School Psychology: A Positive Psychology Approach

Abstract

The ultimate goal of schools is to educate young people to become responsible,
critically thinking citizens who can succeed in life. Understanding the factors that
stimulate them to become active agents in their own learning is critical. Positive
psychology is a relatively new field of psychology.Positive psychology can be used to
unravel factors that facilitate a student’s sense of agency and active school engagement.
Positive psychology is an emerging applied science that is just beginning to have a
significant impact on schools and school-based interventions. Positive psychology is
also used in school-based interventions from the point of view of public health.
Interventions are given to students at different levels based on their individual needs.
An inordinate number of students report high levels of boredom, anger, and stress in
schools. This scenario often leads to their disengagement from critical learning and
school development. Positive psychology has gained immense popularity within many
areas of the behavioural sciences, including applied psychology. Most of the interest in
positive psychology, however, has been disproportionately focused on adults. (Diener
& Diener, 2009). Child development and the structures that support that development
have received less attention within positive psychology. The attributes of interest to
positive psychologists are Optimism, Hope, Creativity, Self-Efficacy, Virtues of various
types like Forgiveness and Gratitude, and Subjective Well-being are likely to begin in
childhood. It is, therefore, imperative that childhood and those organisations that are
most pertinent to the developing child-family, child, peers, and school—be of high
interest to positive psychologists. The development of a child is facilitated by primary
group and secondary group socialization processes.