Helping Students Feel Needed
How to Build a School Where Students Feel Like They Matter
At a Glance
Dates: 2027.06.06 - 2027.11.06
Location: Olbia, Sardinia
Who it's for: teachers, school leaders and anyone driving change in a school
Language: English
Group size: up to 20 participants
Facilitator: A.J. Ernst
Fee: from €480. Erasmus+ KA1 fundable.
About the Course
Think about a student at your school who does everything right. Good grades. Always polite. Never any trouble. But something is missing, and you are not sure what.
From her perspective, would anyone even notice if she didn't come to school tomorrow? Would the day go on exactly the same without her? Too many students would say yes.
Researchers call this feeling mattering: the sense that you are significant to others. This goes beyond being cared for. Young people need to be needed, and as they grow up, they look for opportunities to help the people around them. But in most schools, we give students a lot and ask very little of them.
Feeling needed is a basic human need, like food or sleep. Students who feel needed work harder and feel better about their lives. Students who do not feel needed often stop trying and may give up on themselves.
No teacher wants students to feel this way. We want to protect children and prepare them for the future. But while we do that, the small jobs that once made young people useful have disappeared. Free time is filled with activities aimed at creating future opportunities. Phones take the hours students once spent helping friends and family. And the news shows them huge world problems they cannot solve, so they stop noticing the small needs next door.
Schools have answered the mental health crisis with more support. Very few have tried asking students to help someone else.
So should we simply give students more jobs to do? It is not that simple. Mattering is a feeling that arises from an action, but only when the student knows how to process it. Students need to become literate in mattering.
This is a practical course. We will look at what makes students feel needed, what gets in the way, how to build it into your school, how to help students see their own contribution, and how to measure whether it is working.
What We Do
We align technical insight with disciplined execution to provide measurable gains across operational, financial, and strategic domains. Our integrated methodologies streamline multifaceted workflows, enabling organizations to deploy resources efficiently and capture emerging opportunities.
*The programme is provisional and subject to change.
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Course Introduction
Introduction to the course and the Academy;
Introduction to the host city and the week's cultural activities;
Icebreaker activities;
Presentations of the participants' schools and institutions.
Students who are seen, and students who are needed
Three components of mattering: being seen, being cared about, and being needed;
Why a welcoming school can still leave students feeling useless;
What happens to students who never feel needed;
Activity: create student profiles for mattering.
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Why this has happened
The message "your turn will come" and why students cannot wait;
Busy days, full timetables, and the small jobs that have disappeared;
Phones and the hours they take up helping friends and family;
Big world problems and small local needs;
Activity: which of these is strongest in your school?
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Giving students real work
Real jobs and pretend jobs: what is the difference?
The simple test: would anyone notice if this student did not do it?
Giving students more responsibility, step by step, throughout the year;
Building opportunities outside of school to contribute;
Activity: redesign one student job in your school so it becomes real.
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Helping students see what they did
Why doing good work is not enough on its own;
Saying thank you well: naming what the student did and who it helped;
Short moments of reflection you can use in any lesson;
Anger, silence, and tiredness: what behavior is telling you;
Activity: planning for recognition.
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Too much, too little, and the adults
When responsibility becomes too heavy;
Students who already carry a lot at home and how to support them;
Four questions to ask before assigning a student a job;
Teachers need to feel needed too: a look at the staff room;
Course evaluation: a round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
Awarding the course Certificate of Attendance.
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Structured cultural activities
Structured cultural activity(ies) based on the hosting location;
Learning journal: an individual written reflection on the course experience;
Course reflection: self-reflection and review of course materials and resources.
What You Take Home
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Understand mattering, its frameworks, and key research findings;
Analyze the forces that have undermined students’ sense of mattering;
Recognize deferred mattering in the specific structures of their own school;
Design systems that reinforce mattering and mitigate anti-mattering forces;
Explain what mattering literacy is and how it is cultivated — in students, in staff, and in the conditions that make both possible;
Produce an action plan that will both empower students with mattering skills and alter the school environment to reinforce them
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We engage stakeholders as partners, not spectators.
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Every proposal is anchored in empirical evidence.
Meet Your Facilitator
A.J. Ernst, Ed.D.
Since our inception, we have advanced organizations across sectors by pairing strategic insight with disciplined execution.
Further Reading & Useful Resources
Elliott, G. C. (2009). Family Matters: The Importance of Mattering to Family in Adolescence. Wiley-Blackwell.
Flett, G. L. (2025). Mattering as a Core Need in Children and Adolescents. American Psychological Association.
Fuligni, A. J. (2019). The need to contribute during adolescence. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(3), 331–343.
van Goethem, A., van Hoof, A., Orobio de Castro, B., Van Aken, M., & Hart, D. (2014). The role of reflection in the effects of community service on adolescent development: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 85(6), 2114–2130.
Wallace, J. B. (2026). Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose. Portfolio/Penguin.
Fees & What’s Included
Two ways to join.
Both include the same course and the same participant services; the full package adds your accommodation and three lunches.
Course and services · €700Six days of professional learning, facilitation, materials and certificate, plus the participant services and cultural programme.
You arrange your own accommodation. We share suggestions once your place is confirmed.
Full package · €1,445Everything in the course fee and participant services, plus:
Six nights of accommodation with breakfast
Three lunches during the programme
Limited availability, depending on the location. Tell us when you register and we will confirm it with you.
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Course fee, €480: full participation in the programme, facilitation and pedagogical accompaniment throughout the week, interpretation where needed, Certificate of Attendance.
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Participant services and cultural programme, €220: welcome packet with schedule, readings and practical information; translation when required; course materials and documentation with a photo and video package; transport within the programme; coffee breaks; welcome aperitivo on the first evening; closing celebration meal; half-day cultural programme.
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Six nights of accommodation, with breakfast, near the course venue, and three lunches during the programme, on top of everything above.
The full package depends on the accommodation we can secure at each location, so places are limited. Tell us when you register if you would like it, and we will confirm availability.
What’s NOT Included
Travel to and from the course location, and meals outside the programme. With Option 1, accommodation is not included; once your place is confirmed we share suggestions for where to stay and how to get there.
The programme is deliberately a small-group experience, to leave room for dialogue, reflection and real exchange among participants.
Dates and Registration
Next Dates: 2027.06.06 - 2027.11.06
Location: Olbia, Sardinia
The course runs once enough participants have registered; please wait for our confirmation before booking travel.
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We confirm each course by email once enough participants have registered. Book flights and accommodation only after that, and choose flexible bookings; if we have to cancel a course, we refund you in full, but we can't cover travel costs.
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No. Pre-registration is free and there is no deposit. You pay by bank transfer only once your place is confirmed, and the amount is the one shown on the course page, with no extra fees. If your Erasmus+ grant hasn't arrived yet, tell us and we'll agree a timeline.
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Yes. All our courses fit Erasmus+ KA1 staff mobility. We provide a confirmation letter, a Learning or Mobility Agreement on your institution's template, a fee breakdown and a Certificate of Attendance. Our OID is E10299488.
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Tell us as early as you can. You can pass your place to a colleague or move to a future course at no cost. If you need a refund instead, the terms depend on how close to the start you cancel; they are in our Terms and Conditions.
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See the full FAQ.