Acts of kindness can be random or intentional. The topic of kindness in the classroom has both empirical and applied interest in the fields of education and psychology, and it has been found, through a study conducted in Okangan Canada, that encouraging students to reflect upon and perform intentional acts of kindness carries many benefits, including:
Development of perspective-taking Increased social membership A structured way of encouraging kindness
A paper published in the International Journal of Emotion Education, issued by the University of Malta’s Centre for Resilience & Socio-Emotional Health, titled ‘Not-so Random Acts of Kindness: A Guide to International Kindness in the Classroom’, argues for the need to promote intentional acts of kindness by providing a framework for teachers to support students in this regard.
It has been noted that students are increasingly going to school underequipped to meet the social and emotional demands of the classroom, so their teachers are righteously encouraging prosocial behaviour. In order to do this, they start by searching a definition of kindness that could be presented. Although there are different definitions of kindness, almost all definitions include what is called a positive psychology intervention, or a set of tools and strategies that focus on increasing wellbeing.
There are quite a few advantages to using these tools in the classroom, namely:
Kindness assignments are not a cost-prohibitive intervention Acts of kindness are in alignment with both the teacher’s and the school’s mission statement They can serve to promote well-being in all students, not only those deemed at-risk
The full journal can be accessed online, while the article can be accessed here.
