Abstract
This chapter reviews scientific evidence relating to positive education as it is broadly understood today – that is, an educational approach where individual strengths, well-being, and positive social relations are taught and used as foundation for the pedagogy, with the aim of facilitating joyful, effective, and responsible learning for every learner. The evidence presented includes both studies produced before and after the formal inception of the positive psychology movement around year 2000, as most of what is called positive psychology, for natural reasons is based on a great body of earlier work that remains valid and relevant to this day. Also included is a brief view on very promising Danish approaches to educational application of positive psychology. The argument is made that in the future education may benefit far more from many psychological findings than have hitherto been the case, despite the huge potential already at hand, if only psychological evidence is given the same status as much of the so-called “hard evidence” such as grades ranks, drop-out-rates, and money that have completely dominated the educational debates until now.
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Notes
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OECD PISA (2000, 2003, 2006, 2009) results can be found at: http://www.pisa.oecd.org.
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See: http://www.Live&Learn.dk.
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Knoop, H.H. (2013). Positive Education, or Just Education. In: Proctor, C., Linley, P. (eds) Research, Applications, and Interventions for Children and Adolescents. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6398-2_12
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