Self-awareness helps one understand your strengths and weaknesses, what drives you, and where you need to grow. Great leaders use this awareness to strike a balance, trusting in their abilities while staying humble and open to improvement. Such self-awareness needs to be inculcated in the early years of education.
Beyond academic achievement, understanding oneself, strengths, weaknesses, emotions, and motivations, is crucial for personal growth, emotional resilience, and effective decision-making. Yet, traditional education or home-schooling methods often focus more on external knowledge rather than helping children develop a deep understanding of themselves.
Patricia Vlad, founder of LevelUp, education advisor at eduKiwi School, and an experienced educator with a global perspective, has dedicated her work to shifting this paradigm. She believes that fostering self-awareness in children is just as important as teaching them math or science. Through her work, she has developed strategies that integrate self-awareness into everyday learning, helping students recognize their unique abilities, process their emotions, and gain confidence in their own identities.
Her philosophy revolves around the importance of involved parents and teachers – it’s central to helping children develop self-awareness. While teachers offer the structured environment necessary for growth, parents provide the emotional support and guidance that help children thrive. Both parties are partners in guiding children to understand themselves, manage their emotions, and improve their decision-making skills.
Why Self-Awareness is Often Overlooked in Education
Many teachers and parents still prioritize standardized testing and rigid curricula over personal development. While parenting and schooling excel at imparting knowledge, they often neglect to teach students how to understand themselves. This gap in education can lead to challenges later in life, such as difficulty managing emotions, poor decision-making, and a lack of direction in personal and professional pursuits.
Patricia noticed this one drawback in conventional education. “Self-awareness is foundational to a child’s development,” she notes. “Without it, students struggle to navigate challenges, express themselves, and build meaningful relationships.”
Another challenge is that emotional intelligence and self-awareness are often treated as supplementary rather than integral to the learning process. Parents and educators may acknowledge their importance, but few structured programs exist to cultivate these skills in students. This is where Patricia’s work becomes instrumental.
Integrating Self-Awareness into Education
Patricia has developed a unique approach that blends neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and personalized learning to help students build self-awareness. She believes that children learn best when they understand their own thought processes, emotions, and learning styles. “When students are aware of their own strengths and challenges, they can take ownership of their education and become more engaged learners,” she explains.
1. Encouraging Reflection and Self-Discovery
Patricia emphasizes the importance of giving students opportunities to reflect on their learning experiences. Reflection should be a regular part of the learning process. Students need to ask themselves: What did I learn today? What challenges did I face? How did I handle them?”
By incorporating structured self-reflection exercises, students begin to understand how they learn, what motivates them, and where they need to improve. This not only enhances their academic performance but also helps them develop a growth mindset, the belief that abilities can be developed through effort and perseverance.
2. Personalized Learning to Highlight Strengths and Weaknesses
Every child is unique, and Patricia emphasizes that education should reflect this individuality. Personalized learning is key to helping children understand their strengths and weaknesses. Teachers play an essential role by using adaptive learning strategies and assessments to cater to different learning styles and abilities.
At home, parents can reinforce this approach by observing their child’s strengths and weaknesses and encouraging them to recognize and embrace their unique abilities. When children see themselves as active participants in their education, they gain confidence in their identity, and both parents and teachers become allies in this developmental process.
3. Building Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom
Emotional intelligence (EI) plays a crucial role in self-awareness. Patricia integrates EI training into her teaching methods, helping students recognize and regulate their emotions. Understanding emotions is key to understanding oneself. When children can name and process their feelings, they are better equipped to handle stress, build relationships, and make sound decisions.
At school, teachers use storytelling, role-playing, and group activities to help students articulate their thoughts and feelings. At home, parents can model emotional regulation by calmly discussing their own emotions and offering guidance in how to express feelings constructively. By normalizing these conversations, students get a supportive environment where they feel safe exploring their identities and emotions.
Bringing Self-Awareness into the Future of Education
Through LevelUp and eduKiwi School, she is creating programs designed to help educators integrate self-awareness practices into their teaching methods while offering parents resources to support their children’s emotional and cognitive growth at home.
Education should empower students, not just with knowledge, but with the ability to understand themselves and navigate life with confidence. When children know themselves, they are better prepared to face the world with resilience, curiosity, and purpose.
Her work serves as a powerful reminder that education is not just about what students learn, it’s about who they become. By making self-awareness a central part of learning, she is helping to shape a generation of students who are not only well-educated but also self-aware, emotionally intelligent, and prepared for whatever the future holds.
