Teachers’ experiences with positive education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Positive education is the teaching of both traditional school skills and skills for enhancingwell-being. This study examines teachers’ (N = 72) experiences with training in positive education.Qualitative content analysis was used to provide an in-depth understanding of theexperiences, and quantitative measures investigated teachers’ well-being. Results show thatteachers experienced both personal and professional growth. They also saw positive changesin their students. Teachers used methods of positive education e.g. when communicating withstudents and co-workers, and when supporting the students’ socioemotional development.Challenges with implementing positive education practices mostly consisted of lack of timeor support from colleagues. The authors argue that positive education is an effective tool forenhanced well-being both for participating teachers and their students and could therefore be utilised on alarger scale. Future studies could focus on whether teachers continue systematicimplementing of positive education methods long-term, and the reasons behind continued ordiscontinued.