Positive Education: 18 Must-Read Books for Teachers

Would you like your students to be resilient, motivated, confident, and kind? Do you want a classroom where wellbeing and learning go hand in hand?

Those are goals every educator shares, yet finding time to cultivate character, emotional skills, and positive relationships within an already packed school day can feel overwhelming. Positive education offers a practical, evidence-based answer.

Positive education integrates the science of wellbeing into teaching and school life. It builds students’ decision-making, coping, problem-solving, relaxation, and creative thinking skills while supporting academic engagement and healthy classroom relationships. Below is a curated list of books and resources to help teachers and school leaders start or deepen a positive-education approach.

3 Best Positive Education Books

Research over the past decade shows that school-based positive education interventions improve student wellbeing, hope, prosocial behavior, engagement, and even academic outcomes (Waters & Johnstone, 2022). Positive education programs—when implemented systematically—help reduce teacher burnout and strengthen teachers’ self-awareness and capacity to understand students’ emotional states.

The books below offer practical, classroom-ready strategies and frameworks for cultivating resilience, character, and a supportive learning environment.

1. Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings – Kenneth Ginsburg & Martha Jablow

This accessible guide helps educators and parents support children who have faced adversity or trauma. It explains how to foster coping skills, reduce stress, and build strength-based relationships that give children both roots (security) and wings (independence).

Available on major book retailers.

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2. How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character – Paul Tough

Paul Tough draws on research and compelling case studies to explore why some children flourish despite challenges while others struggle. The book highlights the role of character, perseverance, and supportive relationships, and it offers insights teachers can use to help students develop resilience and curiosity.

Available on major book retailers.

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3. Positive Learning Environments: Creating and Maintaining Productive Classrooms – John De Nobile, Gordon Lyons, & Michael Arthur-Kelly

This book applies positive education principles to practical classroom design and behavior support. Chapters cover communication, classroom layout, and cognitive–behavioral strategies for reducing disruption and promoting positive behavior and engagement.

Available on major book retailers and as an e-book.

2 Best Books for Teachers

Teachers juggle academic targets with student wellbeing. Positive education helps bridge those aims by offering strategies that support both achievement and flourishing in the classroom.

1. Happy Teachers Change the World: A Guide for Cultivating Mindfulness in Education – Thich Nhat Hanh & Katherine Weare

Grounded in mindfulness practice, this guide helps educators develop presence and calm, then translates those skills into classroom activities that foster focused, compassionate learning communities.

Available on major book retailers.

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2. Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness: A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything – Deborah Schoeberlein & Suki Sheth

This practical manual ties the science of mindfulness to classroom tools and exercises that cultivate attention, warmth, and responsiveness—skills that benefit both teachers and students.

Available on major book retailers.

2 Best Classroom Management Books

Strong classroom management preserves learning time and creates a safe environment where students can thrive. The following titles offer evidence-based approaches to reduce disruption and support positive behavior.

1. Individualized Supports for Students with Problem Behaviors: Designing Positive Behavior Plans – Linda Bambara & Lee Kern (Editors)

A step-by-step guide to creating individualized positive behavior support (PBS) plans, this edited volume walks teachers through assessment, intervention design, and evaluation for students with ongoing behavioral challenges.

Available on major book retailers.

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2. Positive Strategies for Students with Behavior Problems – Daniel Crimmins, Anne Farrell, Philip Smith, & Alison Bailey

This book introduces an approach that helps teachers understand the roots of behavior issues and teaches practical strategies to encourage alternative, constructive behaviors.

Available on major book retailers.

Top Educational Books for Teachers

Many students experience adversity, so trauma-informed and wellbeing-focused pedagogies are essential. These books are suitable for professional development or whole-school reading groups.

1. Positive Academic Leadership: How to Stop Putting Out Fires and Start Making a Difference – Jeffrey Buller

Targeted at school leaders, this book draws on neuroscience, psychology, and organizational research to offer practical strategies for improving morale, communication, and strategic leadership in schools.

Available on major book retailers.

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2. Positive Education: The Geelong Grammar School Journey – Jacolyn Norrish

A detailed case study of one school’s systematic adoption of positive psychology, this book describes how a whole-school commitment to student wellbeing translated into sustained improvements for students, staff, and the wider community.

Available on major book retailers.

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3. Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder – Mariah Bruehl

Designed for children aged 4–8, this book provides hands-on, playful activities that nurture curiosity, creativity, and cognitive skills—perfect for early-years classrooms and family learning.

Inspirational Books for Teachers

Teaching is demanding, and many educators experience stress and burnout. The books below offer mindset tools, self-care practices, and practical approaches to renew energy and purpose.

1. Teaching That Changes Lives: 12 Mindset Tools for Igniting the Love of Learning – Marilee Adams

Using a narrative framework, this guide presents tools for cultivating a learner mindset in students, helping teachers transform classroom culture and inspire deeper engagement.

