Event Details

Join qualified teachers and Positive Psychology Practitioners, Reece Coker, Diane Dreher, and George Kokolas, for a 3-part panel presentation and audience discussion series on Positive Education.

Over the course of 3 webinars, they will be sharing perspectives on answers to the following questions:

• What is Positive Education?
• What facilitates a Positive Learning Environment?
• How can we overcome obstacles to promote Positive Change in Education?

For more information on the series, please click here.

To access the webinar recordings, please scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on the links under “Course Content”.

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Speaker Biographies

Reece Coker, PhD Cand., MAPP (UK)

Reece Coker is the founder of PPG. A fellow at the Institute of Leadership and Management, and Royal Society of Public Health, he is an experienced trainer, psychologist, and sector expert within the subjects of Positive Psychology, Motivation, Organisational Development & Culture, Neurodiversity & Inclusion, and Business Management. A senior manager within the corporate commercial and not-for-profit sectors, Reece is passionate about learning and development at all levels. He completed his Masters in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) at Bucks New University in 2016, where his research focused on hope and fear, and is currently completing a PhD in Education and Psychology at Sheffield Hallam University with a focus on courage, anxiety, and autism. He leads and lectures on the Positive Psychology and Autism Awareness in Practice Programmes. He is an autistic individual who is a passionate advocate for autism and strengths-based approaches. Reece leads PPG’s Autism Centre and is keen to work with stakeholders within the areas of employment, mental health and wellbeing, and neurodiversity and inclusion. He is also an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, where he is a subject matter expert in the fields of qualitative research, autism, and neurodiversity (theory and practice).

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Diane Dreher, PhD, PCC (USA)

Diane Dreher, PhD, PCC, is a Positive Psychology Coach, teacher, researcher, and author who has worked in higher education for over 30 years. After completing her PhD in Renaissance English literature at UCLA, Diane began teaching at Santa Clara University, where received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2019. Her publications include the bestselling Tao of Inner Peace, Tao of Personal Leadership, Tao of Womanhood, Inner Gardening, and Your Personal Renaissance as well as scholarly books and articles on literature, Positive Psychology, and hope. Seeking new frontiers in learning, she went on to complete a Master’s degree in Counseling and became a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), with the International Coaching Federation and a HeartMath Clinical Practitioner. Her research interests explore the convergence of Positive Psychology with Eastern philosophy, leadership, mindfulness, and hope. In addition to lecturing in the Positive Psychology Academy, she is Associate Director of the Applied Spirituality Institute at Santa Clara University, maintains an international coaching practice, is an advisor for the Hopeful Mindsets Project, and is writing a book on hope.

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George Kokolas, TEFL, PPGDip (Greece)

George has been working as the Academic Director and Teacher Trainer for Express Publishing for the last 21 years. He is a certified LEVEL 5 TEFL teacher and a certified ADVANCED Neurolanguage CoachⓇ, practicing Neurolanguage CoachingⓇ professionally. He holds a Level 5 Positive Psychology Fundamentals Diploma and he is trying to merge ELT into it. He also holds a BA in English Literature. Right after his graduation he branched out from his major in English Literature and devoted himself fully to ELT. He likes to be considered a frontline teacher spending many hours inside the classroom teaching and learning at the same time. He has delivered over 1000 successful seminars/workshops/training sessions in 89 countries throughout the world. Since 2017 he is the co-host and producer of the educational podcast Teachers’ Coffee. Since 2020 he is the Senior Editor for the Neurolanguage Collective Magazine.

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Event Facilitator

Claire Higgins, MSc, PPGDip (UK)

Claire is the COO and Director of Education for the Positive Psychology Guild (PPG). Before this, she worked in the humanitarian sector for 16 years with international organisations such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF), International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and various branches of the United Nations across the Middle East, where she spent the first 40 years of her life. Her roles covered media, communications, operations, protection, and project coordination. She has supported refugee education including human rights curriculum integration at national levels, sports events for refugee children, and prisoner access to educational materials. Within her PPG role, she directs the Positive Psychology Academy, where she oversees the Positive Psychology Fundamentals and Positive Psychology in Practice programmes. This role includes supervising tutors and delivering the practitioner training. She is also a secondary supervisor on the Applied Positive Psychology Research programme and coordinates events and publications for PPG’s Positive Psychology Centre.