The Use of NLP in Guidance in Schools

Introduction
In the second supplement in the series on Counselling Approaches, Guy Flouch, Director of
Communications at Portobello College, looks at Neuro-inguistic Programming! "he
focus of the article is on ho# to achie$e one%s potential by impro$ing one%s le$el of
performance! Guidance counsellors regularly deal #ith underachie$ing students and this
article offers an alternati$e approach to helping students o$ercome failure and attain their
potential!
What is NLP?
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has many strengths, but a clear and helpful name isnt one
of them! Fortunately, it can be defined in simple terms as the study of ecellence! "mongst other
things, NLP is a strategy for communication and a model for change!
Background
NLP #as born in the $%", in the late &'()s,
#hen *ohn +rinder, a linguist, and ,ichard
-andler, a mathematician, as.ed
themsel/es an important 0uestion1 2hat is
it that ma.es the difference bet#een
somebody #ho is merely competent at any
gi/en s.ill, and somebody #ho ecels at the
same s.ill3
+rinder and -andlers 0uestion has
traditionally been ans#ered in t#o #ays!
4ither that some people are naturally
talented or that they ha/e ac0uired a le/el of
ecellence through practice and eperience!
NLP side-steps these ans#ers by focussing
not on #hat has made the difference in the
past bet#een t#o people of different
abilities, but on #hat can be done no# to
de/elop a competent persons performance
closer to a le/el of ecellence!
5ur brains are superbly sophisticated tools
for the performance of a huge /ariety of
comple tas.s! -andler comments on ho#
#e are missing one /ital ingredient1 a users
manual for our o#n brains! NLP studies the
structure of ho# #e thin. and eperience
the #orld! 5b/iously, the structure of
something so sub6ecti/e does not lend itself
to precise mathematical analyses but
instead leads to models of ho# #e thin.,
communicate, learn and other#ise
eperience the #orld!
Uses of NLP
5/er the last t#enty years, practitioners of
NLP ha/e modelled ecellence in a #ide
/ariety of fields, by closely obser/ing and
measuring the indi/idual elements of any
beha/iour or performance that has
consistently lead to ecellent results! 7hus,
a #hole range of useful s.ills and
beha/iours has been bro.en do#n into their
.ey components! 7hese models of
ecellence can be offered to merely
competent people, so as to gi/e them the
choice of ac0uiring the modelled elements
for use by them in rele/ant circumstances
and en/ironments! NLP is the set of tools
and techni0ues used to carry out such
transformations!
Presuppositions of NLP
"s NLP has de/eloped o/er the years, it has
distilled a number of presuppositions that
seem to be useful #hen aiming for
ecellence! Note that NLP doesnt claim
these presuppositions to be true8 merely that
it can be useful to beha/e as if they #ere
true!
7his distinction is important because NLP
doesnt as. you to change your beliefs about
the #orld1 it only as.s you to eperiment
#ith other approaches, techni0ues and
beha/iours!
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=f this eperimentation pro/es useful to you,
then you ha/e the choice of incorporating it
into your o#n repertoire of resources!
"mong the presuppositions normally offered
by NLP are the follo#ing1
The Map is Not the Territory
=n other #ords, the description of an
eperience is not the same as the
eperience itself! 2e often beha/e as if
#ords #ere a direct and undeniably
accurate description of an eperience! NLP
in/ites us to ma.e a distinction bet#een
#ords and the eperience they describe!
The Meaning of Your Communication
is the Response You Get
=f our communications dont produce the
response #e #ould li.e, #e can either
decide that the other person is to blame for
not responding appropriately or #e can ta.e
responsibility oursel/es!
7he first approach lea/es us po#erless1 #e
are in the hands of the other person! 7he
latter approach enables us to treat the
response as information, and change our
beha/iour accordingly!
There is no failure, only feedback
NLP offers an alternati/e /ie# to the
traditional understanding of failure! =t
suggests that #hen things dont #or. out as
#e #anted, it is more useful for us to /ie#
this as neither good or bad but rather to see
it as an opportunity to gain ne# information!
2e can then use that information to change
#hat #e do net time! =f you al#ays do #hat
you/e al#ays done, youll al#ays get #hat
you/e al#ays got1 if you #ant to get
different results net time, do something
differently!
People already have the resources
they need to effect change
NLP offers us a range of techni0ues to sho#
us ho# to access these resources and ho#
to usefully apply them in a chosen situation!
Applications of NLP
NLP has been successfully applied in fields
such as business, sport, teaching, the
performing arts, counselling, therapy,
conflict resolution, stress management and
learning! =t appears that the tools and
techni0ues offered by NLP can be applied in
almost any human acti/ity!
=n recent years, particularly in the $%" and
France, NLP has been applied #ith
increasing success in primary and
secondary education! NLP is used to great
effect in maimising the effecti/eness of our
group teaching, in communicating more
resourcefully #ith indi/idual students and
#ith our colleagues, in understanding
indi/idual learning and moti/ation strategies,
in de/eloping our &1& counselling s.ills and
in our o#n personal de/elopment!
