Felicidad y educacióndéficits científicos y sesgos ideológicos de la “educación positiva”

  1. Cabanas Díaz, Edgar 1
  2. González-Lamas, Jara 1
  1. 1 Universidad Camilo José Cela
    info

    Universidad Camilo José Cela

    Villanueva de la Cañada, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03f6h9044

Journal:
Teoría de la educación

ISSN: 1130-3743

Year of publication: 2021

Volume: 33

Issue: 2

Pages: 65-85

Type: Article

DOI: 10.14201/TERI.25433 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Teoría de la educación

Sustainable development goals

Abstract

The interest in positive education has grown exponentially in the last two decades. Introduced as a new scientific movement aimed at moving away from traditional and remedial approaches to educational matters, the movement’s main argument is that promoting happiness and positive skills amongst students is crucial for mental health prevention, improved learning, and higher performance. Parallel to this growing interest, the criticism addressed to the movement has also been mounting and numerous. Such criticism has not only been raised by the critical literature on the movement but also from within the movement itself, thus casting serious doubt over the quality and utility of the movement. In view of this, the objective of this paper is to provide an integrative overview of the main problems and limitations that touch on the field so far. The paper organizes these limitations into two main groups: scientific deficits and ideological biases. Regarding the former, the paper comments on the absence of a clear theoretical framework and the lack of enough accumulated evidence in favor; the conceptual and methodological shortfalls around some of its main concepts; and the limited impact and generalizability of key interventions. Regarding the ideological biases, the paper tackles the individualistic, decontextualized, and universalistic approach of the movement. The paper concludes with a brief remark on the present and future implications of the movement in the field of education.

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