Creating Whole-School Positive Education Strategies That Last

Abstract

It is estimated that seventy per cent of change initiatives fail in organizations (Maurer R. J Qual Particip 34(2):17–18, 2011), and in my experience the effort to introduce positive education into schools is no exception. Despite the best efforts of principals and teachers who are committed to embedding positive education practices, the field is littered with stories of leadership failing to walk the talk, initiatives started and discarded and cynics eroding people’s enthusiasm and commitment. The truth is most schools have quickly discovered that embedding positive education is harder than it looks. The reality is that creating change in any system is challenging. Research in behavioral economics (Ariely D. Predictably irrational. HarperCollins, New York, p 20, 2008) suggests our bias for the status quo means we tend to view any change as difficult or negative. What’s more, our aversion to loss means we prefer avoiding losing what we have – even when it’s not working – to any gains that might be acquired. Add to this: organizational politics, siloed behaviors, competing agendas for scarce resources and misaligned metrics and it becomes easier to understand why embedding change is complicated.