I recently moved into a head of sixth form role at an international school with responsibilities for college and careers guidance.

Prior to this, I worked as a researcher and lecturer at a university and one thing I was always interested in during this role was the issues surrounding students that dropped out of the university.

I often wondered if one of the issues they encountered was an issue that had affected me when I had embarked on my higher education journey years earlier: arriving at university and losing all sense of identity.

A small fish 

I pursued a degree in sports science and I remember at the time that how difficult it was to go from being seen - by my teachers, friends and yes myself - as being fairly athletically talented and performing well academically at college, to being instantaneously humbled by the sporting talent and intelligence of everyone around me when I arrived at a university specialising in sport.

I went from being a big fish in a small pond to being a small fish in a gigantic lake of Olympic talent...or something like that.

Without sport to define myself, it seemed everything else was lacking too when I made a comparison to other people.

Other students seemed funnier, more confident, had done Duke of Edinburgh trips in the Pyrenees, and already seemed to know they were destined for success, while I struggled immensely and returned home the same weekend during my Freshers week.

This was quite a shakeup and, while I didn’t drop out, it took me a long time to find my feet.

Identity foreclosure

I now know that what I experienced was the negative impact of “identity foreclosure”.

The American Psychological Association Dictionary of Psychology defines identity foreclosure as a premature commitment to a particular identity and, “the unquestioning acceptance by individuals (usually adolescents) of the role, values, and goals that others (eg, parents, close friends, teachers, athletic coaches) have chosen for them [such as an athlete]...without exploring its value or contemplating alternative roles that might be more appropriate.”

So, essentially, because I saw myself - and had been made to see myself as “good at sport” - the moment this identity was dwarfed by the better sportspeople around me I was left feeling unsure and alone.

It’s not just younger people this affects, either.

A lifelong issue

I first came across the concept of identity foreclosure when listening to a podcast one day about the struggle that many athletes face when redefining themselves, and more importantly their identity, after retirement or injury.

For teachers, though, what is most important is to be aware of this issue with regards how they engage with the young people they work with every day, especially as they prepare them to move on in the world to higher education or elsewhere, and how identity can be formed in a way that appears positive - but can have unintended outcomes.

Overly praising sporting ability is certainly one way this manifests, but academic prowess is another such identity that I have certainly seen praised (and have been guilty of praising) too strongly.

I am sure we have all made comments such as “James is a really smart student”, “James got all As at A level, he’s so intelligent”, “Well done on your grades, James, I knew you would do it”.

A diverse array of talents

This is not to say that we shouldn’t praise students, of course, particularly when it comes in the form of highlighting strengths that refer to their behaviours and processes, rather than their outcomes; for example, their tenacity in striving to overcome a problem.

However, when we talk in a way that zones in on a particular area of the students’ identity repeatedly, and as if it were a given, we perhaps fail a little in our role of helping to provide students with the space to explore who they really are (which can be many things), as defined by them.

We need to give young people the chance to see themselves as multi-dimensional people who, even if they may not be quite as good at sport as they thought, for example, also know they are funny, smart, kind, artistic or any other positive attribute that has been used to describe them.

Sadie Hollins is head of sixth form at a British-curriculum school in Thailand and has been teaching internationally for two years. She tweets @_WISEducation