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Published in 2016 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France,
andUNESCO Bangkok Office© UNESCO 2016

ISBN: 978-92-9223-541-3 (Print version)
ISBN: 978-92-9223-542-0 (Electronic Version)

This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO(CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By
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The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication
do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning
the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning thedelimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are
not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization.

Copy-editor: Ellie Meleisea
Cover Photos and illustrations: © Yejoon (Jennifer) Yoo, © Estiawati Subair,© Debdatta Chakraborty, © Elodie Khan, © Kuntal Kumar Roy
Design/Layout: Warren Field
Illustrations: Aliénor Salmon
Graphics: Kathleen Sullivan

TH/IQE/16/006-1000

Foreword .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... V
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................................................................... VI
Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................VII
Executive Summary..................................................................................................................................................................................... VIII
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
2 Research Design and Methodology............................................................................................................................ 6
3 Global and Regional Context.............................................................................................................................................. 15
A. Theories of Happiness .......................................................................................................................................................................... 16
B. Global Initiatives .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 20
C. Happiness in Policy .................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
4 The Happy Schools Framework ..................................................................................................................................... 36
A. Presentation of the Criteria ........................................................................................................................................................... 37
B. People .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 43
C. Process ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 50
D. Place .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 62
5 Reflections, Next Steps and Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 70
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 78
Annex 1: Summary of countries reflected in the research findings ....................................... 88
Annex 2: Happy Schools Survey ................................................................................................................................................ 91
Annex 3: Happy Schools Seminar Activities .................................................................................................................... 93

III

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Table of contents

FIGURES
Figure 1.

The Happy Schools Criteria ............................................................................................................................................XIII

Figure 2. Conceptual framework for happy school ..................................................................................................................7
Figure 3.

Blank poster used in the ASEAN Schools Workshop ...................................................................................................9

Figure 4. Survey responses by gender, stakeholder group, school type and language ...................................11
Figure 5. The six virtues and 24 character strengths in Positive Psychology ..........................................................19
Figure 6.

The nine domains of Gross National Happiness in Bhutan ..................................................................................25

Figure 7.

The eight dimensions of ‘Green Schools for a Green Bhutan ’....................................................................27

Figure 8. Hope and reality in after-school activities among Korean children (%) ................................................30
Figure 9. Top five factors for a happy school ............................................................................................................................38
Figure 10. Top five factors for an unhappy school ...................................................................................................................40
Figure 11. Top five factors in making teaching and learning fun and enjoyabl ......................................................41
Figure 12. Top five factors in making all students feel included ......................................................................................42
TABLES
Table 1.

Initial hypothesis for the criteria for a happy school ...........................................................................................8

Table 2.

Schools that participated in the Happy Schools Seminar..............................................................................12

Table 3.

The Happy Schools Criteria .............................................................................................................................................37

ANNEX TABLES
Table A1. 	Participating schools in the ASEAN Schools Workshop, by country andschool type/location .........................................................................................................................................................89
Table A2. 	Number of respondents to the Happy Schools Survey, by country/jurisdictionof residence..............................................................................................................................................................................89
Table A3. 	Participating schools in the Happy Schools Seminar, by country andschool type/location ..........................................................................................................................................................90
BOXES
Box 1.

Selected aspects of Johann Pestalozzi’s approach to education...............................................................18

Box 2.

2013 education policies and plans in the Republic of Korea........................................................................31

Box 3.

Strategy Box: People............................................................................................................................................................50

Box 4. 	Alternative learning approaches used in Vidyashilp Academy’s Beyond Academics
Programme (India) ...............................................................................................................................................................54
Box 5.

Strategy Box: Process .........................................................................................................................................................61

Box 6.

School visions from selected schools in Akita Prefecture (Japan) ............................................................65

Box 7.

Strategy Box: Place ..............................................................................................................................................................68