2hen considering the classical NLP
presupposition that the map is not the
territory, #e need to understand that #e all
ha/e different strategies for dra#ing or
building our maps of eperience! 5ur brains
consistently represent the #orld to us in a
fa/ourite #ay! For eample if #ere hungry,
one person may be picturing a plate of
delicious food, another person may tell
herself =m star/ing and yet another may
literally be tasting the food already!
>ifferent people tend to consistently prefer
one sense o/er another, in the #ay they
represent their eperience of the #orld!
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%o, if #e .no# #hich sense someone
generally prioritises, or is prioritising at a
gi/en moment, #e are beginning to ha/e a
hold on the #ay they represent eperience
and, therefore, on the #ay they prefer to
communicate, to remember and to learn!
7he sensory system, #hich any person
prioritises in a gi/en situation, is called their
preferred representational system!
NLP at Second Level
=n a learning contet, at secondary le/el, it
appears that about :)? of us prefer to learn
/isually, :)? of us prefer to learn auditi/ely
and @)? of us prefer to learn
.inaesthetically (i!e! becoming physically or
emotionally in/ol/ed in #hat #ere learning)!
Fortunately, despite ha/ing these distinct
information processing preferences, about
three-0uarters of us ha/e a relati/ely #ell-
de/eloped bac.-up system in that #e are
fleible enough to process information
relati/ely competently in another
representational system! %o, #hate/er our
preference, most of us can deal #ith a
teacher #ho presents information in a
conflicting representational system!
Students at isk
%tudents #ho dont ha/e /ery #ell-
de/eloped bac. up systems are those #ho
todays education system puts most at ris.!
For these students, if a teacher is not
presenting information in the students
preferred representational systems, they #ill
temporarily s#itch off so that they can
internally translate from one system (e!g!
auditi/e) to their o#n reality (e!g! /isual)!
7hese translators #ill .no# certain
information but there #ill be lots of gaps in
their understanding! 7hese gaps #ill
correspond to the translation periods! Aany
of these students are unfairly accused of
inattention #hen they s#itch off from the
teacher so as to facilitate their translation
process!
!o""unicating #ith Groups
NLP offers a comprehensi/e set of
techni0ues for identifying your o#n and your
students preferred representational
systems! Furthermore, it ma.es suggestions
as to ho# you may enhance your teaching
style in order to be as multi-sensory as
possible, to enhance the performance of the
ma6ority of your students and to reach the
translators!
!o""unicating #ith Individuals
2hen youre communicating #ith indi/idual
students (both in and outside counselling
contets), and #ith your colleagues, it is
usually useful to pay heed to the old Na/aho
=ndian saying1 B7he best #ay to get to .no#
a person is to #al. a mile in their
moccasinsC! NLP pro/ides you #ith a range
of s.ills that enable you to respectfully enter
the other persons reality and to more
effecti/ely echange information #ith them!
$%uipping Students #ith NLP Strategies
Aost students ha/e de/eloped at least one
school sur/i/al pattern that enables them to
learn ne# material and to cope #ith school!
Do#e/er, it fre0uently happens that a
successful pattern, de/eloped for a
particular situation (or e/en for a particular
teacher), is applied #ith less success in
other situations! NLP practitioners #ill argue
that slo# learners, #ith no apparent brain
damage, may often merely ha/e poor
learning strategies!
Identif&ing Students' Learning Strategies
Aost learning patterns are processed
unconsciously and, therefore, before they
can be modified, they must be identified!
NLP offers techni0ues for identifying a
students eisting learning strategy and then
teaching them an alternati/e strategy that
may #ell pro/e useful to them! Aany of
these strategies can be easily taught to
students in group situations!
(ther Uses in Guidance
NLP has been able to brea. do#n, in a
similar #ay, the series of beha/iours that
consistently lead to high le/els of moti/ation,
to successful stress management, to
o/ercoming fears and phobias and to
planning for the future!
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)urther Infor"ation
$nfortunately, NLP has a history of so-called
NLP Practitioners o/erstating the le/el of
their competence, and of their training!
2hen sourcing NLP training, it is important
to chec. the credentials of trainer!
Useful NLP !ontacts
Paul Aarsden ()&-@<) E<@&)!
Written esources
7#o ecellent resource boo.s concerning
the application of NLP in education are
&ighting the 'ducational Con$eyor (elt% by
Aichael +rinder, and
)Dynamic earning% by ,obert >ilts!
Internet esources
NLP in Ireland
###!nlptraininginstitute!com
The NLP Infor"ation !entre
###!nlpinfo!com;

Neuro Linguistic Progra""ing
http1;;###!neurolinguisticprogramming!com;

NLP*net
http1;;###!nlp!net;home!php
+eff's )avourite NLP Links
http1;;home!earthlin.!net;F6bodnar;nlp!html
NLP and ,-$
###!nlp!com
NLP and S&ste"s Thinking
###!lambent!com
Societ& of Neuro.Linguistic Progra""ing
###!purenlp!com
Author
7his supplement #as #ritten by +uy Flouch,
Aar.eting Aanager, Ne# =diom!
+uy may be contacted as follo#s1
+uy Flouch,
Ne# =diom Ltd!
5ld Farm, 9lonroad, 4nnis, 9o! 9lare!
4-mail1 guyGne#idiom!com
7elephone1 )HE-H<:<'I)
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