Available on major book retailers.

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2. A Moment for Teachers: Self-Care for Busy Teachers – Alice Langholt

Short daily practices in this book can be used by teachers to build presence, patience, and resilience—benefits that support both personal wellbeing and classroom effectiveness. Many techniques are also adaptable for student use.

Other Books Related to Education

Positive education connects to positive discipline, reinforcement, and behavior management. The following titles provide targeted approaches for these areas:

Positive discipline

1. Assertive Discipline: Positive Behavior Management for Today’s Classroom – Lee Canter

Field-tested strategies for consistent, motivating classroom management that supports teacher authority and student responsibility.

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2. Positive Discipline in the Classroom: Developing Mutual Respect, Cooperation, and Responsibility in Your Classroom – Jane Nelsen & Lynn Lott

Practical techniques to build trust and respectful communication, with strategies for encouraging effort and addressing bullying and digital distractions.

Positive reinforcement

1. How to Raise Disciplined and Happy Children: Mastering the Power of Positive Reinforcement – Jerry Adams

A concise guide to using positive reinforcement to foster self-discipline, healthy self-esteem, and consistent behavior—useful for both parents and teachers.

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2. Motivate the Unmotivated – Rob Plevin

This practical manual offers hundreds of strategies to engage students who are hard to motivate, with tools you can implement immediately.

Behavior management

1. Building Positive Behavior Support Systems in Schools: Functional Behavioral Assessment – Deanne Crone, Leanne Hawken, & Robert Horner

A clear blueprint for identifying students who need extra support, designing effective behavior plans, and evaluating outcomes.

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2. Mindfulness in the Classroom: An Evidence-Based Program to Reduce Disruptive Behavior and Increase Academic Engagement – Joshua Felver & Nirbhay Singh

Evidence-based mindfulness techniques, worksheets, and handouts designed to help students manage emotions, stay focused, and improve long-term outcomes.

A Selection of Positive Psychology Resources

Alongside these books, short practical resources can quickly boost classroom practice. Consider exploring short guides on intrinsic motivation, applying positive psychology in schools, and self-care worksheets. Worksheets that support classroom attention or help students evaluate their work can also be integrated into lessons.

For teachers seeking structured activities, validated collections of positive-education exercises provide ready-to-use lessons that build resilience, engagement, and wellbeing.

A Take-Home Message

Positive education is more than an add-on; it is a preventative, school-wide approach that cultivates wellbeing, strengthens relationships, and supports academic success. When schools implement evidence-based positive psychology interventions systematically, students and teachers both benefit.

If you have favorite books or resources that shaped your teaching, please share them with colleagues and consider schoolwide reading groups or professional development around these ideas.

For practical classroom tools, consider downloading free positive-psychology exercises and worksheets to begin applying these principles tomorrow.

References

• Alam, A. (2022). Positive psychology goes to school: Conceptualizing students’ happiness in 21st century schools while ‘minding the mind!’ Evidence-backed, school-based positive psychology interventions. Electrochemical Society Transactions, 107(1), 11199.
• Allison, L., Waters, L., & Kern, M. L. (2021). Flourishing classrooms: Applying a systems-informed approach to positive education. Contemporary School Psychology, 25, 395–405. DOI: 10.1007/s40688-019-00267-8
• Bozkuş, K. (2021). A systematic review of studies on classroom management from 1980 to 2019. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 13(4).
• Brunzell, T., Stokes, H., & Waters, L. (2019). Shifting teacher practice in trauma-affected classrooms: Practice pedagogy strategies within a trauma-informed positive education model. School Mental Health, 11(3), 600–614. DOI: 10.1007/s12310-018-09308-8
• Safiye, T., et al. (2023). Relationship between mentalizing and teacher burnout: A cross sectional study. PLoS ONE, 18(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279535
• Seligman, M. E., Ernst, R. M., Gillham, J., Reivich, K., & Linkins, M. (2009). Positive education: Positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, 35(3), 293–311. DOI: 10.1080/03054980902934563
• Somayeh, G., et al. (2013). Investigating the effect of positive discipline on the learning process with a focus on students’ abilities. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 3(5), 305.
• Stevenson, N. A., VanLone, J., & Barber, B. R. (2020). A commentary on the misalignment of teacher education and the need for classroom behavior management skills. Education and Treatment of Children, 43(4), 393–404. DOI: 10.1007/s43494-020-00031-1
• Waters, L., & Johnstone, A. (2022). Embedding well-being into school: A case study of positive education before and during COVID-19 lockdowns. Journal of School and Educational Psychology, 2(2), 60–77. DOI: 10.47602/josep.v2i2.15
• Wills, H. P., Caldarella, P., Mason, B. A., Lappin, A., & Anderson, D. H. (2019). Improving student behavior in middle schools: Results of a classroom management intervention. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 21(4), 213–227. DOI: 10.1177/1098300719857185