The Asia Education Leader Course (AELC) opened the 2026 Summer Course with Pre-Study Session 1 held Friday, May 29, 2026. The first session of the Series, on the theme of Asian Education in a Time of Instability, was attended by over 35 students from four AELC partner institutions.

Professor Chen Chen, of the Nanjing Normal University School of Psychology, delivered a motivating and academically rich lecture titled “Beyond Positive Traits in Positive Education: Adaptive Functions and Psychological Costs of Grit, Conscientiousness, and Diligence.” Based on her research as an expert in academic achievement and motivation, Prof. Chen introduced the complex concepts of grit, conscientiousness and diligence as traits that must be contextualized to properly understand their effects on student academic performance. She presented findings from four of her own studies, showing that these seemingly positive traits do not always behave in a linear fashion, with often complex relationships between each other and student outcomes.

In the discussion half of the Pre-Study, Prof. Chen posed three questions to the students:

Question 1: In your educational context, how are grit, conscientiousness, or diligence usually promoted? Are they framed as effort, discipline, responsibility, passion, or moral virtue?

Question 2: When might encouraging students to be more persistent support their flourishing, and when might it create pressure, rigidity, or emotional cost?

Question 3: How can positive education cultivate self-regulatory strengths while also protecting students’ autonomy, meaning, flexibility, and well-being?

Group discussions yielded fruitful results, with one group debating the definitions of the terms themselves, while others made cross-cultural comparisons. One group connected self-regulation with experiences as international students abroad, pushing for learning that transcends performance and emphasizes the personal meaning of learning.

The AELC Secretariat would like to express sincere appreciation for the inspiring and academically challenging lecture from Professor Chen.

Pre-Study Session 2 will be held on FRI, June 26 from 16:30-18:30JST. We welcome Associate Professor Will Brehm of Canberra University to lecture on “What the Map Cuts Up: Comparative Education, Regional Memory, and the Politics of Knowledge in Asia.”