Can Positive Education Research Inform Neo-Aristotelian Character Education? A Scoping Review of Positive Education Strengths Intervention Research

Over the past two decades, neo-Aristotelian character education (NCE) has become increasingly influential. Nevertheless, two recent reviews identified important gaps in quantitative longitudinal NCE research. A potential solution to this problem is for NCE to draw on the adjacent field of positive education (PE), but recent reviews of PE research hint at potential barriers to doing so. The purpose of this review is to assess the extent of these barriers. My results demonstrate that the majority of PE strengths intervention (PESI) studies employed Multicomponent Positive Psychology Interventions (MPPIs); PESI studies frequently used signature strengths approaches to teaching strengths; many strengths were rarely (<10% of studies) investigated; eudaimonic wellbeing outcomes were measured infrequently in PESI studies, and PESI studies rarely evaluated the impact of a PESI on eudaimonic wellbeing mediated by a strength. I conclude that PESI is currently unable to fill the quantitative longitudinal gap in NCE research.