Background

Positive education is an approach that combines Positive Psychology concepts with education best practice guidelines to design empirically validated interventions and programs that have an impact on student and school staff well-being. The SARS - Covid-19 pandemic has presented many challenges for psychology and education due to social distancing, school closures and mental health issues. Brazil was one of the countries that had closed schools for the longest time, almost a year.

Aims 

The present research was guided by an evidence-based practice in the school context. A positive education program for elementary school teachers was built, implemented and evaluated in two formats (synchronous online and face-to-face) based on PERMA. 

Method

The program trains teachers, through 8 meetings, to apply positive education interventions to their students; The construction model was composed of four stages described below: (1) internal stage of organization – bibliographic research, material and content analysis; (2) program construction and selection of principles, guidelines, and activities for each meeting; (3) judge analysis; and (4) program review and finalization. 

Results 

The implementation of Positive Education programs in schools is feasible, as teachers can be trained to apply activities focused on well-being. Small differences between the online and face-to-face formats were observed. Face-to-face engagement was higher.

Conclusion 

It is possible to implicitly integrate Positive Psychology themes into the curriculum as well as teach them explicitly, through planning within the disciplines or classes on the theme of well-being. Evidence-based practices are needed to design policies, mobilize public power and implement large-scale wellness programs.