“We do the VIA Character Strengths Survey at the start of the year” she explained, “but it never seems to go anywhere beyond that feel-good moment when the students get their results”.
I get it.
And here’s the thing... 'doing strengths' isn’t simply 'doing a survey'.
Creating a strengths-based classroom is so much more than administering a survey. Under the Visible Wellbeing Framework, the VIA Character Strengths Survey is just one tool within a much broader strengths toolkit.
Since the early days of Positive Psychology, our understanding of strengths has evolved considerably. Rather than viewing strengths solely as individual traits to be identified and used, we now recognise that strengths can be intentionally cultivated within classrooms, staff rooms and whole-school communities. And, also within families – in fact, my book on strength-based parenting was where my love of Positive Psychology first began!
Creating strength-based systems is where the real magic happens.
Working with schools for the past twenty years, I have seen countless examples of a strength-based system in action.
Leadership teams that ensure they first analyse and dissect the school improvement data for areas where they scored highly, before examining the areas where the school scored lower.
Homeroom teachers spending ten minutes each Friday morning discussing what went well during the week with their class. By the end of the year, this strategy had transcended beyond the school, with students taking it home such that parents shared at parent-teacher nights that their families were now doing this once a week over dinner.
Year level teacher teams challenging themselves to incorporate their unique strengths into the way they planned their lessons. For one teacher, this meant many of his lessons took place outside and drew inspiration from the natural environment (Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence was his top Character Strength!).
As we can see from these examples, taking a strength-based approach is about focusing and building on what is right BEFORE focusing and correcting what is wrong.
The strengths-based approach is not a singular strategy, but rather a philosophy and a way of being. This means it can be woven through every level of school life - from individuals and classrooms to leadership teams and whole-school systems.
Book a call with us if you'd like to deepen your understanding and application of strengths - moving beyond a one-off survey and towards a truly strengths-based school system.