Dr Mette Ledertoug
Senior Lecturer
, Department of Professional Psychology, School of Psychology
Dr Mette Marie Ledertoug works as a senior lecturer in the MSc Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology programme (MAPP).
Mette Marie Ledertoug did her PhD and Postdoctoral at Aarhus University, Denmark in Positive Education. She was nominated for the IPPA Award for her thesis ‘Strength-based Learning – Children’s Character Strength as pathways to their learning potentials’.
Mette has a MA in Educational Psychology and a MA in Positive Psychology and twenty years of practical experience as a licensed psychologist within the field of education. Mette is focusing on optimal learning and engaging education combining research and knowledge of well-being, resilience, and learning and has published a series of books and articles as well as taken part in and leading Danish and European research projects.
She is also part of IPPA Positive Education Division and the organising committee and has been chair of and facilitating IPPA pre-conferences on Positive Education.
Qualifications
- PhD in Positive Education
- MA in Educational Psychology
- MA in Positive Psychology
- Licensed psychologist
Areas Of Interest
- Optimal learning
- 21st century skills and future learning
- Boredom and engagement
- Strengths-based learning
- Well-being and resilience for children and adolescents
- The role of the teacher
- Implementation of changes in educational settings
OVERVIEW
Originally educated as an elementary school teacher, Mette's interest in learning and education goes hand in hand with an interest in wellbeing, flourishing and reaching your potential. Mette has worked for years in practice before becoming an academic leading her to become a pracademic focusing on the application of research into practice.
In her PhD 'Strength-based Learning – using children's character strengths as pathways to their learning potentials', Mette made a strength-based learning intervention as a mixed methods randomised controlled trial involving 750 students and 80 teachers at the intervention school, and 750 students at the control school.
Her postdoctoral was a four-year EU research project 'UPRIGHT – a well-being and resilience programme for teenagers' involving six European countries; Spain, Italy, Poland, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark. Furthermore, Mette has been leading the research project 'Empower4u', aiming to boost life skills within young people in foster care.
Mette has published several books, book chapters, psycho-educative materials, and articles in Danish. Her publications in English are currently growing.
Mette is part of the Danish Positive Psychology Network and The European Positive Psychology Network, and she is part of the IPPA Positive Education Division as a lead on pre-conferences and as a lead on IPPA Engage. She gives talks, makes workshop and video courses, and has been invited as keynote speaker and participated in conferences in a wide range of countries.
CURRENT RESEARCH
Mette Marie Ledertoug's research is conducted primarily as interventions in schools aiming to increase student learning and student, teacher wellbeing.
PUBLICATIONS
In English
- 2022: The Quest for Optimal Learning. In press.
- 2022: The importance of teachers – and their motivation and engagement in whole school approaches fostering wellbeing and resilience. Submitted to International Journal of Well-being.
- 2022: How do we make school-interventions useful and relevant? - Validation of UPRIGHT resilience program for teenagers.
https://uprightproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Participatory-Validation-of-School-based-Resilience-Interventions-in-the-UPRIGHT-Project-Relevance-and-feasibility.pdf - 2022: UPRIGHT – A Well-being and Resilience Programme for Teenagers. Manuals and materials
https://uprightproject.eu/the-upright-program-for-schools/?fbclid=IwAR1sAr6avXGm8k2y6ykebVJs3m3C_Av73uQBe7BbW5zRikxhyJo6opmeHII - 2021: Engaging Education in Handbook of Positive Education, Palgrave
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-64537-3_18 - 2021: UPRIGHT – resilience for teenagers in Wellbeing and Resilience Education: Covid19 and Its Impact on Education Systems. Routledge
- 2021: Relevance of well-being, resilience, and health-related quality of life to mental health profiles of European adolescents: results from a cross-sectional analysis of the school-based multinational UPRIGHT project. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-021-02156-z - 2020: Development and validation of the theory-driven School Resilience Scale for Adults: Preliminary results, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 119, 105589 2020 Co-creation and regional adaptation of a resilience-based universal whole-school program in five European regions in European Educational Research Journal.
- 2019: The Battle against Boredom – in Schools. Strength Academy
- 2019: UPRIGHT, a resilience-based intervention to promote mental well-being in schools: study rationale and methodology for a European randomized controlled trial in BMC Public Health journal
- 2016: Strengths-based Learning – Children’s’ Character strengths as pathways to their learning potentials. PhD-thesis. Aarhus University, Denmark.
