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It is not just ‘positive thinking’. It encompasses teaching children to cope with difficult emotions such as frustration, anger, sorrow and worry. Understanding all emotions, and their temporary nature, is a key component of mental wellbeing, and it is the idea of promotingmental wellness that lies at the heart of the success of positive education. Broaden and build Although less well known in the UK, positive education is in fact a worldwidemovement encompassing schools from many countries, including Mexico, Peru, Bhutan and the USA. There is an International Positive EducationNetwork that holds several events each year as more andmore schools experience the benefits that positive education brings to their whole community. So, how easy is it to introduce some of the positive evidence-based discipline that seeks to help people create lives of meaning, happiness, wellbeing and optimism. When this science is applied in schools it is called positive education. It helps children becomemore resilient when faced with setbacks and challenges, and to copemore easily with failures. None of this is at the expense of academic progress. Rather, positive education underlines the fact that if we want children to performat their best, they need to feel at their best, and that includes understanding how their brains work. In positive education classes it’s not unusual for children to discuss the role dopamine plays in determination, serotonin in happiness and oxytocin in friendship and connection. They can also tell you how the right amount of adrenaline helps themperformwell in a test, but toomuch and their ‘thinking brain’ shuts down. www.teachwire.net | 65 education tools and skills into your classroom? Surprisingly easy if you start in the right place. Positive education’s main model is based on the acronym PERMA. This stands for: l Positive emotion l Engagement l Relationships l Meaning l Accomplishment To fully embrace PERMA, aspects of these qualities are built into everyday interactions at school, supported by specific lessons where the focus is on one or more of these underlying principles. A key notion of positive education is understanding that themore frequently we experience positive emotions themore optimistic, creative and resilient we become. It is based on Barbara Frederickson’s ‘broaden and build’ theory. In keeping with this, teachers can challenge children to set positive-emotion goals for themselves. This involves working together to draw up a list of positive emotions (including some the childrenmay find a stretch, such as inspiration, serenity, compassion or self-compassion). Ask the children to choose a different emotion each day and work out how they could feel it, whether working alone or in small groups. Some are easier than others. The childrenwill need to give some thought to what makes them feel happy, calm, loved, joyful, peaceful or whatever the chosen emotion is. In doing this activity, pupils learnwhat sparks certain feelings for them, and that they can have an impact on how they feel through the choices theymake. Realising they have the ability to bring about positive feelings in their lives is amazingly important for children and a cornerstone of creating goodmental wellness. Serotonin spike As for that serotonin spike, it’s a wonderfully simple exercise. Thanks to American psychologist Fred Bryant, we know that savouring a positive moment – immersing ourselves in it fully – has a wonderful impact on happiness and even improves mental and physical health. Whenwe savour joyful moments, we can relive our happiness all over again. Ask the children to think of three things that make themhappy and write themdown. They don’t have to be big things – playing with a pet, eating an ice creamor watching a favouritemovie are all great examples. Then ask pupils to use their imaginations to recreate one of their choices in as much detail as possible. Encourage them to see, hear and feel it as fully as they can, and then stay focused on it for a fewmoments. As little as 30 seconds can be enough to raise their serotonin levels. That’s the thing about positive education. It works quickly and effectively, without the need for special equipment. It can be part of everyday school life and teachers often tell me it works lifemagic. There is a wealth of research evidence about its impact onwellbeing at a time when there is an increasing focus on children’s mental health fromboth the government and regulatory bodies. With time pressures on curriculums, budget pressures across the board and teachers being askedmore andmore frequently to become involved in pastoral care as well deliver great academic results, positive education could be the answer schools are searching for. TP WE L LBE I NG SPEC I AL Julie Hurst is a positive psychologist who works with schools throughout the UK. She is working with St Bede Teaching School in Bolton to run a six-day positive education course. For more information email bradburyj@ stbedeacademy.org @juliewlbc thewlbc.com