IVWhen I was a little boy I was always curious to learn about everything around me and become acquainted withwhat I could see, touch or hear. Where I was born, and grew up, in a small rural town in the Republic of Korea,
schools were at the very centre of the community. Children were happy to be in school, where they could learn
and play with their friends, be surrounded by nature and develop important relationships with their teachers.
As such school days were an important part of my life, and I believe that they are a crucial part of life in generaland perhaps are the most influential factor in shaping our character and future path.
Decades later, schools are becoming increasingly complex as they mirror the current socio-economic
landscape driven by rapid demographic and technological changes, as well as by changing family structuresand demands. As a result, in many schools children now seem to be quite unhappy, perhaps due to too muchpressure, high expectations, and an overemphasis on academics, tests and competition.
I believe that all children are entitled to be happy and enjoy their life in school, whether through a genuine loveof learning, through building positive friendships and relationships, or through feeling a sense of belonging in
the community and wider society. Moreover, we need all learners to be happy in order for future generations tocontribute to a more peaceful and prosperous world. For me this is what happy schools is all about, and this is
why I am delighted to present this report – Happy Schools: A Framework for Learner Well-being in the Asia Pacific.
This report, which is based on the findings from a series of activities conducted as part of the Happy Schools
Project, recognizes the crucial relationship between happiness and the quality of education. It brings these
two elements together and calls upon education systems to look beyond the traditional domains of learning
to embrace a diversity of talents and intelligences by recognizing values, strengths and competencies that
contribute both to enhancing happiness and well-being in learners but also enabling them to thrive andcelebrate their achievements.
It also calls for a fundamental shift in education systems to embark upon what I call the ‘New Frontiers’ ofknowledge and intellectual domains, encompassing aspects of learning that are equally important toacademics. This relates to our work on Learning to Live Together, which is a very important basis for theconcept of Happy Schools. It also relates to our work on ‘transversal competencies’, in prioritizing so called
non-academic skills and competencies such as creativity, communication and teamwork among many others,
which are all crucial to preparing learners for the increasingly transnational world of work and for our everchanging global society.
I would like to express my thanks to my colleagues for their efforts in driving the Happy Schools Project forward
and producing this unique report, which we believe is an initial and crucial contribution to expanding work inthis area. Particular thanks are due to Gwang-Chol Chang for conceiving the initial idea for this project, to Min
Bista for his continued support, to Ramya Vivekanandan for her leadership of the project and to Aliénor Salmon
for her writing of this report and coordination of the project activities. It is my heartfelt wish that this report
can be a source of inspiration for schools, policy makers, and experts, so that we can bring happiness back toschools to build a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Gwang-Jo Kim
Director
UNESCO Bangkok

V

FOREWORD

Foreword

Acknowledgements
This regional report was prepared by the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education(UNESCO Bangkok). It presents the research findings from a study conducted as part of the Happy
Schools Project. Conceived by Gwang-Chol Chang (UNESCO Dakar, formerly UNESCO Bangkok), thisproject consists of a number of participatory activities that aim to capture the voices of stakeholders
from almost 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond on what a happy school means to them.
This study was only possible through inputs of these stakeholders and we would like to thank all
the students, teachers, parents, school principals and school support staff, and the members of thegeneral public who participated in the Happy Schools Survey. We would also like to express our
gratitude to the school representatives who participated in the Happy Schools Seminar in June 2015,
including those from NIST International School (Thailand) for generously hosting the seminar, andthose from Pemagatshel Middle Secondary School (Bhutan), Vidyashilp Academy (India), Daegu
Gachang Elementary School (Republic of Korea), Chulalongkorn Demonstration Secondary School(Thailand) and VNIES Experimental Lower Secondary School (Viet Nam). Our appreciation also goes to
Rathchaphol Suwannachot of the ASEAN Children and Youth News Center, for organizing the ASEAN
Schools Workshop held in November 2014, and to all the school representatives who participated.
This regional report was prepared under the overall coordination of Ramya Vivekanandan of
UNESCO Bangkok. The report was written by Aliénor Salmon, who also designed the overall concept
and activities of the project as well as the research methods. The UNESCO Bangkok review team,including Gwang-Chol Chang, Min Bista, and Ramya Vivekanandan, provided valuable inputs, while
technical assistance was provided by Ratchakorn Kulsawet.
This report would not have been possible without the contributions from current and former staff
and interns across various teams at UNESCO Bangkok, who have each played a role in the projectin unique ways. We would like to thank Margaret Appel-Schumacher, Naoko Asano-Enomoto,Pundaree Boonkerd, Jin A Hwang, Saki Kishimoto, Sangsun Kwon, Rachel McCarthy, Yuko Nagasaka,Thanattiya Potimu, Ryoko Suzuki, Antony Tam, Turdakan Tashbolotov, Kohei Yamada, and Lian Chee
Yap. This report was edited by Ellie Meleisea, while Warren Field and Kathleen Sullivan are gratefully
acknowledged for the design and graphics respectively.
We would also like to express our appreciation for the guidance and expertise of the members of
the peer review panel: Florence Migeon, Chris Castle, Christophe Cornu, Theophania Chavatzia,
Huong Le Thu, and Carlos Vargas Tamez at UNESCO Headquarters, Utak Chung and Hye-Ran Yang of
the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU), Francesca Borgonoviof the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Lim Lai Cheng of theInstitute for Societal Leadership at Singapore Management University, and Martin Seligman of theCentre of Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Finally, we would also like to thank the shortlisted entrants in the Happy Schools Art Contest, whose
vivid and ‘happy’ images showcased in this report help to bring the concept of Happy Schools to life.

