How Early Childhood Educators Apply Character Strengths to Workplace Challenges: A Positive Psychology Intervention

• In Event: Moral Development in Broad Contexts

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated how early childhood educators (n=17) in a large urban city in the northeastern United States used personal character strengths to address workplace challenges. Educators most frequently used the strengths of kindness, leadership, fairness, hope, love, self-regulation, perseverance, forgiveness and humility to address challenges. After writing a plan of action to apply character strengths, teachers reported a 71% success rate in fully or mostly resolving the challenge addressed. Using this method appears to encourage the modeling and teaching of character strengths to children, particularly kindness, forgiveness, social intelligence and teamwork. Early childhood educators, and the children they serve, are both likely to benefit from professional development activities connecting character strengths to the workplace.

Authors

• Michael J Haslip, Drexel University

• Leona Donaldson, Drexel University