Can happiness be taught? Yes, it can
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As teachers and school leaders we’re not often afforded the luxury of time to consider the bigger picture about what we are all trying to achieve – we have class to teach, budgets to organi, parents, staff and students to meet. In the last five years, however, I’ve been fortunate enough, through my travels as part of my rearch, to share rich conversations with other colleagues involved in education, from all over the world.
What amazes me is the way in which beliefs about the central purpo of our work in schools are still heavily con-tested. Could it be that our fundamental beliefs about the purpo and function of education have been blurred in the race for league table positions bad on exam results? This places school leaders who hold a broader view of the purpo of education in a dilemma: the purpo they give to education is often at variance to the meaning assigned by other members of society. After many years of central gov-ernment obssion with testing where I work in the United Kingdom, there is a strong desire in many for more freedom.
Sometimes we have to u a telescope to e the bigger picture rather than be always enslaved by the
u of the microscope of data analysis in our path to school improve-ment. In respon, this article is a call to action for all of us, teachers and school leaders to find time in our busy
It’s tIme we moved towards a school-bad wellbeIng currIculum, says Trevor Lee.
curriculum&asssment29
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teacher june /july 2011
schedules to review our own priorities and
to reflect on why we were called to do this work in the first place. Notwithstanding the hollow rhetoric about the development of all aspects of the educational experience provided for students contained in many school promo-tional websites, prospectus and mission statements, it can be argued that it is the statistically measurable content of asss-ments that is one of the principle drivers of education currently in the UK. As Tom Peters and Robert Waterman remind us, in In Search of Excellence , ‘What gets meas-ured, gets done.’We in the UK have suffered from initiative overload for decades but there is a stirring in government that chimes
with the current spirit of the age in a time of economic aus-terity. The quest for the holy grail of personal happiness and fulfilment is being ri-ously revisited. Even UK Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to draw attention to this concept – in the midst of public rvice cuts and soar-ing living costs. ‘It’s time we admitted that there’s more to life than money and it’s time we focud not just on GDP (gross domestic product) but on GWB – general wellbeing,’ Cameron said at the Google Zeitgeist Europe Conference in December last year. ‘Wellbeing can’t be measured by money or traded in markets,’ he added. ‘It’s about the beauty of our surroundings, the quality of our culture and, above all, the strength of our relationships. Improving our society’s n of wellbeing is, I believe, the central political challenge of our times.’ As a result, the UK Office for National Statistics is lead-ing a debate in the coming year, called the National Wellbeing Project, which will ek to establish the key areas that matter most to people’s wellbeing.This initiative has a profound impact on teachers and school leaders as we substi-tute the vague notion of ‘happiness’ with the compound noun ‘wellbeing.’ It’s vital to actively promote student wellbeing for a number of reasons, despite the complexities involved. At the core of this argument is the notion that developing a holistic approach, where due regard is given to student well-being, should become a key aim. I e five imperatives that justify the inclusion of stu-dent wellbeing in schools. (See Figure 1.)Firstly, there are ethical imperatives if we are to move against rising trends in stu-dent anxiety and depression. Surveys sug-
gest that clinically significant emotional or behavioural difficulties are restricted to a minority of around one in 10 children aged 11 to 15 years, who show one or more of
the problems at any given point in time. An important issue, though, is whether the types of difficulties are increasing. What we are eing with new data is that the trend has continued upwards in the UK. There is a wide range of possible caus for changes to the wellbeing of adolescents, and while few if any have been properly
rearched, most have been raid some-where in the rearch literature, albeit in a rather tentative way. It’s likely that inter-vening more effectively and imaginatively
could significantly reduce adolescent mor-tality, through reducing suicide rates, and improve life experiences. If we can accu-rately asss mental health problems, and
we know both how to intervene and also
that intervention may work, then there’s an ethical imperative to lead improvement initiatives immediately.Secondly, there is a legis-lative imperative in the UK:
the government’s Every Child Matters reforms supported
by the Children Act 2004 places a duty of wellbeing on schools. Student wellbeing has thus become a national con-cern, reflected by provision in extended rvices, and could play a key role in any attempt to introduce a broader social pedagogy.
Thirdly, there is a social imperative: there is a needy minority in each of our schools. The key point is that tho who
are supported and have more positive experiences can learn better and are more likely to fulfil their social and academic potential. Schools are power-ful institutions which influence
social development and there
is a need to have appropriate social goals, in contrast to a discour of
managing behaviour and a narrow focus on the ‘academic,’ which this discour views as parate from the emotional and social.
Fourthly, there is a developing rearch ba that suggests that an effective pro-gram for student wellbeing helps improvecalendar是什么意思
the academic outcomes of the majority of students who do not suffer depressive ill-ness. Education for wellbeing could have
important school improvement outcomes Figure 1: Connected understanding: five justifications for promot-ing student wellbeing in schools
in terms of student attainment, behaviour, satisfaction, future life chances, resilience and creativity.
Finally, student wellbeing lessons can help join up the wider system. It’s easy for the principle purpo of schools to be cen-tred on knowledge transmission and teach-ing rather than on the broader needs of the learner. In turn, students are expected to conform to the process of school rather than schools rving the needs of its students.capital city
Can happiness be taught? Probably not, just in the same way as it cannot be bottled or demonstrated on a spreadsheet. It ems to me, however, that it’s possible to recog-ni three scientifically credible constituents of happiness that can be shared in class. (See Figure 2.)
The first route to greater happinessmortals
is hedonic, increasing positive emotion.
