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In many education systems around the world, positive education is changing how teachers and students approach learning.
The concept of positive education has support from a range of prominent psychologists and practicing teachers. The idea is the well-being of students enhances learning and develops them as good citizens.
And a wide body of research from around the world indicates positive education is working.
Cath Ferguson, an academic from Edith Cowan University, recently noted the growth of positive education around the world, including in Australia where the Positive Education Schools Association (PESA) has grown from nine member schools in 2011 to over 100 in 2018.
Internationally, groups such as the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and the International Positive Education Network (IPEN) exist to promote positive education.
So can positive education be implemented system-wide?
Ferguson pointed out that the published research has been conducted in schools that would be described as prestigious and/or in middle-to-upper-class locations.
“Students are generally from middle-to-upper-class families with access to good resources, and life isn't usually a daily battle for survival,” Ferguson wrote in The Conversation.
“It is likely schools with many students from low socio-economic families or with traumatic backgrounds would benefit from positive education.”
Ferguson said the effects might be even stronger in those schools, assuming the schools provided appropriate support and training for staff and leadership.
“It takes time to develop the school culture necessary to implement positive education effectively. Teachers have to be trained to work with positive psychology interventions. A stable school leadership with belief in positive education is needed to ensure its effective adoption,” Ferguson said.
“The time and money required to introduce positive education may hinder its full introduction to every school.”
According to Ferguson, these challenges are likely to inhibit the development of positive education across the government school sector.
“That is unless state education departments take the concept on board and support it with appropriate training and resources,” she said.