Educational Psychology has always been great at bringing a different ‘angle’ to things, as a profession we are trained to look more towards the Social Model, rather than the Medical Model for guidance and solutions in our work. We are also great at using more positive approaches in our work, such as looking for things that are going well and are working, and then building on that. However, I believe that as a profession we can go further than this.
In my experience, I find that those I work with are coming from the stance of the medical model and invariably we do find ourselves caught up in the process of helping to put ‘right’ things that are ‘wrong’. Of course, there are times when something has gone wrong and support is needed to ‘fix’ or ameliorate this. But we shouldn’t stop there. We are in an ideal position, to shift the focus in psychology and schools from difficulties and disorders to strengths, happiness and flourishing – for everyone who works and learns in schools.
It’s time for Positive Educational Psychology.
I’m not suggesting that we ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’ here, but what I am suggesting is that we merge what we already do with the science of Positive Psychology to promote and support the implementation of Positive Education in our schools.
So at this point you may be asking yourself how to introduce Positive Psychology to your practice. This article focuses on our work with young people on an individual basis, although clearly, the application of Positive Psychology and Positive Education reaches far further than this. Below are just a few examples of Positive Psychology topics that I have incorporated into Educational Psychology consultations and assessments over the past couple of years:
Positive Emotion
The experience of positive emotion has been found to catapult people onto an ‘upward spiral’ where as a result of these emotions they begin to build long lasting personal (intellectual, physical, social and psychological) resources that then serve them well in the future. However, there is a magic ratio to achieve this outcome; we need to experience 3 positive emotions for each less desirable emotion we experience (Fredrickson, 2001). The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C; Laurent et al, 1999, adapted from the PANAS-X, Watson & Clark, 1994) is a measure we can use to help us to establish if a young person is not experiencing enough positive emotion. It is for children aged between 9 and 17 years and parent and child forms are available. If there is a need to increase the positive emotion being experienced by a young person, there are Positive Psychology Interventions (PPI’s) that can be introduced as options for support during both consultation and assessment. There is more on that inside my course for Educational Psychologists.
Goal Setting
Goals are a topic in Positive Psychology that have been found to increase wellbeing, however, a key point is that it is the progress that people make towards their goals that increases positive affect and is good for their wellbeing, not the actual attainment of the goal. This is where SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) goals come into their own!
It is also important that goals are values-driven, that is, that they are in pursuit of something that is important to the young person. Therefore these goals need to be set in collaboration with the young person, and not set for them by adults. In this way, goals add meaning and a sense of purpose to the young person’s life. It has been found that those who have aspirations that are meaningful, achievable and in progress are happier than those who do not (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019). In practice I discuss with the young person, what is important to them and what goals they would like to aim for, before then discussing these with key adults. To help a young person identity their values, I have developed a ‘What’s Important to Me’ card pack to facilitate a discussion, this is available under the ‘Resources’ section of this website.
As you can see, goals can have an incredibly positive impact on wellbeing, but not all goals are equal, this is explored more inside the course for Educational Psychologists.
Strengths
What character strengths does the young person have? Here we are thinking about the strengths they have a person (e.g. perseverance, kindness, creativity), rather than strengths in abilities and skills (e.g. maths, football). There are 24 character strengths altogether, here it is useful to pick out the primary strengths the young person presents with; those that are typically ‘them’. Those who use their character strengths have been found to report better wellbeing and performance and better relationships. There are various strengths interventions which include, becoming aware of strengths, appreciating strengths, applying strengths, balancing strengths use and developing strengths (van den Berg & Steeneveld, 2020). I have a strengths interview that I use with young people, again there is more on this inside the course for Educational Psychologists. More recently I’ve also developed Strengths Cards for Children & Adolescents, to facilitate an engaging interaction to help to identify their character strengths and how they use them. These are available under the ‘Resources’ section of this website.
Strengths is a big topic in Positive Psychology and Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology, believes that they should underly all facets of the Positive Education approach.
So this is just a little taster of how we can merge Educational Psychology with Positive Psychology for better schools. In my view, Positive Education is the way forward for our future generations.
References
Boniwell, I., & Tunariu, A.D. (2019). Positive psychology: Theory, research and applications (2nd Ed). Open University Press.
Fredrickson, B. L., (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden and build theory positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218 – 226.
Laurent, J., Catanzaro, S. J., Joiner, T. E., Jr., Rudolph, K. D., Potter, K. I., Lambert, S., Osborne, L., & Gathright, T. (1999). A measure of positive and negative affect for children: Scale development and preliminary validation. Psychological Assessment, 11(3), 326–338.
van den Berg, A., & Steeneveld, M. (2020). Character Strengths Intervention Cards. Hogrefe Publishing.
David, W., & Clark, L. A. (1994). Positive and Negative Affect Schedule–Expanded Version (PANAS-X). APA PsycTests.