Exploring Positive Education Methods
Why do I care about Positive Education? Positive Education is important because it helps you manage stress and improve mental health, leading to better academic performance. It enhances relationships with peers and teachers, increases motivation and engagement in learning, and teaches valuable life skills like emotional regulation and problem-solving. By focusing on your strengths, it boosts self-confidence and prepares you for future challenges. Therefore, Practicing Positive Education creates a supportive school environment, making school a more enjoyable place to learn and grow. Ultimately, it helps you thrive both in school and in life. Below is an explanation of my most favourite Positive Education Methods, with links to the Department of Education (Victoria) for reference. I have used every example in an array of classrooms. All have worked, and I'm not going to lie, some have worked so well it's changed my classroom environment. However, I urge you to pick your timing with these, and introduce these elements from the start of the term, with consistency and clear expectations.​
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How Do I Use It:
As we all know every school is different. However, this lesson plan template has been quite successful for me in both Australia and overseas with International schools. It's has been used by a number of colleagues utilising this format and template and continues to evolve. In addition to being a lesson plan, I also utilise a similar format as my 'text book' for my students. They can access this through the digital platform of the school and also access it when away from a class, referring as notes/revision as well as a great tool to show parents. You can imagine having one mult-functional document saves time. Check out the lesson plan here.
I have also created a curriculum quick look document here, for each subject, for some great start of lesson PEM's here.
Positive Education Methods (PEM)
Click one of the following PEM's to find out more
I'd love to list each subject and give you a specific way of how to use the strengths based approach for each, however, I'm a teacher, like you. Whilst we can produce magic, we have our limitations. In saying this, I am working on a Victorian Curriculum document for each subject with warm-up exercises that incorporate PEM's. ​
One of the key exercises I like to do is to complete the VIA Character Strengths Survey to understand each of my students most used strengths at the start of each semester.​ Here is a link to strengths survey The Positive Mentor Survey.
Strengths-based approacH
How To Use it IN a Lesson
The strength-based approach is an approach to people that views situations realistically and looks for opportunities to complement and support existing strengths and capacities as opposed to focusing on, and staying with, the problem or concern. The problem and the person are separate; however, the problem is never minimised. (Department of Victoria, 2012)
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Understand that children’s learning is dynamic, complex and holistic
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Understand that children demonstrate their learning in different ways
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Start with what’s present—not what’s absent—and write about what works for the child.
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Avoid diagnosing your students, but use their strengths as a guide
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Recognise that their higher strengths are their most used​ strength, not the absence of other strengths.​​​
Students will get a copy of their own results and can share with you.*​
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This is a great resource for you to have on file with their roll and grades throughout the year. I create a Pie Graph, or a word cloud with Mentimeter as a quick look guide to use for reference. This guide enable me to tweak information to students strengths when working one-on-one, as well as challenge them on days when they are open to being challenged.
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I do recommend, allowing each student to discuss and re-design their most used strengths if they do not agree with their results. It's important to encourage self-reflection and allow choice, rather than box a student into a result, even if they want the same strengths as their bestie.​​
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For content for classes, combine your lesson plan objective with strengths-based approach in mind, and if you're using 'Success Criteria' can you adjust each to be specific to strengths to enable students success.​
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In class, you can utilise the strengths based approach to build your lesson for the methods of 'Explicit Teaching'. Focusing on the 'I do' and 'We do' phases. Then when floating around the room, you can utilise individual results to tailor learning for students.
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*Recommend students use their school email for privacy and security
Teachers can use 'Character Education' in their lessons to create an environment that promotes ethical reflection, critical thinking and responsible decision making, whilst maintaining academic rigor and relevance.
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Essentially, looking at your curriculum you can find areas to allow students to explore content individually, exploring their views on fairness, equity and the potential consequences of decision making, then build that into groups or pairs to discuss their findings. ​
Character education
How To Use it IN a Lesson
Character education fosters individual and societal flourishing by teaching virtues like moral, intellectual, and civic virtues, and practical wisdom (Arthur, 2019). It helps students reflect on their values, develop character, and cultivate critical thinking. A spiral curriculum model engages students in continuous learning and practice (Arthur, 2019). (McCann, 2020)
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Understand practice good morals, smart thinking, helping your community, and making wise choices.
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Students reflect on their current values and strengths to understand what is ethically important to them and what kind of person they want to become.
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Students think about critical decision making to aid them in making ehtical decisions.
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Learning ongoing that is facilitated by the model allowing students to repeat encounters and deepen their understanding.
​A colleague of mine ran a class where they used real-world scenarios and data to get the students to explore fairness and equity finding details using their topic content equations. Whilst requiring a bit more work, this was a fascinating lesson that created a strong memory in our students about the importance of real world maths and how it impacts the lives of others daily.
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Character Education is often built into the very make up of schooling life, and you may say 'I don't need to add this, they are already experiencing it.' However, it's incredibly valuable to take control of the subconscious learning, make it conscious and learn how to explicitly cultivate these essential virtues that then enables students to recognise and internalise these character traits. By actively engaging in conversations about morals, intellect, civic virtues and practical wisdom in other subjects allows students to see the effects of these in all areas and how important they are.
These types of classes can empower our students to make informed decisions, strengthen their values, and develop a strong sense of personal responsibility. Moreover, making character education is a conscious part of the learning process, that fosters self-awareness and self-reflection, which are crucial skills for personal growth and well-being.
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Immediately, I know you're thinking of the above image, however, fear not, it doesn't have to be you aiming and forcing your students to look like these angels above.​
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Mindfulness can be an array of different things, that everyone can enjoy, and not make your snore. However, science has proven time and time again the benefits of even 5 minutes of mindfulness can improve the adolescent brain in cognition, emotional regulation, self-awareness and reduction in anxiety. (Zoogman, Goldberg, Hoyt, & Miller, 2014)
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Mindfulness and meditation
How To Use it IN a Lesson
Mindfulness, is different from meditation, . It involves present, nonjudgmental awareness. Teaching it can start with simple tasks like counting breaths or mindful eating. The goal is not to eliminate judgment but to increase awareness of thoughts. These practices help students focus and observe their thoughts without judgment. (O'Bryan, 2022), (University of Melbourne, 2023)
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Understand practice of being present in the moment through stillness and focus on breathing.
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Students observe the activity of the mind, such as thoughts and feelings, to build emotional regulation, awareness and reduce reactivity.
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Students learn how to cultivate care, kindness and friendliness towards others and ourselves whilst enabling the recovery of past traumas, support emotional recovery and become more discerning to others/opportunities whilst remaining open.
​But how can you use it in science, english, chemistry or even cooking class? Self-reflection is important. Taking 5 minutes at the end of the class to ask the students to reflect on the lesson by asking one of the following questions:
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What is something that made you laugh today?
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What is something you found difficult to comprehend/replicate/design?
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How successful were you in today's lesson?
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How did you achieve the Learning Objective/one of the success criteria?
In these mindfulness tasks, I engage students to write their thoughts first, then share with the class. ​
For complex classes with a mix of personalities, I encourage a vote and scatter 1-2 mindful breaks in the lesson with one active and one seated in stillness and silence. You have no idea, how much students will love to put their head down on the desk and close their eyes for 5 minutes.
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If you're looking for a whole school approach, several schools in the UK, US and Europe have implemented 'silent transitions', where students move from class to class in silence. These schools have reported positive outcomes from silent transitions, such as improved behavior, reduced stress, and increased focus on learning.(Morris, 2019.)
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Gratitude is becoming a grating word. Not only do my colleagues roll their eyes, but my students use it far to often, and yet don't see to actually show gratitude for what they are referring to. An exercise I've been using for my classes is 'Afternoon Delights'. I ask them once a week, particularly on Fridays, what is something that delighted them this week. This has been something that has been a little more outside of the curriculum when used in a lesson, but I enjoy it a lot because not only does it build rapport, but it engages ​
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Gratitude Exercises
How To Use it IN a Lesson
Gratitude is usually shown when we feel indebted to others, when we have benefitted from their actions, and when we want to make our feelings towards them known. Benefits of gratitude exercises can aid in improve your mental and physical health, improve our social connections as well as enhance empathy and reduce aggression. (Morin, 2014), (Oppland, 2017)
Through this PEM, student's work towards:
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Understanding, and witnessing, how practicing gratitude exercises can enhance positive experiences in day-to-day activities.
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Developing a better sense of identity, higher levels of confidence and self esteem through regular practice of gratitude exercises​.
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Developing a ritual of practicing gratitude that enhances their wellbeing physically and psychologically.
​Feel free to adjust and make it your own, and tailored to your students, here are the steps for Afternoon delights.
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1. Give each student a small piece of paper, and ask them to write their name on one side.
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2. Scrunch it up into a ball and put them all together in a bucket.
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3. Give each student a random piece of paper, ensuring no one has themselves.
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4. Ask each student to write something they are grateful for about the person whose named on the paper. Then return the paper to the bucket.
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5. Hand out the anonymous messages back to the named students.
For my difficult classes, I quietly checked each paper before sharing and gave the students the messages as they left class. I have students who have kept these pieces of paper throughout their schooling and pasted them into their locker doors.
Positive Relationships, often form naturally and are tested throughout secondary school. Students begin to learn their values and strengths as they mature through their school life and this can strength, weaken and/or change the relationships as they form. However, some students are reluctant to change their relationships in fear of losing their friendship group and security, which can create tolerance for behaviours that don't align with their own values, then the snowball affect can occur.
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Today, their is an increase in students referring to peers for guidance and advice more, then there was in previous generations where authority and advice
was sought from adults. So Positive Relationships is quite a crucial element for our students to development and ascertain.
Positive Relationships
How To Use it IN a Lesson
Positive Relationships are those that have a positive influence on an individual, and can be reciprocal in nature, that allow both parties to evolve positively through wellbeing, intellect, behaviour and health. Positive relationships in schools are central to the wellbeing of both students and teachers and underpin an effective learning environment. There is now a substantial body of research highlighting the significance of connectedness in schools and the particular characteristics of in-school relationships that foster effective education. (Roffey, S. 2012).
Through this PEM, student's work towards:
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Understanding, the benefits of Positive Relationships and how this can influence multiple factors of their wellness and wellbeing
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Discerning what relationships align and support their strengths and values, as well as which can challenge and develop them.
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Establishing a safe and secure network of positive relationships to enable a flourishing environment.
A great exercise is to utilise a Core Values assessment/survey and get students to discuss and share these with their friendship groups to see where their values align. This can spark ideas and conversations of why they get along better with some people and not others.
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The key here isn't to then allow the students to segregate themselves further it is to discuss and foster discussions on how they navigate a cohesive and positive partnership to aid in understanding a difference of opinions.
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In this instance, I utilise Covey's 'seek to understand, before being understood' rule. By playing exercises like the following:
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1. Ask students to pair up with a person they get along with in class and mark off A and B.
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2. Student A, has a piece of paper and a pen, whilst Student B, gets a random shape (see image 1.1) and doesn't let the other student see.
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3. Set a timer for 3 minutes and Student B needs to communicate (without showing) the shape they have for Student A to duplicate.
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4. After this exercise is complete, ask students to repeat the exercise (or maybe on another day) with someone they wouldn't usually pair up with and see how well they go.
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After the exercise is complete, I get the students to share their top core values, and sometimes strengths results and notice how this correlates to the success or challenges of this exercise.
Image 1.1
Resilience building activities are in my opinion the most important for our students today. This is crucial in aiding with anxiety, development of the self and self confidence, autonomy and responsibility. For me, I haven't found one particular exercise that I can repeat each lesson that is great for all types of classrooms, but I find it's the practice, values and expectations of the classroom the teacher sets at the start of each term/year that aids in the development and growth of resileince.
I start my year/semester off with a set amount of guidelines that encourage the students to run their own show. Even my​​most misbehaved students, pride themselves on being given power and responsibility, providing it's not 'taking out the bins.​ In addition to this, it's the 'want to be in that class' and the 'why do I want to be here'. Which is a challenge we all face at some point. This is where
Resilience Building Activities
How To Use it IN a Lesson
Resilience is the ability to proceed through difficulty, or overcome challenges. Resilience is a quality and a skill that can be enhanced, yet requires effort and consistency. In Education Resilience Building Activities are focused on building self-awareness, discovering your Ikigai (Japanese term for life purpose) and developing reflective exercises. In saying this, Resilience is a personal journey and one that can be encouraged through activities, but is difficult to obtain, but possible to train (Doll,. 2019).
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​Through this PEM, student's work towards:
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Understanding, the benefits of Resilience and how this can influence multiple factors of their wellness, wellbeing and life purpose.
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Building the ability to spring back from challenges or set backs during tasks and journeys towards objectives.
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Establishing routines, practices and exercises to foster resilience building and encourage the individual to build their own flourishing environment and achieve their life purpose.
and strengths come into assistance, where you can use this data again to set up specific warm up/engage activities for your students.
For example, in school productions, students sign up voluntarily, so it's clear their values are aligned with the group to come together and put on a show. Their strengths will vary, but this is where I use this data to give them tasks of responsibility for the set up of every rehearsal.
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In my class room for secondary students, my systems for resilience building activities failed with one particular class of disengaged students, who wanted to derail every lesson. There came a point where I tried to just let them sit their and do nothing, but they loved it. So I really had to work hard to grab their attention and hold it for 90 minutes. So I asked them to complete the values survey and I covered the entire floor with paper, and spent the lesson getting them to move around the space and write down what their values are, what they mean and what they did daily to uphold them. When we finished the entire floor was covered in powerful sentences, words, images and collaborations that sparked discussions. Whilst they didn't suddenly become angels they definitely changed from that day on.
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With all that said 'Resilience Building Activities' need to be tailored to your class and the individual. Whilst there are some ideas on the curriculum sheet, I strongly encourage you to team up with your colleagues and find class specific activities for this area to truly succeed.
I always believed this was a given with teachers, however, I quickly learnt that many teachers were complainers. They love to complain and love to moan, and so as they should when their environment is being run by so many voices who have no idea what it is like to be in the classroom. (Especially post pandemic) But here is the thing, if we don't continue to be optimistic, look at a growth mindset and manage our own wellbeing, how can we expect our students to do the same?
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In saying this, I am not condoning that you
Optimism and growth mindset
How To Use it IN a Lesson
Optimism and growth mindset has been proven to show significant impacts when schools have a greater focus on student’s well-being. Therefore, it is recommended that placing greater emphasis on improving a school environment to foster a setting conducive to building resilience and promoting a growth mindset. When students understand that their mindsets can be changed, this realisation can enhance their resilience, positively impacting their social skills and overall psychological well-being. (Iqbal et al, 2021)
Through this PEM, student's work towards:
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Understanding the benefits of a growth mindset that enables positive learning.​
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Practicing optimism and growth mindset to not only build resilience but also build upon their social skills and wellbeing.​
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Training their mindset to be changed to be favourable to a positive trajectory that relates to core values and strengths that benefit their futuristic opportunities.
ignore the challenges in school, because their will always be something that needs addressing and it is taxing on the mind, body and soul. Teachers have one of the most difficult jobs in the world, where they are encouraged to put the student andschool above their own needs. For those who have families, they then go home and do the same, never being able to get time to themselves or take care of themselves. Instead we drip feed caffeine and sugar into our bodies in order to keep on moving until the next holidays come around. To me, that isn't optimistic or a growth mindset and you will burn out. I did.
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The optimism and growth mindset starts with the individual, then grows the to faculty and then spreads into the classroom. Identify what your values and strengths are, feel free to use the links above and see how you can then set yourself new goals, reflect on the past year and then begin to grow. Once you have succeeded in this yourself, it will be a breeze to share this with your colleagues and students.
Positive Culture and Climate in schools has been one of the biggest challenges for me to get right. There are hundreds of unique ways to build a positive culture and climate in schools. What works for one school, might not work for other schools. In saying this, schools are first and foremost 'businesses'. I hate to say it and I have battled against this for many years, but it is true. A principal will always need to consider the business first before considering anything else. Now, I will contradict myself and say some of the best principals I have worked with are those that considered the individual first and did what they could to ensure their environment gave them every opportunity to flourish, and how they managed this, was by giving themselves to the role, which I am undecided on how this was
Positive school culture and climate
How To Use it IN a Lesson
A positive school culture is an environment in which everyone at your school—that’s students, teachers, and other staff—feel respected, valued, and supported.
A positive learning climate is related to students' academic achievement and wellbeing that relates to the community, culture and values of the school. The culture and climate are equally crucial for teachers and students alike. A positive school culture not only significantly enhances teacher performance but also fosters a sense of community among teachers. This is especially vital in large schools or those where teachers might feel isolated. (Cunningham et al, 2000)
Through this PEM, student's work towards:
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Understanding the purpose and framework of a School Wide Positive Behaviour and how this aids the communities culture and climate.
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Developing strong relationships that are at the heart of a positive school culture and managing a positive school climate. This is further nurtured with student led events and rapport building events.​
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Celebrating diversity by recognising and valuing individual and cultural differences, promoting inclusivity.
good for their wellbeing, but the schools did flourish. As did the staff and community. The first area of creating a 'positive school culture and climate' in my opinion is starting not with the teachers, but with the students who are misbehaving and the students who are the top of the class. Ask them what they want and what they value in school and how we can get more of it without detriment to the learning environment. A great reference to this is the 'Swanson School Experiment' to see how this can benefit. Whilst it is a primary school, I believe a lot can be learnt from this. From here, we turn to teachers to mould the content and first and foremost agree upon the language to be used moving forward. This is a key element in not only the psychology of the staff, but the behaviour and how it role models to students. Language is powerful and often overlooked, and a big contributor to mood and behaviours not only by the students, but by the staff as well.
With the global teaching crisis currently at hand, schools are desperate so maintaining this expectation for some schools can be incredibly difficult. However, a good onboarding program (regardless of the time of year for new staff and students) should be strongly adhered too. Additionally, for teachers, it would be ideal to have a specific training program to introduce the teachers to the behaviours and language the school agreed to. This can be renewed/revisited yearly or every 2-3 years because schools and learning are ever changing.
