Browsing by Subject "hyveopetus"

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the theoretical background of positive psychology, its subjects of research and criticism on it. The second research question was to find out how positive psychology is applied to teaching by the means of positive pedagogy, and what kind of teaching of character strengths and virtues has been carried out in the com-prehensive schools in Finland. The study was conducted as a literature review. Positive psychology was developed to challenge the traditional, pathologically oriented psychology that has focused on fixing problems that already exist. Positive psychology aims, instead of fixing problems, strengthen the good that exists in every individual and prevent problems. The present-day comprehensive school emphasizes the importance of academic skills. Positive pedagogy and the teaching of character strengths and virtues bring the conscious practice of non-cognitive skills alongside the academic skills. Previous research has shown that e.g. self-discipline and perseverance outdo IQ in predicting academic performance. Thus, these skills of character should be taught and learned in school. In the thesis I became acquainted with two different models of teaching character strengths and virtues and the results obtained by these models in Finland. The teaching of The Virtues Project model by Kavelin Popov has been carried out around the globe and in at least a couple of schools in Porvoo and Tampere. The teaching model of character strengths by Uusitalo-Malmivaara and Vuorinen has been carried out in at least 10 elementary schools and over 20 classes. Both of the models aim to be more like pedagogical philosophies that can be used alongside the existing curriculum rather than strictly limited interventions. The teachers, pupils and their parents that have taken part in the teaching of character strengths and virtues have all been very satisfied with the results. They found the atmosphere in the classroom improved and pupils’ self-confidence grown. Also the teachers found their well being improved. The parents saw the improvements taking place at home as well. All this reflected positively to academic performance.