VIAPCEIU

Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding

ASEAN

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

CEART 	Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations
concerning Teaching Personnel
CFS

Child-Friendly Schools

CRC

Convention on the Rights of the Child

GNH

Gross National Happiness

ICT

Information and Communication Technology

ILO

International Labour Organization

IPEN

International Positive Education Network

IQ

Intelligence Quotient

LTLT

Learning to Live Together

MEXT

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan)

MoE

Ministry of Education

MNCC

Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs (Vanuatu)

NEF

New Economics FoundationNIST

New International School of Thailand

OECD

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PERMA

Positive Emotion, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment

PISA

Programme for International Student Assessment

RGOB

Royal Government of Bhutan

SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals

SEL

Social and Emotional Learning

SUPW

Socially Useful and Productive Work (Bhutan)

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNSDSN

United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network

VIA
VNIES

Values in Action
Viet Nam Institute of Educational Sciences

VII

ACRONYMS

Acronyms

Executive Summary
All human beings aspire to be happy, and as the philosopher Aristotle is often cited to have said:‘Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence’ (Crisp,
2000). Indeed, all human endeavours, starting from birth and throughout life, are pursued to thisend, and require for happiness to be embedded within them. The schooling experience is perhaps
the most influential of these endeavours in terms of shaping the course of our lives. Schools thatcan promote happiness, referred to in this report as ‘happy schools’, are key to ensuring betterwell-being, health, and achievement as well as success in future life and work. Education systems
must also value the unique strengths and talents of learners by recognizing that there are ‘multiple
intelligences’ that each deserve equal importance (Gardner, 1993). As such, promoting learnerhappiness and well-being in schools does not imply that learning be made easier or require lesseffort, but rather, that such approaches could help fuel a genuine love of learning in and of itself.
A number of external and internal factors are undermining learner happiness, which influence theway that we view not only the quality of life but also the quality of education. Firstly, external factors
such as increasing inequality, growing intolerance and the rise of violent extremism are all creating
unhappier societies. As a result, schools are also facing increased cases of bullying from within, whileat the same time increasingly becoming a target of violent attacks from outside actors. Our fast-paced
world driven by technological advancement has also become rife with competition and ‘information
overload’, leading to an endless race where we increasingly focus on ‘the numbers’ – whether interms of a country’s economic development or in terms of educational outcomes. Secondly, internal
factors within school systems such as poor learning environments, insensitivity of educators, obsolete
curricula as well as an overemphasis on academic content and test scores, are all contributing tocreating unhappier schools. Unfortunately, those elements that are recognized as contributing toenhancing happiness, whether in schools, life or work, are rarely counted as part of the equation.
In recent years, however, happiness has been recognized, both in global agenda-setting as wellas in countries’ development and education policies, as an important goal to be pursued. Notable
examples include the 2011 United Nations General Assembly Resolution devoted to happiness,and the references to well-being throughout the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Growing
efforts to measure happiness have also coincided with increased efforts to measure the quality ofeducation, for instance through global indices and international student assessments.
In view of the important relationship between happiness and the quality of education, in June 2014
UNESCO Bangkok launched the Happy Schools Project. This report presents the Happy Schools
Framework and aims to bring these two elements together by calling for education systems
to shift away from traditional measures and to instead embrace a diversity of talents
and intelligences by recognizing values, strengths and competencies that contribute toenhancing happiness. Or in other words, it calls on the need for education systems to ’measure
what we treasure’: ‘If you treasure it, measure it. If schools do not measure the well-being of their

VIII

This report presents the findings of a study based on several research methods, including a desk study,
a survey, a seminar and a workshop with school-level stakeholders. It explores the global and regional
context in terms of theories of happiness and global initiatives, and how happiness is reflected in thedevelopment and education policies of selected countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It then presents
the main outcome of the study: the Happy Schools Framework, which consists of 22 criteria for a
happy school, as well as examples of strategies for reaching each of the criteria in schools.