In Danish
- 2021: Kedsomhed i skolen in Elevperspektiver, KLIM
- 2019: UPRIGHT – et trivsels og robusthedprogram for teenagere. Kognition og Pædagogik, nr. 110 2019
- 2018: Til kamp mod kedsomhed – i skole og ungdomsuddannelse. Dafolo
- 2018: Empower4U Report. DPU/Aarhus Universitet.
- 2017: Robusthed, livsduelighed og karakterstyrker i Robusthed i praksis. Mindspace
- 2017: Med styrker som løftestang. KVAN, nr. 109
- 2017: Styrker som løftestang til optimal læring. Kognition og Pædagogik. Nr. 107
- 2016: Styrkebaseret læring: Børns karakterstyrker som veje til læringspotentialet. PhDthesis. DPU/Aarhus Universitet.
- 2016: Styrk skolen. Dansk Psykologisk Forlag
- 2016: Hvor kommer modstandskraften fra? i Asterisk nr. 77
- 2016: Positiv psykologi i praksis. www.Blivklog.dk fra Alinea
- 2015: Interventioner med VIA-karakterstyrker i skoler. Kognition & Pædagogik, nr. 95
- 2014: Styrkekompasset. Dansk Psykologisk Forlag 2014 Livsduelighed og børns karakterstyrker. Dansk Psykologisk Forlag
- 2014: Motivation og mestrings-projekt på en skole – set i et psykologisk perspektiv. Kognition & Pædagogik, nr. 91
- 2011: Motivation og mestring på www.Skoleportalen.dk 2011 Hvordan finder vi vej? på www.Skoleportalen.dk
Keynotes and Conference Presentations
- 2022: 360 Well-being Conference, Tecmilenio University, Mexico. Keynote ‘The Quest for Optimal Learning’
- 2022: ECPP Conference. Chair of Positive Education Pre-conference, symposium on Engaging Education – stories from the classroom, symposium on Perspectives on Engaging Education.
- 2021: IPPA Congress (International Positive Psychology Conference) online 15 July. Doing a symposium on EU Horizon.
- 2021: IPPA Evidence in Action Conference. 18 March.
- 2021: UPRIGHT online webinar. 16 March.
- 2021: PPR Conference at DPU/Aarhus University. 15 June.
- 2020: UPRIGHT project with Icelandic, Spanish and Norwegian Consortium partners
- 2020: New Zealand Well-being Conference. Keynote speaker Engaging Education – Battling Boredom. Due to COVID-19 changed to an online conference.
- 2020: IPEN Online Conference 27-28.10.20. Video-presentation "The Battle against Boredom in schools"
- 2019: IPPA Congress (International Positive Psychology Conference) in Melbourne, Australia. Doing a symposium on EU Horizon 2020 UPRIGHT project with Icelandic, Spanish and Norwegian Consortium partners. Doing a workshop on The Battle against Boredom – in Schools.
- 2018: ECPP Conference (European Conference in Positive Psychology) in Budapest, Hungary. Doing a workshop on The Battle against Boredom.
- 2018: ECPP Conference (European Conference in Positive Psychology) in Budapest. Part of the arrangement committee for Positive Education preconference "Engaging Education". Co-facilitating 1 ½ days of Conference.
- 2017: IPPA Conference (International Positive Psychology Conference) in Montreal, Canada. Presenting a poster, a Round Table Discussion on Strengths based Learning.
- 2017: Livsdueligheds-konference at DPU/Aarhus University. Presenting: Med styrker som løftestang.
- 2017: Robusthed i praksis at DPU/Aarhus University. Presenting: Robusthed, livsduelighed og karakterstyrker.
- 2017: PPR-conference, Nyborg Strand. Presenting: Livsduelighed ogkarakterstyrker.
- 2016: ECPP Conference (European Conference in Positive Psychology) in Angers, France doing a poster presentation, a paper presentation and a workshop in strengths and strengths-based learning.
- 2015: IPPA Conference (International Positive Psychology Conference) in Orlando Florida doing a poster presentation: 'Life skills and Children's Character Strengths'.
- 2014: School Conference, Nyborg Strand doing a workshop: ’Motivation & Mastery’