Impact of the positive education: A case study of its implementation in mathematics lessons in Maguindanao, Philippines

Positive education involves the study of happiness and well-being to inspire students, teachers, schools and societies to better develop and flourish. The major objective is aimed at reducing the levels of anxiety, improving the life satisfactions and enhancing the academic performances of the students. This study explored the impact of positive education in schools, based on a case study of its implementation in Mathematics lessons in Maguindanao, Philippines.
A STMP model has been developed within this study, which involves four major components: student, teacher, method (pedagogy) and positive education. A detailed explanation of this model and the interrelationships of these four components are provided in this thesis. With the guidance of the STMP model, this study explored the experiences and feedbacks of participating students and teachers on integration of positive education in mathematics lessons, as well as the relationships among mathematics performances, levels of anxiety and life satisfaction of the students in Maguindanao, Philippines.
A mixed methods research was adopted in this study, which involved both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative approach was employed to study the results of the pre-test and post-test results obtained, and linear regression analysis was used during the analysis. On the other hand, the qualitative approach was used to study the feedbacks and experiences of the participating students and teachers regarding the mathematics performances, levels of anxiety and life satisfaction of the students concerned. There was a total of 120 students (60 in the experimental group and 60 in the control group) involved in this study and they were chosen from two secondary schools in Maguindanao, Philippines.
According to the findings of the study, students had positive feedbacks to positive education intervention in the Mathematics lessons. Their levels of anxiety were reduced and their life satisfactions were improved. The results of academic performances in mathematics also suggested that positive education intervention could foster the well-being of students and their mathematics achievements. In general, teachers’ experiences and feedbacks to positive education were also positive and encouraging. These results suggested that positive education intervention worked well at least for the sample of students involved in the study in Maguindanao. In fact, based on the results of statistical analysis, there was a significant relationship between mathematics performances and the levels of anxiety found in the experimental group but not in the control group. These observations suggested that there was a positive impact of positive education intervention in the school settings.
To conclude, the intervention of positive education in lessons adopted in this study could be a good and useful reference for teachers and educators who are interested in integrating positive education in their own teaching subjects. The STMP model reported in this thesis could also be used as a guide for conducting similar case studies in schools and it has potential for further development for studying the impact of positive education in various subjects in the near future. All rights reserved.