Research on positive psychology has shown that well-being breeds success. Students who are happy and psychologically well are more likely to develop a broader sense of awareness (self and social) and perspectives of the tasks at hand. As a result, they are more well equipped to build a necessary repertoire of resources and skills to do well in school. How can we apply this understanding of well-being to low-progress learners and  motivate them to reach their full potential? Associate Professor Arief Liem, guest editor of this issue, is currently leading the Programmatic Research that seeks to answer these questions. The Programmatic Research, which consists of five Sub-Projects, is conducted mainly on students from the Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams. In this article, Arief invites principal investigators of the Sub-Projects, who are also from NIE, to share with us more about his and their studies.

From left to right: Gregory Arief D. Liem, Stefanie Chye, Chue Kah Loong, Chong Wan Har and Anuradha Dutt.

Many people assume that academic excellence will bring about positive well-being in a learner when in actual fact, student well-being is the “pre-condition” for effective, engaged, and enthusiastic learning (and, in turn, desirable performance). This misconception is not surprising, says Associate Professor Arief Liem, who is from the Psychology and Child & Human Development (PCHD) Group at NIE, since our society places a high value on academic performance.

“Many of our youths or, for that matter, adults mistakenly see their academic achievements and qualifications as the main source of their self-esteem and happiness,” he says. “However, basing one’s self-esteem on academic performance alone can have a detrimental effect on one’s psychological well-being, especially when academic performance may depend on various factors, both controllable and less controllable”.

For low-progress learners, learning in a pressure-cooker environment such as Singapore’s may induce more stress and anxiety as compared to other learners. Although some have been identified as being “resilient”, many tend to be less academically motivated and engaged.

The PERMA Theory of Well-Being

The theoretical framework underpinning Arief’s Programmatic Research is the PERMA model of flourishing by Professor Martin Seligman.

According to the PERMA model, as the acronym of the model suggests, positive emotion (P) forms only one part of an individual’s well-being. Having a sense of engagement (E), good social relationships (R), a meaning and purpose in what we do in life (M), and a sense of accomplishment (A) are equally essential as well.

“As you can see from these individual pillars of well-being, flourishing is therefore both feeling good and doing well rather than one or the other,” Arief explains. “Based on this model, it is clear that we need to prioritize both academic and well-being skills.”

The first of the five sub-projects, led by Dr Chue Kah Loong, studies the relationship between well-being and relevant educational outcomes as well as longitudinally tracking the well-being profile of students in the various academic streams. In addition, this Sub-Project aims to validate a multidimensional measure of well-being for adolescent-aged students in Singapore.

Learning from “Positive Deviants”

Although low-progress learners often face multiple challenges during their schooling and growing up years, there are some who make good academic progress. Termed “positive deviants”, these students are able to thrive despite facing similar risks and sharing the same level of low resources as their counterparts.

“These ‘positive deviants’ have developed ‘uncommon’ but beneficial practices that enable them to thrive in a challenging environment. By capitalizing on the successful solutions that already exist in the students and their sociocultural contexts, we learn how the positive deviant characteristics relate to their psychological well-being,” Associate Professor Chong Wan Har, the principal investigator of Sub-Project 2, shares.

Arief is optimistic that the findings from Sub-Project 2, conducted on Normal (Academic) students, can inform schools on the appropriate strategies or interventions in promoting motivation and engagement among low-performing students.

Strategies for Effective Intervention

Sub-Project 3, led by Arief himself and conducted on students from the N(A) and Normal (Technical) streams, explores the efficacy of identity-based motivation (IBM) intervention, also called the “School-to-Job” intervention.

The IBM intervention, Arief says, is based on the “possible selves” theory which suggests that our identities – how we see ourselves in the near and far future – are motivational when they are clear and salient in our mind. It also posits that we tend to act in ways consistent with what our accessible identities suggest. Seeing the relevance of what we do to a goal that we set, or a person who we aspire to become, make the effort that we put in including the struggle in overcoming challenges – “personally meaningful”.

“In the intervention, we try to help students clarify what their future selves are as an individual with a variety of social roles (e.g., as a student, a child, a contributing citizen) and how these future social roles are related to what they do in school now,” he states.

“Through this IBM intervention, we hope that students realize the importance of schooling for their future and become more motivated and engaged. We want them to understand that the preparation for their future begins in the present moment and in what they do in school. Further, equipping students with strategies to overcome challenges that they may face in the journey of attaining their future selves would make them more optimistic and improve their well-being too,” Arief adds.

Sub-Project 4, led by Assistant Professor Anuradha Dutt, proposes a psychoeducational intervention with the aim to reduce test anxiety and boost well-being of N(A) students.

The intervention used in the study is based on a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) components, positive psychology and study smart skills. Some of those components include psychoeducation, in which students learn the important connection between their anxious thoughts, feelings and behaviours and their interactional effects on individuals, as well as relaxation training, in which students learn relaxation techniques of “deep breathing” and “progressive muscle relaxation”. Anu states that students in the experimental group have reported a decrease in test anxiety after participation in the programme as compared to the students in the control group. The experimental group has also reported a greater increase in test coping skills and psychological well-being.

“Preliminary results from our pilot phase of the study are promising and support that our psychoeducational programme is beneficial in helping students cope with test anxiety using healthy strategies that promote well-being,” Anu comments.

An App to Track Well-Being

Sub-Project 5, currently in its initial stages, utilizes technology to enhance the psychological well-being of low-progress learners.

“The project is looking to support the positive education intervention with a mobile app that will be able to personalize and customize content to the students even after the initial interventions have ended,” Assistant Professor Stefanie Chye, the principal investigator of Sub-Project 5, shares.

The mobile app is modeled after health-tracking apps and is able to monitor student well-being and help raise awareness of their own sense of wellness. The app is also designed to deliver “vaccines” or “treatments” in the form of positive psychological content as well as provide “boosters”, as and when necessary.

“This would make the effects more sustainable as well as build students’ ability to self-regulate their well-being,” Stefanie remarks.

Supporting Schools in Improving Student Well-Being

Arief foresees that the findings of the programmatic research will provide schools with a readily useable tool to measure the key dimensions of well-being of secondary school students in Singapore. The three validated intervention packages will also cater to low-progress students of varying educational and psychological needs.

The latter, he says, is especially important as low-progress students do not represent a homogenous population.

“So, for example, when a school leader knows that some of the students in his or her school suffer from heightened test anxiety, the school could conduct the test anxiety reduction intervention tested in Sub-Project 4. When students are lacking in school motivation and engagement, the school may consider conducting the motivation intervention tested in Sub- Project 3,” he explains.

Arief also sees the potential in adapting the motivation and test anxiety reduction interventions, designed for N(A) and N(T) students, for students in other academic tracks.

“It would also be important and interesting to see how the psychological profiles and learning-related attributes of N(A) students, as explored in Sub-Project 2, differ from students in the Express or N(T) academic stream,” he adds.