Peer Support Systems

Overview

In lesson 26 of 28 in Building Hauora: Goal Setting & Wellbeing, students examine how positive social support can help people maintain health goals. They use their existing SMART goal and baseline information to form an accountability pair, agree on useful support, and practise respectful check-ins.

Learning intentions

• WALT explain how social support can influence hauora and progress towards a health goal.
• WALT identify helpful, respectful and safe ways to support another person.
• WALT create an accountability agreement linked to our existing SMART goal.
• WALT use communication, empathy and self-management when working with a partner.

Success criteria

• I can describe at least two ways social support may help someone sustain a health goal.
• I can distinguish between supportive accountability and pressure, judgement or control.
• I can agree on a realistic check-in routine with my partner.
• I can explain how my support plan protects privacy, choice and wellbeing.

Curriculum links

• Personal exercise plan: setting SMART goals based on baseline data.
• Personal exercise plan: using goal setting, self-talk and focus control to sustain performance and wellbeing.
• Health and Physical Education: hauora, relationships with others, and making informed, safe and responsible choices.
• Key competencies: relating to others, managing self, participating and contributing, and communicating effectively.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Welcome and hook. Display the prompt in the opening question slide: “Why do people often give up on a health goal even when they know it matters?” Students complete a silent think, then share one possible influence with a nearby classmate. Teacher acknowledges that support can help, but emphasises that each person remains in control of their own choices.

2. 5–15 min · Connect to prior learning. Use the SMART goal recap and hauora slides to revisit SMART goals, baseline data and the four dimensions of hauora. Students privately reread the goal they developed earlier in the unit and identify which dimension or dimensions it supports. Teacher asks: “What could make this goal easier to maintain?” and gathers examples such as encouragement, reminders, practical help, shared activity and trustworthy feedback.

3. 15–25 min · Direct teaching: support that helps. Present the support continuum and scenario slides. Explain that accountability means agreeing to check progress, not policing, shaming or forcing someone. Discuss helpful behaviours: asking permission, listening, encouraging effort, respecting “not today”, keeping information private and suggesting trusted adult support when needed. In groups of three, students classify scenarios as supportive, unhelpful or unsafe, and justify one decision. Include examples involving sleep, movement, screen balance, stress management and connecting with others. Teacher checks that students recognise pressure, public sharing of private information and body- or appearance-based judgement as inappropriate.

4. 25–38 min · Plan the partnership. Distribute the accountability partnership planner. Students complete the individual section first: their goal, a progress indicator, one likely barrier, one support they would welcome, and one boundary they want respected. Students then choose an accountability partner, or are paired by the teacher. Partners compare only the information they are comfortable sharing and complete the agreement: check-in method, frequency, opening question, encouragement phrase, response if progress is difficult, and a privacy boundary. Students may choose not to disclose the personal details of their goal.

5. 38–50 min · Practise a check-in. Model a brief check-in using the structure on the check-in model slide: ask permission, ask an open question, listen, reflect, encourage, agree on next step. Partners role-play a five-minute check-in, then swap roles using a fictional barrier or their own agreed content. Teacher circulates and listens for open questions, non-judgemental language and realistic next steps. Pause briefly to address common issues, such as giving unsolicited advice or making the partner responsible for success.

6. 50–56 min · Review and refine. Students return to the accountability partnership planner and improve one part of their agreement after the role-play. Partners give feedback using: “One part that feels useful is…” and “One change that could make it safer or more realistic is…” Teacher reinforces that goals may be adjusted when circumstances change; changing a plan is not failure.

7. 56–60 min · Exit reflection. Show the plenary and exit-question slide. Students answer on the bottom of the worksheet: “What is one specific way my partner can support me, and what boundary or choice must they respect?” Collect worksheets or have students submit a private digital response.

Resources

• the complete lesson slide deck
• the accountability partnership planner
• Whiteboard and markers
• Projector or interactive display
• Timer
• Private digital submission option, if available
• Class wellbeing or trusted-adult support information

Assessment

• Listen during scenario classification and partnership planning for accurate understanding of supportive accountability, consent and privacy.
• Use the role-play to assess open questioning, active listening, respectful encouragement and realistic next steps.
• Review the exit response to check that each student can identify practical support and an appropriate boundary.

Differentiation

• Provide sentence starters on the worksheet, such as “Would you like encouragement or ideas?” and “A check-in that would work for me is…”.
• Allow students to use a fictional goal, work with a teacher-selected partner, or complete the agreement independently if sharing feels uncomfortable.
• Offer a quiet planning space, extra processing time and the option to respond in writing rather than role-play.
• Extend confident students by asking them to design a support plan that includes a likely barrier, a revised strategy and a way to collect reliable progress data.
• For EAL learners, clarify “accountability”, “boundary”, “consent” and “barrier” with simple examples and permit home-language discussion before sharing.