Global and Regional Context
Theories of Happiness
Dating back to ancient philosophers until today, happiness has always been a fascinating subjectof enquiry. An examination of the various definitions of happiness among ancient thinkers suchas the Buddha, Aristotle and Confucius, along with thinkers from the Enlightenment era until thepresent day, can identify a number of similarities that are at the heart of the concept of Happy
Schools. Firstly, happiness is seen as something that is collective based on positive friendships andrelationships. As outlined in The Dhammapada, or teachings of the Buddha, ‘happiness is having
friends when the need arises’ (Fronsdal, 2005, p. 80). Secondly, they identify happiness as somethingthat can be learnt, as well as learning being a source of happiness in and of itself, which is achieved
through being virtuous and by enhancing relevant values and competencies (Beebe, 2003; Yao,
2003). Finally, they also recognize that education is something that is essentially multidimensional(Newman, 2010; Jowett, n.d.).
Thinkers of the Enlightenment such as John Locke and Johan Pestolazzi also examined themultidimensional nature of education noting that education should ensure learners’ cognitive,
emotional and physical development (Aldrich, 1994; Brühlmeier, 2010). The Positive Psychology
movement which was founded in the 1990s and is often referred to as the ‘science of happiness’,recognizes a number of ‘character strengths’ that enhance happiness such as creativity,
perseverance, kindness and teamwork among many others (Peterson and Seligman, 2004), andhas also been a notable development. Based on Positive Psychology, Positive Education is definedby the International Positive Education Network as the ‘double helix’ of academics coupled withwell-being and character (IPEN, 2016b), with evidence showing that ‘more well-being is synergetic
with better learning’ (Seligman et. al., 2009).

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

children but do measure their intellectual development, the latter will always take precedence’(Layard and Hagell, 2015). Aimed at influencing policymakers as well as engaging the school level,
it is hoped that this report and the Happy Schools Framework therein will provide an integral
reference in view of rethinking conceptions of the quality of learning so as to look beyond strictly
academic domains.

Global Initiatives
Happiness is today at the top of the global policy agenda, with the United Nations General
Assembly’s 2011 Resolution recognizing ‘the pursuit of happiness as a fundamental human goal’(United Nations General Assembly, 2011). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also promote
well-being across the various goals and targets. SDG4, the goal dedicated to quality education,
captures many aspects of great relevance to the concept of Happy Schools. In particular, Target 4.7
is dedicated to the acquisition of knowledge and skills that can promote sustainable development
through education for global citizenship and a culture of peace. The emphasis on skills relating tohuman behaviours and characteristics such as creativity, empathy, teamwork and communication,
mirror the ‘character strengths’ identified in Positive Psychology as those necessary for enhancing
happiness and well-being. These are also reflected in UNESCO’s concepts of Learning to Live
Together and Learning to Be. While Learning to Live Together focuses on ‘understanding of others’,
Learning to Be focuses on the ‘richness’ of the learners’ personality and expression (Delors et. al.,
1996; Faure et. al., 1972).
Other global initiatives have also sought to measure happiness and well-being. These include
efforts to measure countries’ levels of happiness and well-being through global indices such as theWorld Happiness Report, the Happy Planet Index, the World Values survey and the Better Life Index.
Similarly, in an effort to measure student happiness and explore the link between happiness andlearning outcomes, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), one of the main
measures of international student learning achievement, included indicators on student happinessin its 2012 assessment, and will explore the link between well-being and learning outcomes in 2018
(OECD, 2015a).

Happiness in Policy
In recent years, various countries have made happiness either a specific goal of their development
and education policies or have included elements relating to happiness in their policy frameworks.
This report briefly examines the policies of five such countries: Bhutan, Japan, Republic of Korea,
Singapore and Vanuatu, which each have a unique interpretation of happiness and well-being.
Bhutan is renowned for its policy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and in 2010 developed a
GNH index, featuring indicators that measure various aspects of education and psychological wellbeing. Bhutan’s 2011 policy of Educating for GNH seeks to use education as a means to achieve GNH
and places importance on sustainability and protection of the environment while also promoting
the concept of ‘Green Schools for a Green Bhutan’ (Drapka and Dorji, 2013).
In Japan, the Cabinet Office established the Commission on Measuring Well-being in 2010 andconducted its first Quality of Life Survey in 2012 in response to growing national concern overmental health issues and high levels of stress, including among children. According to results of the2010 National Livelihood Survey, the main cause of stress among respondents aged 12-19 years
old was reported as related to academic performance and examinations (Ministry of Health, Labor

