A Review of Character Strengths Interventions in Twenty-First-Century Schools: their Importance and How they can be Fostered

Lavy, Shiri

doi:10.1007/s11482-018-9700-6

Cited by 146 publications

(122 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…These programs may target teachers and students. For example, a program aiming to foster teachers’ interpersonal relationships with students and parents focused on skills for enhancing teachers’ strengths (e.g., curiosity, creativity) and sense of meaning [ 46 , 47 ]. A comprehensive meta-analysis of positive schooling conducted recently by Waters and [ 48 ] identified six pathways of intervention (SEARCH) that effectively increase students’ wellbeing and school-based academic outcomes: Identified strength, Emotional management, Attention and awareness, Relationships, Coping, and Habits and goals.…”

Section: Positive Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Sustainable Wellbeing: Integrating Positive Psychology and Environmental Sustainability in Education

Ronen

Kerret

2020

IJERPH

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This article proposes an integrative policy approach to defining and promoting wellbeing through the joint lenses of positive psychology and environmental sustainability. The study suggests that while both positive education and environmental education address various aspects of wellbeing, a common definition is still absent. The study proposes a framework for advancing a mutual concept of wellbeing: “sustainable wellbeing”, integrating aspects of individual wellbeing and the wellbeing of the environment. Sustainable wellbeing is achieved when improving individual wellbeing is correlated with improving the wellbeing of other members of society and the natural environment. It suggests a framework for integrating the benefits of positive education and environmental education into a coherent approach for exploring, discussing, and experiencing sustainable wellbeing. The paper mainly develops, explores, and demonstrates ten rules for implementing sustainable wellbeing literacy in schools, based on cognitive behavioral therapy and positive psychology insights. It contributes to the development and understanding of wellbeing, highlights the benefits of parallel developments of two distinct educational fields, and offers practical guidelines for implementing educational programs. Furthermore, the paper contributes to developing 21st century educational systems and further develops the emerging field of positive sustainability.

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Section: Positive Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Sustainable Wellbeing: Integrating Positive Psychology and Environmental Sustainability in Education

Ronen

Kerret

2020

IJERPH

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“…By definition, character strengths are ubiquitous, positively morally valued, fulfilling, trait-like, distinct, and measurable individual differences that contribute to optimal development across the lifespan ( Peterson and Seligman, 2004 ). Importantly, character strengths are defined as malleable, which makes them ideal targets for interventions (for an overview in the educational context, see Lavy, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Character Strengths Are Related to Students’ Achievement, Flow Experiences, and Enjoyment in Teacher-Centered Learning, Individual, and Group Work Beyond Cognitive Ability

et al. 2020

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While character strengths have been found to predict educational outcomes beyond broad personality traits and cognitive ability, little is known about their differential contribution to success and positive learning experiences in different school settings. In this study, we use trait activation theory to investigate the relationships of students’ character strengths with achievement, flow experiences, and enjoyment in different learning situations (i.e., teacher-centered learning, individual tasks, and group work). In studying these relationships, we controlled for psychometric intelligence. Secondary school students ( N = 255; 46.3% male; mean age = 14.5 years) completed a self-report measure of character strengths, the VIA-Youth ( Park and Peterson, 2006b ). Cognitive ability was assessed using a standardized intelligence test (PSB-R; Horn et al., 2003 ) at baseline. Three months later, students completed the Flow Short Scale ( Rheinberg et al., 2003 ) adapted to the three learning situations and indicated their typical enjoyment of these situations. Both the students and their teachers ( N = 18; 50% male; mean age = 44.8 years) provided ratings on school achievement in each of the three learning situations. Results indicate that, as expected, (a) certain character strengths (love of learning and perseverance) show consistent relationships with achievement and positive learning experiences (flow and enjoyment) above and beyond cognitive ability across all learning situations, whereas (b) other character strengths show differential trait-outcome relationships (e.g., the character strength of teamwork was predictive of achievement and positive learning experiences in group work). Taken together, these results suggest that different character strengths play a role in different school situations and that their contribution to explaining variance in educational outcomes is incremental to the contribution of cognitive ability.

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“…Due to a lack of representation of diverse cultural identities in existing positive education literature, it is possible that prescriptive interventions may be imposing Western values for wellbeing on increasingly diverse student populations (Rao and Donaldson, 2015; Ungar, 2012). For example, character strength development interventions that focused on the 24 character strengths classification proposed by Peterson and Seligman (2004) may not be entirely adequate for students from diverse cultural backgrounds because some of these specific strengths could be considered more or less adaptive depending on the cultural context (Lavy, 2020).…”

Section: Current Intervention Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting wellbeing through positive education: A critical review and proposed social ecological approach

Coulombe

Hardy²,

Goldfarb

2020

Theory and Research in Education

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Youth wellbeing is a pressing international problem, and it is a key concern of educational institutions, considering the substantial amount of time that youth spend in school. Educators require empirically validated and theoretically sound methods to support students’ wellbeing. This article critically examines the literature on youth wellbeing and interventions in positive education and proposes an innovative, social ecological approach to promoting wellbeing in education. Personal Projects Analysis is a complementary approach addressing several gaps identified in existing interventions (e.g. lack of consideration of ecological and cultural contexts, need for a person-centred approach to support unique goals of diverse students). Implications and applications are discussed to demonstrate how school leadership and educators can apply Personal Projects Analysis to promote the wellbeing of all students.

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A Review of Character Strengths Interventions in Twenty-First-Century Schools: their Importance and How they can be Fostered

Cited by 146 publications

References 57 publications

Promoting Sustainable Wellbeing: Integrating Positive Psychology and Environmental Sustainability in Education

Promoting Sustainable Wellbeing: Integrating Positive Psychology and Environmental Sustainability in Education

Character Strengths Are Related to Students’ Achievement, Flow Experiences, and Enjoyment in Teacher-Centered Learning, Individual, and Group Work Beyond Cognitive Ability

Promoting wellbeing through positive education: A critical review and proposed social ecological approach

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