to them about it. It’s costs them nothing but time. Let them know there are teacher resource pages that aim to make teaching and discussing our episodes as simple as possible, with minimal additional workload for teachers.

What does it cost?

Nothing. It’s free.

Plus, you won’t even have to hand over any personal details like a name or email address.