XDespite the Republic of Korea being one of the highest performing countries in PISA, the 2012
results also showed that Korean 15-year-olds report being the unhappiest among all participating
countries (OECD, 2013). Experts believe that this stems from high student workloads in preparation
for high-stakes exams, and also from pressure parents put on their children to obtain high grades(Korean Institution for Health and Social Affairs, 2013). The pressure to succeed is viewed as driven by
an increasingly competitive society, which as a consequence, has led to a lack of importance placedon ‘non-academic’ skills that encourage students to develop ‘healthy and moral personalities’ bothin school and at home (Lee, 2012). Recognizing these issues, the Government of the Republic ofKorea developed the policy of ‘Happy Education for All: Creative Talent Shapes the Future’, which
introduced initiatives such as the ‘exam-free’ semester, character building and violence-freeschools, with the aim of increasing happiness and well-being among learners (Ministry of Education[Republic of Korea], 2013).
In Singapore, a similar concern over high levels of student stress in schools has been observed,
with some commonly referring to the education system as a ‘pressure cooker of stress’ (Hill, 2010).
In recognition of the issue, the Ministry of Education introduced Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
which is integrated as part of the Character and Citizenship Education Syllabus (Yeo, 2011; Ministryof Education [Singapore], 2012). Furthermore, a recent addendum to the 2016 President’s address
highlights the priorities for education, which include the need to develop ‘a passion for learning’
among children and to ‘reduce the excessive focus on academic results’ by providing a more holistic
education that is inclusive of all needs and backgrounds (Ministry of Education [Singapore], 2016b).
In Vanuatu happiness and well-being appear to be reflected more in terms of peace andsustainability. Named as the world’s happiest country in the 2006 Happy Planet Index, Vanuatu
has developed a National Curriculum Statement that promotes happiness in schools and aims
to develop a number of competencies that underlie the philosophy of Learning to Live Together(Ministry of Education [Vanuatu], 2010). Subsequently, in 2012, Vanuatu also piloted the Alternative
Indicators of Well-being for Melanesia in 2012, in order to reflect Melanesian values based on factors
such as resource access, cultural practice and community vitality (MNCC, 2012).
A comparison of the countries’ policies reveals that while Bhutan and Vanuatu developed their policies
so as to emphasize local cultural values and the importance of these in sustainably developing theircountries, the other three countries, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore, developed theirpolicies largely in response to national concerns regarding the excessive emphasis on academic
domains and the consequent rising levels of stress among learners. Regardless of the motivation forthe policies, however, all of the countries concluded that education should be ‘holistic’, such that it
promotes a balance between the academic, social and emotional, and physical domains.

XI

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

and Welfare [Japan], 2010). In education, the 2007 Revision of the School Education Act had alreadyrepresented a major shift in the focus of education with many aspects of great relevance to theconcept of Happy Schools (MEXT, 2011). In particular, the principle of ‘Zest for Living’ – referring tobalance between academic prowess, a well-rounded character and mental and physical health - isfound in national curriculum guidelines (MEXT, n.d.).

The Happy Schools Framework
The Happy Schools Framework was constructed based on the findings of the study, aiming to capture
the voices and perspectives of school-level stakeholders regarding what constitutes a happy school.
The framework is the heart of this report, and aims to inform policymaking from these school-level
perspectives in a bid to revolutionizing education from the ground up (Robinson and Lou, 2015).

The Happy Schools Criteria
The results of the Happy School Survey provided the basis for identifying the 22 criteria for a
happy school under three broad categories: People, Process and Place. The survey received over
650 responses from students, teachers, parents, school principals and support staff from across the
Asia-Pacific region, who shared their views on what can make schools happy or unhappy places,
what can make teaching and learning fun and enjoyable and what can be done in schools to makeall students feel included. The criteria presented in Figure 1 provide a summary of the entire Happy
Schools Framework. Many of these criteria overlap across the three categories of People, Process
and Place, and mutually reinforce each other.
The feedback compiled through the Happy Schools Seminar highlighted many promising andinnovative practices being implemented in schools, and provided examples of strategies that
schools can use to reach each of the criteria. The following describes some of these examples under
the three categories of People, Process and Place.

