School workshop: Confident Me - six sessions

11 March '25
|
2
min read

We want the next generation to grow up confident. Our Confident Me resources help schools deliver self-esteem workshops for young people.

Self-esteem affects young people in so many different ways, especially at school. Studies show that children who are body confident are more likely to contribute in class, more likely to make stable friendships and more likely to reach their academic potential. Whereas children with low self-esteem are less likely to raise their hand, share their opinion, and interact both socially and in the classroom, and therefore may not perform as well overall at school.

So, building self-esteem and confidence in students is vital for inspiring them to dream big,  overcome adversity, and to help them feel at home socially in their school environment.

Specially designed for teens, our Confident Me self-esteem workshops are evidence-based for extra peace of mind. This means that every lesson is designed to make a difference. Addressing key topics, including the impact of society, professional and social media on appearance ideals, Confident Me is here to be a key part of children’s support networks. With every session, they give teachers strategies and tips to boost self-esteem in students and help the next generation grow up confident.

Over six 45-60 minute sessions, including class discussions, small-group activities, engaging videos and activity worksheets, the workshops cover:

  • Unrealistic appearance ideals and how they can affect confidence in young people
  • The impact of social media, celebrity culture and advertising on self-esteem
  • How to identify and challenge appearance-based discrimination
  • How to reduce appearance-focused conversations and comparisons
  • Body activism and how to achieve positive behaviour change
     

Research shows that students who attend the six session workshops have improved body image, higher self-esteem and feel more confident participating in social and academic activities.

If you don’t have time to run 6 sessions, we have a single session teaching resource that cover the topics in less depth. However, we strongly recommend you deliver the six sessions where possible, as deeper student engagement has a greater and longer-lasting impact on building positive confidence and self-esteem.

To find out more about our resources, watch our Confident Me training videos for teachers and make a difference for the next generation.

Stimulus Videos playlist
When prompted, share these short videos with your class to spark further debate on building body confidence and self-esteem.

Download our six-lesson teaching resources

  • Session 1: Appearance ideals

    Students explore and challenge the concept of appearance ideals. Where do they come from? What pressure do they put on us? How have they changed? What qualities should we celebrate instead?

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    • Appearance Ideals - Teacher Guide (17.1 MB)
    • Appearance Ideals - Student Presentation (29.1 MB)
    • Appearance Ideals - Student Activity Sheets (578 KB)

  • Lesson 2: Media Messages

    Students learn to become savvy, critical media consumers (and producers) by investigating body image and the media, and how images of people in professional media (e.g. advertising) and social media (e.g. Instagram) are manipulated and often drastically altered to reflect appearance ideals.

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    • Media Messages - Teacher Guide (20.8 MB)
    • Media Messages - Student Presentation (17.7 MB)
    • Media Messages - Student Activity Sheets (1.5 MB)

  • Lesson 3: Confront Comparisons

    Students see how focusing on appearance often leads to unhelpful comparisons. Instead of judging other people’s physical features to be “better” than their own, what more positive ways of making comparisons could they adopt?

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    • Confront Comparisons - Teacher Guide (15.8 MB)
    • Confront Comparisons - Student Presentation (10.4 MB)
    • Confront Comparisons - Student Activity Sheets ( 3.2 MB)

  • Lesson 4: Banish Body Talk

    Examining the problems body talk can cause, including how it can damage self-esteem, students develop techniques to redirect or reframe such conversations for a more positive impact on body confidence.

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    • Banish Body Talk - Teacher Guide (20.3 MB)
    • Banish Body Talk - Student Presentation (14.0 MB)
    • Banish Body Talk - Student Activity Sheets (5.1 MB)

  • Lesson 5: Be The Change

    The final workshop brings together everything students have explored and learned so far with the chance to review and reflect. Students will prepare to lead by example as they take the body-confident message out into their school life.

     

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    • Be The Change - Teacher Guide (14.3 MB)
    • Be The Change - Student Presentation (18.6 MB)
    • Be The Change - Student Activity Sheets (1.9 MB)

  • Lesson 6: Challenging appearance discrimination

    Our final workshop explores all kinds of appearance discrimination and the negative impact it has. Students will learn how to identify prejudice and feel empowered to challenge it in real life scenarios.

     

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    • Challenging appearance discrimination – Teacher Guide (1.6 MB)
    • Challenging appearance discrimination – Student Presentaion (2.4 MB)
    • Challenging appearance discrimination – Student Activity Sheets (1.4 MB)

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