Every parent wants the best for their children, they want their child to be happy and flourish. However, finding the right education for their child can be a challenge.
So what is positive education?
Positive education is the combination of traditional education with the study of happiness and well being, using Seligman‘s PERMA model and Values in Action (VIA) classification. Seligman has been working on incorporating positive psychology into education to decrease depression in younger people and enhance well being and happiness.
Positive education emphasises the importance of training the heart as well as the mind in education. Education has always focused on academics and fostering positive character strength development. However, before the publication of the ‘Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification‘ by Peterson and Seligman (2014) any efforts to endorse character strengths were derived from religious, cultural, or political bias.(Linkins et al., 2015)
“The VIA classification, however provides a cross-cultural relevant framework for ‘educating the heart’” (Linkins et al., 2015, Pg 65, paragraph 2).
Positive education programs usually define positive character as ‘core character strengths’ that are represented in the VIA’s six categories of virtue. These positive characters are external constructs that need to be nurtured (rather than being innate). The goal of positive education is to help reveal and develop the child’s ability to effectively engage their combination of character strengths (Linkins et al., 2015).
Find more sources on character strengths here to read and learn more.
How to apply positive education
How does positive education actually apply positive psychology and character strengths in practice? Strength-based interventions in educational systems is powerful and usually simple to introduce into schools. Geelong grammar School (GGS), in Australia, has been the model school for positive education and has been one of the first schools in applying positive psychology in a whole-school approach. (Norrish, et al., 2013)
GGS’s method of teaching and embedding positive psychology into the school has several different aspects and levels. All the teachers and even staff of the school participate in training programs to learn about positive education and the application into their work at the school and their personal lives. (Norrish, et al., 2013)
For the children, positive education is applied into every course; for example in art they explore the concept of ‘flourishing’ by creating a visual representation and their personal understanding. The student also have a regularly timetabled lesson on positive education just like any other class such as math’s and geography.(Norrish, et al., 2013)
At a more personal level, strength-based interventions also focus on the relationship of the teachers to the students. When a teacher gives feedback, they should be specific feedback about the strength the student demonstrated rather than a vague feedback such as “Good job!” Teachers are a big influence on their student in their day-to-day interactions and the simple attention to wording of positive reinforcement makes a difference. (Student spotlight: Bringing positive education to schools, 2014.)
Positive Education is “the development of educational environments that enable the learner to engage in established curricula in addition to knowledge and skills to develop their own and others’ wellbeing.” (Oades, Robinson, Green, & Spence, 2011, Pg 432, Paragraph 1)
References
Linkins, M., Niemiec, R. M., Gillham, J., & Mayerson, D. (2015). Through the lens of strength: A framework for educating the heart. The Journal Of Positive Psychology, 10(1), 64-68. doi:10.1080/17439760.2014.888581
Norrish, J. M., Williams, P., O’Connor, M., & Robinson, J. (2013). An applied framework for positive education. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(2).
Oades, L. G., Robinson, P., Green, S., & Spence, G. B. (2011). Towards a positive university. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(6), 432-439.
Student spotlight: Bringing positive education to schools. (2014). Retrieved from http://langleygroupinstitute.com/bringing-positive-education-to-schools-to-promote-whole-school-wellbeing/
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