People
The first category of People refers to all human and social relationships among members of theschool community. Friendships and relationships in the school community ranked as themost important factor among respondents in terms of what makes a happy school, with thefindings identifying school practices that encourage parental involvement, foster interactions
and friendships between students of different grades, and school activities that directly involvecommunity members.
Another important criterion for happy schools in this category is positive teacher attitudes
and attributes, which include characteristics such as kindness, enthusiasm and fairness,and the role of teachers in serving as inspiring, creative and happy role models for learners.
Respondents saw a need for schools to take this criterion into account in teacher recruitment
and evaluation, so as to place more emphasis on teacher personality, attitude and ethics whenhiring and assessing teachers.
Respondents also ranked positive and collaborative values and practices as being a very
important criterion in making schools happy. Such values and practices include love, compassion,
acceptance and respect. Strategies for promoting these values and practices include visual reminders
displayed as posters or illustrations; and ‘dual-purpose learning’, whereby various values, strengths
and competencies are highlighted and promoted within the context of an academic topic or subject.

XII

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Figure 1. The Happy Schools Criteria

XIII

Process
The second category of Process encompasses teaching and learning methodologies that canenhance learners’ sense of well-being. The various criteria under this category, include creating amore reasonable and fair workload for students due to a growing imbalance between study andplay which places an emphasis on memorization in order to prepare for exams.
Another important criterion under this category is learner freedom, creativity and engagement.
Accordingly, a happy school should allow for learners to express their opinions and to learn freely
without the fear of making mistakes, or as frequently cited by respondents to the survey, ‘learning
without worrying’ so that mistakes are valued as part of the learning process.
This also relates to the criterion useful, relevant and engaging learning content, which calls forthe content of curricula to reflect contemporary and relevant issues, with guidance for teachers on
how to make these issues relevant to learners’ lives. According to 14-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Van
Thao from VNIES Experimental Secondary school (Viet Nam), who participated in the Happy Schools
Seminar, there is stark contrast between the learning content that is assessed and learning content
that is useful in everyday life. In her words:
What do you think about a student who gets ten out of ten on a civic education exam about honesty, but has
actually cheated in the exam to get such high marks? Or we learn biology to protect our environment – somestudents get really good marks in biology exams, but they litter trash in the street! We must emphasize that themain purpose of studying is to improve our real life and to help our countries develop. We are not learning to
be a genius or to make our brains bigger! We always say ‘knowledge is power', but according to the American
author Dale Carnegie, ‘Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied’.

Place
The third category of Place refers to contextual factors, both in terms of the physical environment
and the school atmosphere. Among the criteria under this category, a warm and friendly learning
environment ranked as the second most important factor for a happy school overall, with thefindings indicating the need to place more emphasis on greetings and smiles, as well as introducing
music, creating more open classrooms and colourful and meaningful displays, thereby creating amore positive school atmosphere.
A secure environment free from bullying was another criterion ranked as important by
respondents, with findings identifying strategies such as the installing of a ‘buddy bench’ as wellas enabling learners to interact and better understand one another through shared learning andplaying activities.
The need for school vision and leadership was also highlighted, with examples from schools
participating in the seminar showing how happiness can be prioritized through school visions,mottos or slogans to create more positive school atmospheres.

XIV

Reflections, Next Steps and Conclusions
Reflecting on the research findings presented throughout this report, various theories and policy
efforts demonstrate that happiness is defined as a human purpose, with education and learning
recognized as a fundamental vehicle to enhancing happiness and well-being. This calls on the needfor education systems to embrace alternative forms of learning that allow for learners’ unique talents
and strengths to shine, while at the same time recognizing that happiness is something collectivethat can be promoted through learning experiences that foster friendships and relationships
among the school community.
The report also tells us that all human beings can learn to be happy, but they can also be happy
to learn through the fostering of a genuine love of learning which can also lead to a sense ofachievement and accomplishment. Evidence presented in the report also shows that prioritizing
happiness and well-being can result in higher academic achievement, which unfortunately, havetended to be undervalued by a continued predominant focus on ‘numbers’ or test scores as
indicators of the quality of education. In addition, even if education systems were to focus theirpolicies in purely economic terms, in view of technological advancement, the human ‘competitive
advantage’ lies in the very values, strengths and competencies that are envisioned as enhancing
happiness and well-being, and which cannot be replaced by machines.
This report therefore outlines two levels of intervention needed in order to make schools happierplaces: the policy level and the school level. Such interventions include considerations such asprioritizing happiness and learner well-being as part of education policies, introducing a newgeneration of ‘positive teachers’ as well as ensuring that the values, strengths and competencies
which can develop and nurture happiness among learners are recognized and evaluated as part ofassessment efforts.
A number of next steps can also be identified, with the findings presented in this report suggesting
an important call for policy dialogue, whereby the findings could be scaled up and translated into
succinct conclusions and recommendations at the policy level. With regard to the school level, anumber of selected strategies for reaching the criteria in this report also provide a starting point forthe collection and dissemination of strategies that can be accessed and used by schools.
At the same time, the over-focus on ‘numbers’ highlights the need for further advocacy to raiseawareness and help change attitudes with regard to the meaning of a ‘good quality’ education, inorder to give more public recognition to the importance of happiness and well-being in schools in

