Denise Quinlan

University of Otago · College of Education

There is increasing interest in students well-being at school. One useful approach to improving school well-being is adopting strengths-based programmes. Many studies use teachers to deliver strengths programmes. However, little is known about how teachers influence the success of these interventions. This possible mediating effect of teachers form...

This chapter outlines the story of the decade-long collaboration by a cluster of low- to mid-SES state schools that implemented positive education and transformed their school cultures. In the process they developed more cohesive staff teams and supported leadership development at principal and teacher level, as well as enhancing student and teache...

Character Strengths Matter is a compilation volume of brief articles about each of the 24 character strengths of the Values in Action (VIA) classification of character strengths, plus a section on applying strengths in different contexts. The editors, Shannon Polly and Kathryn Britton, have two clear purposes for this book: to help readers learn ab...

Positive psychology urges psychologists to ask a deeper and loftier question, what is right with children and adolescents, in addition to exploring their weaknesses. This chapter discusses a strength-based assessment approach in detail, arguing that that such an approach yields useful information above and beyond the information produced by traditi...

Interventions that identify and develop character strengths have been shown to benefit well-being, academic engagement and achievement. Strengths research within positive psychology has focused primarily on individual outcomes with less attention on group or relationships effects. This study (N = 193) examined the effect of a classroom-based streng...

For this review strengths intervention studies were located using online searches and collegial networks and included if they explicitly sought to teach or use a strengths classification to enhance well-being, and used pre- and post-intervention measures and a comparison group. Eight studies met the criteria and have been summarised by this review....

There is increasing pressure on schools in New Zealand to address children's social and emotional needs, together with learning needs. The present survey of 461 children and parents from mid to low decile primary schools was conducted to examine the current state of children's social and emotional well-being (as part of a wider study). Results indi...

Identifying and using one’s strengths has been shown to increase well-being, but not all strengths interventions succeed in motivating participants to use their strengths more often or in new ways. We cannot assume that children who receive strengths programs they haven’t chosen to attend will be motivated to use their strengths. Strengths inventor...