Arming Today's Kids to Cope: Positive Education the Key to Developing Resilient, Self-Confident Kids, Studies Show

FORT WORTH, Texas, June 25, 2018 (Newswire.com) - With school shootings, bullying and teen depression reaching a crescendo, thousands of educators from around the world are meeting in Fort Worth this week at the​ World Positive Education Accelerator June 25–28 to deal with the growing number of kids struggling to cope with school, their peers or society in general. 

“Essentially we’re meeting in Fort Worth and redesigning what 21st-century global education looks like,” says Sir Anthony Seldon, president of The International Positive Education Network (IPEN), a co-convener of the four-day conference. “We want educators to walk away empowered with the tools, resources and connections to make real, lasting change.” 

Essentially we're meeting in Fort Worth and redesigning what 21st-century global education looks like. We want educators to walk away empowered with the tools, resources and connections to make real, lasting change.

Sir Anthony Seldon, President of the International Positive Education Network (IPEN)

The need is high. Statistics paint a grim picture with studies showing one in five children will experience a major depressive episode before graduating from high school. Many enter universities unable to tolerate points of view other than their own. Alarmingly, employers find that new grads entering the workforce lack the “soft skills” needed to succeed in the workplace, such as tolerance, effective communication or critical thinking.

Conference attendees from as far away as Australia, the U.K., Latin America and Dubai are sharing results of their research about how utilizing positive psychology — the scientific study of positive human functioning and positive education and its application in the classroom — can lead to the development of individuals who are resilient, learn more and exhibit a mindset of well-being.

Together with peers worldwide, U.S. public and private school teachers, as well as policymakers, are learning more about what positive education is and how to integrate the latest research into curriculums that boost student well-being, resilience and “grit.” The meeting is the largest of its kind ever held and provides cutting-edge-yet-practical, science-based tools and solutions that can be implemented in classrooms.

Keynote speakers include Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., author of the best-selling book Grit: the Power of Passion and Perseverance; and Martin Seligman, Ph.D., founder of positive psychology, past president of the American Psychological Association and author of Flourish and The Hope Circuit, whose current mission is to transform social science to work on developing strengths, positive emotion, good relationships and meaning in life. 

Topics include “Empathy, an Antidote to Aggression,” “Raising Confident Children” and “Future-Proofing Our Youth — Positive Psychology as an Antidote to a Rapidly Changing World,” along with sessions that focus on peer pressure, reducing discipline problems and bullying.

Co-convening the conference along with IPEN is Champlain College’s David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry, developers of a strength-based methodology that is creating a positive framework for change in education, the corporate world, public service and elsewhere. Appreciative inquiry is being used by conference attendees to generate concrete results that turn inspiration into lasting action, organizers say.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Mary Shiroma
​Shiroma Southwest
​[email protected]
​Phone:  214-914-3634

Source: World Positive Education Accelerator