I was recently reminded of the value of being inspired – and how being inspired can help as students embark on their University journeys and beyond.

It’s not that I had forgotten the importance of inspiration; being open to possibilities and thinking in different ways is a key tool for a teacher and those who work in education. These are the skills I try to nurture in others and highlight within the Foundation degree programme I lead at Leeds Trinity University. Yet I had forgotten the value and feeling of being inspired, the stimulation and resilience this can bring, as well as the lightness and laughter.

Being inspired can help students deal with the changes they might face when going to university. Anticipating this change during a degree is one thing; sometimes students take a leap of faith and join a degree because they want a change. Yet after graduation, even years after, the benefits and worth of embracing changes or challenges – particularly ones that inspire – can easily slip through our fingers.

When students start the Foundation degree programmes at Leeds Trinity, I usually ask them to read a short fable by Spencer Johnson called ‘Who moved my Cheese?’. This short story describes different ways we can react to change, and I offer this reading as an early theory to help students anticipate the changes that occur personally and professionally during their university life. I know students respond in different ways to this task, and there are many critical limitations to the text, yet this is a book that I am repeatedly asked about – even at graduation ceremonies three years after I have first shared it with a student.

Sometimes much needed perspective, distraction or connection can create inspiration or momentum. This could be a conversation with someone new, reading something we don’t self-identify with, or opting for the challenge when we could have turned the other way. Momentum is a Latin word meaning ‘to move,’ and it is within this movement, however slight, that a shifting can occur, allowing new ideas, or maybe old forgotten ideas, to gain some light. It is within this space that I was reminded of the value of being inspired and the value of staying with the stimulation.

This is not always easy, and maybe it is not always welcomed, but being inspired is something that always remains within reach when we are ready to respond. I try to encourage all students coming through our Foundation degree programmes at Leeds Trinity to think about what it is to be inspired and how that can help them during their degree and after graduation. I want them to realise that although change can be hard, it will be worth it.

Dr Clarrie Smith is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Childhood and Education at Leeds Trinity University.