The alarming growth of mental distress in schools[1] can only be addressed - according to the WHO - by a positive learning environment, together with the safety of the home context and parental support, i.e. the key factors in the development and protection of well-being mental in childhood and adolescence.

The educational community will therefore increasingly have to move beyond a vision exclusively centered on academic skills, including among its primary objectives the promotion of the mental well-being of pupils and their teachers.

The good news from psychological research is that skills that promote key dimensions of well-being - such as positive emotions, engagement, resilience and the search for meaning - can be taught.

For this reason, in designing the book "Happiness is also learned at school", Pearson Academy 2021, the professor and I. A. Gaggioli we have tried to provide our readers not only with the fundamental concepts drawn from the most recent research, but also with practical and operational tools that the teacher can effectively apply first on himself and then with his students.

A vision in which we deeply believe and which we have studied and experimented with in our practice as psychologists and teachers.

[1] According to WHO data, in Europe anxiety disorders and depression are among the top five causes of the global impact of pathologies among children and adolescents: in low- and middle-income countries, suicide is the first cause of death in the age group between 10 and 19 years, and the second cause overall in high-income regions. Only a small part (10-15%) of minors who need psychological support have access to the care made available by mental health services (http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable- diseases/mental-health/areas-of-work/child-and-adolescent-mental-health). School anxiety in Italian adolescent students, according to the results of the recent PISA report, is the highest in the OECD area (http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/mental- health/areas-of-work/child-and-adolescent-mental-health).

positive school only if the teachers are positive

In our book, after presenting a summary of recent psychological research, we propose reflections and activities dedicated to the psychological well-being of the teacher, who must have personally experienced the proposed strategies before implementing them for the psychological well-being of the students.

The teacher will be able to effectively propose this approach if he has personally appreciated the reasons and effects on his vitality, his optimism, his ability to adapt flexibly to continuous changes and the challenges of teaching, without allowing himself to be influenced by an excessively rigid vision of self and remaining in the present experience with an accepting attitude.

The importance of feedback

In a positive empowerment approach to the educational experience, effective feedback is inserted into an emotionally "warm" and empathetic relationship between teacher and student, aimed at promoting autonomy, freedom of thought, self-determination and a pleasant experience of being in class and growing together. This way of understanding feedback derives from, and is consistent with, an educational approach aimed at promoting behaviors that arise from the vital energy of intrinsic motivation, and not from an approach based on the giving of rewards or punishments.

The empowerment of the educational community

Dealing with the epidemic of "learned helplessness" which is crushing the teaching profession today is no less urgent and important than dealing with the health emergency: bringing resignation, mistrust and disillusionment into the classroom means running the risk of transmitting this attitude to a generation of students who, at this moment more than ever, demonstrate (also through detachment, disinterest and deviance) an absolute need to be inspired, encouraged and amazed. Our firm opinion is that to obtain these results, to be able to direct our students' gaze towards the future, or rather, even just towards the conceivableness of the future, the desirability of the future, it is appropriate first of all to start a path of empowerment both on a personal level, and as an educating community: because only those who authentically perceive trust and hope within themselves can be able to transmit them in the classroom. For a teacher, therefore, cultivating one's well-being, undertaking a path to develop the positive resources of character means not only obtaining an individual benefit, but acting responsibly to build the future of society.