Positive Educational Approaches to Teaching Effectiveness and Student Well-being

In the thrall to content and qualifications, we have forgotten the deeper purpose of education. In the rush to make young people into successful exam passers, we have overlooked their deeper need to become successful people” (Claxton, 2008, p. ix). Positive education is a growing area of educational research that integrates elements of positive psychology with educational practices to promote the mental health and wellbeing of students as fundamental to student success (Seligman et al., 2009; Van Zyl et al., 2022). Positive education programs in schools encompass empirically validated and scientifically informed interventions, proactive strategies and systems thinking to enable a shared purpose toward student wellbeing (Kern et al., 2020; Van Zyl, 2021). Interest in positive education has increased over the past decade as the focus of academic success is no longer only on academic performance (Krifa et al., 2022). According to key international associations, education policy makers, teachers and parents should prioritize student mental health and help students maximize wellbeing (OECD, 2017; WHO and UNESCO, 2021). Positive education includes interventions from positive psychology that target student mental health and emphasize student wellbeing as an essential educational outcome by promoting resilience, self-efficacy, strengths, capabilities, and other noncognitive skills (International Positive Education Network, 2017; Halliday et al., 2020; Van Zyl et al., 2021; Van Zyl and Rothmann, 2022). Furthermore, the academic, financial, and health stressors arising from the COVID-19 pandemic (Krifa et al., 2021; Frenzel et al., 2022), and a growing social focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (Govorova et al., 2020; Van Zyl and Salanova, 2022) highlight the need for ongoing positive education research on student wellbeing. This special issue/Research Topic identified current innovative approaches, tools, interventions, methodologies, models and guidelines in positive education.