Gratitude is one of the most studied habits in positive psychology, and research links regular gratitude practice with greater wellbeing, stronger relationships and more positive emotion. For students, the key is practising it often, in simple ways, as part of the school day.
Why gratitude works in classrooms
- It shifts attention to what is going well, which supports resilience on hard days.
- It strengthens relationships between students, staff and families.
- It is a skill: the more it is practised, the more natural it becomes.
What the research says
- Adults: in a landmark set of studies, people randomly assigned to regularly write down things they were grateful for showed greater wellbeing than comparison groups, with the strongest effect on positive emotion (Emmons and McCullough, 2003, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology).
- Students aged 11 to 13: 221 students in 11 classes were randomly assigned to count blessings, list hassles or a control group. Counting blessings was linked to more gratitude, optimism and life satisfaction, less negative emotion, and greater satisfaction with school, still visible three weeks later (Froh, Sefick and Emmons, 2008, Journal of School Psychology).
- Children aged 8 to 11: primary school classrooms taught a short gratitude curriculum showed steady increases in grateful thinking, gratitude and positive emotion compared with classes that weren't (Froh and colleagues, 2014, School Psychology Review).
How GWG teaches it
Growing With Gratitude teaches gratitude alongside kindness, empathy, service and positive reflection, the five habits of happiness. GWG has been evaluated in a cluster randomised controlled trial in Australian primary schools, and teachers get ready-to-teach gratitude lessons, games and posters for every year level.