* What Is Positive Education and Why Does It Matter

In my last blog I addressed Positive Education briefly.  It is such an important topic, I wanted to give it more attention.  We are aware that the youth of today are struggling.  Anxiety and depression are on the rise and suicide is the second leading cause of death among our youth.  Even younger children contemplate suicide at an alarming rate.  Suicide is the third leading cause of death in children 10-13 years of age.  There are some specific contributing factors to the increase in mental health issues but rather than address the problem (perhaps a future blog) I want to address a solution.

A Solution is Positive Education.  Positive Education can play a key role in helping young people flourish and thrive even in the face of life stressors.  Positive Education takes the science of well-being and integrates it into schools so that it is as important as academic achievement.  We have many years of rigorous research that demonstrates how to enhance well-being not just in young people, but all people.  There are evidenced based tools that can be taught and utilized.

To be clear, Positive Education is more than teaching young people the tools.  It is truly about creating a culture of well-being within schools. School culture contributes 20% to a student’s well-being¹.  When the climate of a school changes, well-being among students is enhanced.

Positive Education is more than teaching a class in Well-being.  We know this does not produce sustainable change.  Instead, it involves training teachers and staff in the science of well-being and how it can be integrated into school curriculum.  It is giving them an opportunity to learn it, implement it in their own lives, teach it to their students and embed it into all areas of the school.  Currently, there is focus being given to the impact Positive Education has not just on students but the well-being of teachers as well.  I imagine we will see some positive results.  If teachers are given the opportunity to learn it and live it and the culture of their work environment is changed for the better, how could it not?

Positive Education does not mean all new curriculum. Teachers have experienced enough of that. It is however about adding to the existing curriculum.  Regardless of what subject is being taught in school, the science of well-being can be integrated into the existing school curriculum.

Creating schools of Positive Education is happening in other parts of the world.  It started in Australia and has gained steam in New Zealand, Mexico, Chino, Dubai, UK, Denmark and other countries.  A lot has been learned over the last 10 years or so on what works and what does not.  There are definitely some positive effects.  We know that focusing on well-being does not take away from academics.  It actually enhances it!  Here are some of the positive effects of bringing well-being into schools:

• Improved GPA’s²
• Decrease in depression, anxiety and hopelessness^3,4
• Higher levels of academic engagement and participation⁵
• Higher retention rates⁶
• Stronger social and emotional skills⁷
• Pro-social behavior⁸
• Higher levels of optimism⁹
• Improved health-related behaviors⁹
• Greater levels of self-control⁹
• Reduction in conduct problems⁹
• Reduction in procrastination⁹

I am truly on a mission to decrease the startling statistics of depression, anxiety and suicide among youth.  In my private practice, my work is reactionary.  People come to me because they are experiencing symptoms.  I am grateful and honored for the opportunity to teach people how to not just be symptom free, but truly flourish and thrive.  As much as I love this work, I became a professional speaker and trainer so I can be more on the proactive side of the spectrum.  if I can help young people learn to flourish and have greater levels of resiliency so they don’t end up in my office struggling, I would consider that a life well lived.

If you want more information on how the science of well-being can be integrated into schools, creating institutions of Positive Education, please feel free to contact me.  Together we can help young people flourish and thrive!

1. Suldo, S.M., (2019) “Promoting Students’ Subjective Well-being in Comprehensive School Based Mental Health Services.” 6^th World Congress on Positive Psychology.
2. Durlak, J., Weissberg, P., Dymnicki, A., Taylor, R., & Schellinger, K. (2011). The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions.  Child Development, 82, 405-432.
3. Seligman, M. (2011).  New York: Free Press. 81-82.
4. Gillham, J.E., Hamilton, D.R., Freres K., Patton, and Gallop, R. (2006). Preventing Depression Among Early Adolescents in the Primary Care Setting: A Randomized Controlled Study of the Penn Resiliency Program.  Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 203-219.
5. Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. New York: Free Press. 85.
6. Walton, G., Cohen, G. (2011). A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students. Science 331, no. 6023: 1447-51.
7. Noble, T., & McGrath, H. (2012). The Positive Educational Practices Framework: A Tool For Facilitating the Work of Educational Psychologists in Promoting Pupil Well-Being. Educational & Child Psychology, 25(2), 119-134.
8. Bird, J., Markly, R. (2012). Subjective Well-being in School Environments: Promoting Positive Youth Development Through Evidence Based Assessment.  American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 82, 61-66.
9. Brunwasser, S.M., Gillham, J.E., & Kim, E.S. (2009). A Meta-Analytic Review of the Penn Resiliency Program’s Effect on Depressive Symptoms.  Journal of  Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(6), 1042-1054.