For the sake of what?
Learning intention By the end of this lesson, students can connect an everyday action with something it may serve and describe purpose as a changing sense of direction rather than one fixed answer.
This classroom lesson is the base for session 1 of Ten sessions for advocates.
- Time
- 41 minutes
- How the room works
- Groups of four
- You need
- Paper, pens and a board
- Opens with
- For the sake of what
Before you start
Keep group examples hypothetical and personal writing private. Questions about purpose may connect with hopelessness or family pressure.
Read the full safeguarding note Adapting it for your class A note home for this lesson
Open this drawing in the library
Why this matters
When tasks and expectations pile up, it can be difficult to remember what any of them are for. Purpose asks what an action serves and whether that direction still matters to us. It can be small, uncertain and shared with others; no young person is expected to identify one grand reason for their life.
Skill in context Aligning with an aspiration that offers meaning and direction.
On the skill of purposeTry the interactive practiceTry it yourself first
“Held Loosely, Still Yours” takes a few quiet minutes, just for you, before you teach it. Nothing you write in it is saved or sent.
Open with “For the sake of what”
5 minUse For the sake of what as a private question. Students may find a large reason, a practical reason or no answer yet.
Choose one thing from today that you care about doing with attention, however ordinary it may be.
Ask yourself quietly, "For the sake of what?" Who or what might this action serve?
Follow the answer one step deeper if that feels useful. A small reason counts, and "I am not sure" is complete.
Keep the answer private and notice whether it changes how you see the task.
Listen for Do not read silence or stillness as evidence that the question has landed. Make uncertainty and a practical reason fully acceptable.
Teacher explanation
10 minPurpose can be understood as a compass rather than a complete map. It offers a direction, but it does not specify every turn or guarantee that the route will remain the same.
The same action may serve connection, independence, care, curiosity, security or someone else's expectation. Asking what it is for can help us see whether the action feels chosen, imposed or mixed. Purpose cannot make unreasonable work reasonable, and people may need material support and wider change before a sense of direction is possible.
Questions for the room
- Why might the same action feel meaningful to one person and empty to another?
- What makes people lose contact with what an activity is for?
- Where does pressure to have a life purpose figured out come from?
The why ladder
17 min- Model a neutral action on the bottom rung of a ladder, then ask "For the sake of what?" three times to explore possible values beneath it.
- Groups choose a low-disclosure action such as learning to cook, saving money, practising a sport, studying or supporting a friend.
- Build at least three rungs, allowing branches where different reasons are possible.
- Mark which parts depend on personal choice and which depend on resources, other people or wider conditions.
- Each group shares only one top rung, and the class notices where different ladders meet or remain different.
- Students privately take one ordinary action from their week and ask the question once, with "not sure yet" available.
Private reflection
6 minChoose one ordinary thing you will do this week. For whose or what sake might you do it, and is that reason one you want to keep?
How they reflect Private journal
Closing
3 minPurpose does not need to arrive as one large answer. For now, it may be enough to ask what the next action serves and allow the answer to keep changing with you.
Safeguarding
Keep group examples hypothetical and personal writing private. Questions about purpose may connect with hopelessness or family pressure. Do not explore this publicly; offer a quiet check-in and follow usual safeguarding and pastoral procedures.
If something a young person says gives you concern, follow your setting’s usual safeguarding route. This is not yours to carry alone.
Adapting it
In other settings
Take this lesson with you
The plan is editable, so you can change the names, the examples and the timings to fit the young people in front of you.
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