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In terms of the physical environment, respondents also cited the need for more open and green
learning and playing spaces to enhance learner happiness and well-being. Suggested strategies
include establishing relaxing and creative spaces, having a school garden, as well as making use ofoutdoor spaces so that learners can connect with nature while also engaging in investigative or
physical learning activities.

HAPPY SCHOOLS: A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNER WELL-BEING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

a world driven by quantitative measures, benchmarking and competition. The relevance of many of
the issues examined in this report also indicates the potential of the Happy Schools Framework to
be scaled up, adapted and applied in other regions beyond the Asia-Pacific. Given growing efforts
to measure both happiness and educational quality, the Happy Schools Framework could alsopresent the basis for an integral measure of the quality of education.
This report has highlighted the importance of learner happiness and well-being by outlining theconcept of Happy Schools based on theoretical and policy perspectives, as well as based on thevoices of school-level stakeholders collected through primary research methods.
Within the global and regional context, references to happiness and well-being are increasingly
present, whether through the SDGs and Education 2030 (SDG 4), initiatives such as IPEN or throughthe policies of the five countries examined in this report. This indicates that educational quality andschool happiness are inseparable, and that happiness and well-being should not only be considered
an objective for education systems, but also as the means for higher educational outcomes andsuccess in future life and work.
The Happy Schools Framework, with its 22 criteria under the three categories of People, Process andPlace, and examples of strategies to reach each to the criteria, aims to provide insight as to what
school-level stakeholders identify as important for enhancing happiness and well-being in schools.
Overall, the findings indicate that there is a clear need for more time and space in schools, whether
in terms of time allocated for extracurricular activities or for the preparation of fun and engaging
learning approaches, or in terms of space for learners to express themselves more freely or makeuse of more open and green spaces for learning.
This report, therefore, calls upon decision makers at both the policy level and the school level tocreate more time and space for a type of learning that can enhance learner happiness and wellbeing, in the hope of inspiring happier learners who can contribute to happier societies, andultimately, to a happier world.

XVI

1Introduction1All grown-ups were children once – although few ofthem remember it.
– ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY, The Little Prince
School systems are designed for children, by adults. But how happy are children within thesesystems? This question requires us to consider the important relationship between happiness andschool quality. According to the 2015 World Happiness Report (Helliwell, et. al., 2015), schools thatprioritize learner well-being have the potential to be more effective, with better learning outcomesand greater achievements in learners' lives (Layard and Hagell, 2015).
To enhance happiness and well-being, school systems need to value learners’ unique strengths
and talents, recognizing that there are ‘multiple intelligences’ and that each of these has equal
importance (Gardner, 1993). Indeed, as stipulated in Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, education should ensure ‘the development of the child’s personality, talents and mental
and physical abilities to their fullest potential’ (United Nations General Assembly, 1949).
The pursuit of happiness is the aspiration of all living beings and ‘as old as history itself’ (McMahon,
2006, p. 1). Its history can be traced back over thousands of years to great philosophers fromdifferent parts of the world, ranging from Aristotle and Socrates in Ancient Greece, Confucius in
China and Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha) in India. As Aristotle is so often quoted as saying:‘Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence’(Crisp, 2000). The fascination with happiness as part of human enquiry has endured until today,
manifested in what is often referred to as the ‘science of happiness’, deriving from the Positive
Psychology movement founded by Martin Seligman in the late 1990s (Haidt, 2006).
Happiness has now become a part of the global policy agenda. In 2011, the United Nations General
Assembly recognized happiness as a fundamental human goal in Resolution 65/309 entitled‘Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development’, and in 2012 a high-level meeting led
by the Government of Bhutan entitled ‘Happiness and Well-being: Defining a New Paradigm’
was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. With the first edition commissioned
for that meeting, the 2015 World Happiness Report noted that happiness is now increasingly
considered as a ‘proper measure of social progress and goal of public policy’ (Helliwell et. al.,2015). As we embark on a new global development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) launched in New York in September 2015 also reflect the notion of well-being within andacross the various goals and targets (United Nations General Assembly, 2015a).
Not only have some countries begun to position happiness as an objective of their development
policies, but happiness has also become increasingly prominent in education policies. Throughout
the twentieth century, education discourse was commonly geared towards preparing learners forthe world of work, especially in the context of growing economic development and competition.

