The Bamboo Ladder evolved from the Self-Anchoring Striving Scale (SAS) developed in the 1960s by Hadley Cantril, a Professor of Social Psychology at Princeton University. Used in more than 20 countries, the 10-point scale was a culture-free means for assessing perceptions, concerns, and future aspiration.
The Bamboo Ladder, a Thai adaption of the SAS, was developed in the early 1980s in cooperation with the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) as a culture-free barometer of perceived changes in wellbeing in relation to actual changes in socioeconomic status and reproductive behavior.
The Bamboo Ladder permit respondents to express their perceptions without imposing forced choices through Western-style questionnaires, while allowing comparisons over time. Each respondent is asked to define, on the basis of his/her own assumptions, the top and bottom rungs on the picture of the ladder (anchoring points) which would represent the best and worst possible personal life conditions. Subsequently, respondents are asked to indicate on the ladder where they believe they stand now, where they think they stood three (or more) years ago, andwhere they expect to stand three (or more) years hence in terms of personal, familial, and community wellbeing (or any other life dimension) in relation to their previously defined ladder anchoring points.
While individual ratings are subjective, coding schemes can provide an empirical bases for assess the spectrum of values with which persons are presently concerned, their perceptions of their quality of life, and their progress toward a higher level of development. For example, are they moving from acceptance of present circumstances to an awakening of potentialities for realizing aspirations? If so, the Bamboo Ladder will assess progress made over time.
The Bamboo Ladder concept applied by PDA among their respondents is also highly applied in the governance of the school. The students get the opportunity to assess themselves, their classmates, school community and think over and prepare for their futures. The school also strongly harnesses the skills of the students to ask good questions.
I find this concept interesting, so it's worth studying and learning more.