Within limits, we can increa our posi-
tive emotion about the past, for example
by cultivating gratitude and forgiveness,
our positive emotion about the prent, for
example by savouring and mindfulness, and
our positive emotion about the future, for
example by building hope and optimism.
cdrwA cond route to happiness involves the
pursuit of ‘gratification.’ The key charac-
teristic of a gratification is that it engages
us fully. Although there are shortcuts to
pleasures, no shortcuts exist to gratifica-
tion. Martin S eligman, former Chair of the
American Psychological Association, argues
that the pursuit of gratifications requires us
to draw on character strengths such as crea-
tivity, social intelligence, n of humour,
perverance, and an appreciation of beauty
and excellence.
A third route to happiness comes from
using individual strengths to belong to and
in the rvice of something larger than our-
lves; something such as knowledge, good-
ness, family, community, politics, justice or a
higher spiritual power. The third route gives
life meaning. This certainly chimes with our
current fascination in the UK with the notion
of citizens contributing to a ‘big society.’
If happiness cannot be taught I suggest
that it might certainly be feasible to pro-
vide students with the necessary skills with
which to nurture happiness themlves.
Simply described, schools have a twofold
role in the promotion of happiness.
curriculum&asssment31
Firstly, the school itlf must be a happy place to be. The basic needs of the students need to be met, the curriculums – formal, informal and hidden – must enable students to discover and develop their physical, intel-lectual and social strengths and abilities, and above all the school must create the con-ditions for excellence and allow its students to discover a n of meaning and purpo that will carry them well beyond the school gates. This might be termed ‘education as happiness.’
Secondly, schools should give explicit guidance to their students on how happi-ness might be achieved in life and not just assume that happiness will result from the ordinary activities of school life; this might be termed ‘educating for happiness.’ It is this cond suggested role that is controversial and that has attracted a great deal of media attention in recent times.
Wellington College in the UK is lead-ing the way in this respect. I rearched Wellington’s program thoroughly through a five-year longitudinal study. The school’s work has been informed by a positive psy-chological approach, espoud by Martin Seligman, Daniel Goleman, Richard Layard and more indirectly Howard Gardner. Wellington’s wellbeing cour is divided into six areas. Students learn:
❙how to improve the way their mind works through the way they manage their bodies ❙how to manage their subconscious mind and be aware of how it can influence the conscious mind ❙how simply being out in the natural
world can increa their wellbeinglisfranc
❙that it’s not good to immer themlves
in the fantasy world of television and
video games
❙how to resolve conflict with others, and
❙the benefits of stillness and mindfulness
meditation.
The lessons take place once a fortnight
and last for 40 minutes. Students who
took part in a study I conducted in 2010,
reported:
‘When the school’s wellbeing campaign
launched, we were all a bit sceptical. We
thought the new master was just doing it
to look good. Happiness lessons emed
an unlikely proposition. How could we
be taught to be happy? We had already sat
through PSHE (personal social and health
education) and citizenship. We had this
vision of getting a D mark for being gloomy
or the occasional pubescent mood swing.
‘But our happiness lessons are actually
wellbeing lessons. That is an important dis-宁波一对一
tinction. Becau you can’t teach someone
to be happy, you can only teach them to
pretend to be happy. And if they are only
laffis
pretending to be happy, that is no u to
anyone. What the school is trying to do is
give us some sort of basis, so that when we
have a time of sadness or grief, we can deal
with it constructively rather than turn to
fal comforts of drugs and alcohol.
英语对话短文
‘It is easy to get trapped in unhealthy
relationships. What enables you to step out
of them is your own lf-worth and indi-
viduality.
‘There is also a much more practical
aspect. I know a lot of people u medita-
tion to help them go to sleep. Small things
like that can make a big difference to your
day. An extra hour’s sleep can really impact
on your learning.’
Students comment on the unique, uful
and enjoyable nature of the wellbeing les-
sons, with 88 per cent indicating that they
highly enjoy their wellbeing lessons and
look forward to them; 85 per cent strongly
agreeing that the lessons have meaningful
content and are very worthwhile; 68 per cent
stating that the lessons help them to become
resilient and challenge negative thoughts; 72
per cent reporting that the lessons encourage
them to become calmer in their thinking and
more thoughtful and understanding; and 66
per cent reporting that the lessons help them
change their behaviour for the better and to
recogni their individual strengths.
A key finding of my study is that relation-
ships matter a great deal. The centrality of
teacher-student relationships in the everyday
experience of schooling is underdeveloped.
While it may em more powerful to devi
a program of activities, it’s the everyday and
pervasive power of relationships that affect
learning, social development and mental
health. Reforming the curriculum is not suf-
ficient: it will need a skilled and empathetic
workforce to deliver such a program.
The challenge for teachers and school
jstz
leaders is to ensure that this vitally impor-
tant aspect of school life does not become
implicit or hidden at a time when the main
pressure is on asssment or a school’s posi-
tion on league tables. This will require a
new n of conviction and a new style of
courage on the part of teachers and school
leaders, particularly as school leaders decide
on priorities and then decide what is really
worth fighting for. What’s clear is that the
wellbeing of students is a long-term project
that is vital to improving attainment. The
expectations of students as well as families
and employers have to be addresd. This
requires a new way of looking at how teach-
ers and school leaders work as they attempt
to follow their best instincts.
Dr Trevor Lee is Headmaster at North-
wood Prep in north-west London, a school
that has been recognid as outstanding in
all aspects by the Schools’ Inspectorate in
the United Kingdom. He teaches interna-
tionally on strategy, leadership and stu-
要么好好活着
dent wellbeing. His latest book is Strategy
and Leadership for Turbulent Times.
REFERENCES
Peters, T. & Waterman R. (1986). In
Search of Excellence. New York: Warner.
1. Positive emotion
‘the pleasant life’
2. Engagement
‘the good life’
3. Meaning
‘the meaningful life’Figure 2: Three constituents of happiness
32 teacher june/july2011
