An increased focus on youth development has led to an understanding of the importance of the wellbeing, resilience and mental health of children and young people. As a result there is a growing body of research, especially over the last two decades, which increasingly recognises the complexities of learning and development across the years spent at school. Alongside this trend is the rise of positive psychology, which is changing our conceptions of youth, education and development. Support for a new era of student‐centric teaching practices dedicated to enhancing student wellbeing has come not only from researchers and psychologists, but also from school and education authorities, who are showing an increased appetite for integrating positive psychology‐based programs into the learning curriculum. While researchers are beginning to express cautious optimism about the effectiveness of such interventions, there is a large disparity between the initiatives being researched and what is being taught in classrooms. A set of key constraints relating to limited resources, an overcrowded curriculum, accessibility of information, teacher factors and quality training all play a role in shaping the effectiveness with which an intervention is implemented. This article reflects on the recent development of positive psychology school‐based programs and offers insights into how these initiatives can be enhanced to reach a wider range of young people and translated more effectively into classroom practice.

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This study piloted an intervention using attribution retraining and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to promote positive learning experiences and outcomes for students. This research is an important step to revitalise the dwindling field of attribution retraining research by assessing whether these techniques effectively improve student learning in modern classrooms. Participants were 50 students from grades five and six (age 10- to 12-years-old). Findings revealed that students in the intervention group showed significantly greater average reading levels compared to their control group peers at two months following the intervention. Whilst no other areas measured (mathematics, spelling, and self-concept) reached the level of significance, a number of interesting patterns were observed regarding student selection, intervention focus, and the trajectory of treatment effects. These findings encourage future researchers to expand the range of students targeted by school-based interventions, supports the use of attribution techniques, and highlights that without follow-up data, lagged treatment effects may go undetected. This is one of only a handful of studies to combine attribution retraining with cognitive behavioral therapy, and the results of this pilot study support the need for further research in this area.

The role of affective and cognitive factors in learning have long been recognised as imperative determinants of the learning process. Maladaptive styles with which we perceive and explain accomplishments and failures in achievement outcomes have an important motivational impact upon approach and avoidance behaviours towards academic tasks. Interventions to change these maladaptive styles are well established, although they stand to gain via addition of cognitive behavioural therapy components. A pilot study attribution retraining intervention was implemented with eight secondary school students, and their results on academic performance, self-concept, and attributional styles were compared to a control group. With significant gains in some specific academic domains, the attributional retraining program is being substantiated for effective use within secondary schools. Implications suggest that this could be an effective tool to retrain students’ attributions, with some gains, as the reattribution technique is revisited and reinvigorated.

This guide accompanies the following article: Chodkiewicz, A. R. & Boyle, C., Positive psychology school‐based interventions: a reflection on current success and future directions, Review of Education, DOI: