Last month a Positive Education Summit took place in the UK, led by Professor Martin Seligman and sponsored by Wellington College, one of the top public schools and, under the leadership of Dr Anthony Seldon, probably the longest-standing exponent of applying positive psychology in schools anywhere in the world. The Positive Education Summit was attended […]

“Happiness reminds us that ultimately this is a world of people, of families, of communities all alike – of human beings seeking the same thing. When we grasp this universal simplicity – this sense of a shared planet and shared fate for those who walk on it in a common quest for happiness, well-being, and […]

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Instinctively, a good teacher knows that a happy child learns more easily and bounces back more quickly from disappointments than an unhappy child.  It’s common sense that a happy teacher performs better than an unhappy one, and this has now been borne out by research at Birkbeck College at the University of London, which suggests […]

Unusually for me, my posting for Positive Psychology News this month is a book review, Kate Hefferon and Ilona Boniwell’s Positive Psychology: Theory, Research and Applications. Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s a textbook, in short it’s a highly enjoyable, educational, and engaging read, well worth the £18-£20 it’s currently selling for […]

Creativity expert, Sir Ken Robinson, talks about the need for revolution in the education system. “Very many people go through their whole lives having no real sense of what their talents may be, or if they have any to speak of. I meet all kinds of people who don’t think they’re really good at anything”, […]

Two programmes on BBC Radio 4 featuring the science of Positive Psychology: All in the Mind – Claudia Hammond interviews Professor Martin Seligman about the benefits of optimism, such as living longer and increased resilience. You can learn to be happier, more optimistic and more resilient. Hammond also visited Wellington College in Berkshire where they […]

Here’s a link to my article on Positive Psychology News Daily this month, about teachers’ wellbeing, and wellbeing in schools generally. As usual, please feel free to add your thoughts and comments here, or on the PPND website. Image: Thanks to Chicago 2016 …

More reports from the BBC on the lot of UK teachers, referring to the impending measurement of well-being in schools. On the one hand, measuring well-being could be seen as no more than an extension of the ‘Every Child Matters’ policy, which looks at health, safety, educational achievement, contribution to society and economic well-being. On […]

According to the BBC News today, there are plans afoot to make UK schools monitor children’s well-being, as well as their exam results. On closer inspection of the source report in the Guardian, 18 new social targets are being proposed, among them: * bullying* teenage pregnancy rates* pupil’s drug problems* criminal records* obesity levels. Apparently […]

This month’s posting for Positive Psychology News Daily focuses the importance of space in the development of well-being in children, and what this means for the rest of us. …

In Wednesday’s HARDTalk programme, BBC journalist, Stephen Sackur, interviewed Professor Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology, about such questions as whether positive psychology is truly scientific or mere psychobabble, whether or not well-being should be a political issue, and whether it would be better to put our efforts into alleviating mental illness instead. If you […]