Growing with Gratitude

CHAPTER 2Embed commitment

In 2020, Mark Butler, a fantastic educator from Ireland, became principal of Al Durrah International School in Sharjah, UAE. At this time, a sequence of events occurred that led the school to decide that a strong wellbeing program was needed. Mark explains:

Society and family pressures had students fixated on grades. It is quite common for students to have this obsession with receiving 90 per cent average grades because the students have a significant chance of receiving scholarships.

So, the focus is on getting As and A+s and it got to the point where they'd do anything to get those grades, which at the time included plagiarism issues.

He could see the stressful impact this was having on students and staff. This was the tipping point that led Mark to realise things needed to change. Mark kindly shares:

It was around this time, that I came across Ash's LinkedIn and I noticed the content he was sharing on gratitude, self-reflection, resilience and other similar positive habits. So, we committed to using some of his resources.

Historically, it was believed wellbeing wasn't everyone's responsibility — it was just one person's — so Mark had to change this perception and teach the staff that it's actually everyone's job. Mark shares:

Staff had a very poor understanding of wellbeing; they've never really been involved in any type of dialogue around wellbeing. There was only one person in the school who had a good understanding and he was trying to drive ...