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INTRODUCTION —~<~o»—___ The entry of positive psychology into the educational process brings about the initiation of a significant change in teachers’ approach. Reorientation means shifting from traditional approaches to developing the best qualities of students, people and society. The direction of educational work is focused on supporting such teaching, which supports the mental health of students — youth and adults alike. Positive psychology, which began to develop significantly in the third millennium, and in Slovakia especially in the last ten years, calls for emphasis to be placed on the positive areas, the positive aspects of human life. Experts who deal with education and its determinants focus on finding the context, connections and interdependence of the elements of positive psychology and education. The time a student spends in the school and the environment there affect his out-of-school life. Phenomena such as well-being, contentment, happiness, enthusiasm, resilience, love, friendship, joy, optimism, humour, resilience, altruism, empathy, forgiveness, spirituality, and the meaning of life are part of everyone’s daily activities. For this reason, we consider it important that teachers should begin to deal with this phenomenon within their didactic work in the educational environment. The movement of positive psychology does not negate, does not deny the existence of deficits, difficulties, disorders, or problems in the lives of individuals, but directs activity, activities to the optimal functioning of not only students but also all actors in school life to define the resources that surround it, and then these resources will develop. Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, emphasized that positive psychology uses the same set of tools as traditional psychology, so there is no need to create a new construct for positive psychology. All that is needed is to “change the object of interest” — that is, to go primarily from the “correction” of what is bad and negative in life to the creation, and development of what is best in life. It is, therefore, a matter of salutogenesis in life, the support of individual sources of health, human strengths, and the development of what potentially leads to a good quality of life in families, schools, and workplaces. It is about supporting the optimal functioning of the human being, as well as his faith and hope that it will be successful. The direction of positive education means, above all, the search for, detection, identification and development of positive possibilities of the pupil, not only within the framework of his cognization, but also motivation, emotionalization, socialization, and self-regulation. +. 7e