2

Research shows that countries with high levels of inequality are more likely than countries with
low inequality to have populations suffering from a range of social and emotional problems, andtheir populations are likely to be less happy than those that are more equal (Wilkinson and Pickett,2011). At the same time, the threat posed by mounting violent extremism is leading to a worldthat is increasingly intolerant. Accordingly, the United Nations Secretary General’s Plan of Action
to Prevent Violent Extremism, highlights the need for education to develop ‘the behavioural andsocioemotional skills that can contribute to peaceful coexistence and tolerance’ (United Nations
General Assembly, 2015b, p. 18). All of these external factors have a great impact on schools as
institutions that have a role as a support system for learners in enhancing their well-being andcreating a sense of belonging, particularly at a time when traditional family structures and values
are gradually being eroded (OECD, 2011).
Internal factors such as poor learning environments, educators’ insensitivity, obsolete curriculaand an overemphasis on academic content impact negatively on learner well-being and can makeschools unhappy places. In addition, learners and educators both face increased pressure due tohigh emphasis on grades and exams as well as implicit pressure to outperform their counterpartsin neighboring countries in international and regional assessments, which many countries use tobenchmark educational performance against others. This pressure reflects the current emphasis on
strictly academic outcomes. Increasing pressure to perform academically has resulted in alarming
trends: growing mistrust among students, competition, bullying and school violence, as well as
growing fears among learners of expressing their personalities and of making mistakes. These
symptoms of ‘unhappiness’ reflect the need for education systems to reposition the school as
being more than a means of providing educational instruction, but rather being an environmentthat allows for social and emotional growth and development.
Today, there is increasing recognition of the need for learning assessments to look beyond strictly
academic outcomes and place importance on measuring the social and emotional domains oflearning that are conducive to enhancing learner well-being. As argued by Layard and Hagell(2015, p. 118), ‘If you treasure it, measure it. If schools do not measure the well-being of theirchildren but do measure their intellectual development, the latter will always take precedence’.
Indeed, education systems, including schools, must move away from the focus on standardized
teaching and testing and instead define and measure quality beyond the primary academic
subject areas, so as to value and nurture a diversity of unique talents, skills and competencies inlearners (Zhao, 2015). Furthermore, by exploiting the potential of education to enhance learnerhappiness, learners will be better equipped and motivated to contribute to more peaceful,
equitable, sustainable and ultimately happier societies. More than ever before, this signals theneed for schools to become happier places.

3

INTRODUCTION

Today, growing insecurity, inequality, mobility and life stress, along with poverty, conflict andenvironmental concerns mean that we should expect more from education systems. In particular,
we require that education systems play a role in addressing these challenges in a world of suchrapid and uncertain change.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has long recognized
the importance of the social and emotional domains of learning as reflected in its mandate topromote peace through education. In 1972, the UNESCO report Learning to Be highlighted theimportance of education in the complete fulfilment of human needs (Faure et. al., 1972) and in 1996,
the report Learning: The Treasure Within identified four pillars of learning: Learning to Know, Learning
to Do, Learning to Live Together and Learning to Be, placing a particular emphasis on Learning toLive Together as an overarching learning goal (Delors et. al., 1996). The importance placed on thesocial and emotional domains of learning is also reflected in UNESCO’s commitment to Educationfor Sustainable Development, its expanding work on Global Citizenship Education and in the UN
Secretary-General’s ‘Global Education First Initiative’ launched in 2012, which identifies the fosteringof global citizenship as one of its three global priorities. Moreover, the new global agenda foreducation – Education 2030, the fourth of the SDGs – includes a target focusing on the knowledge
and skills required to promote sustainable development, a culture of peace and global citizenship.
Arguably, equipping learners with skills, attitudes and values pertaining to ‘living together’ and‘being’ such as empathy, tolerance, communication and creativity, requires first ensuring wellbeing and holistic development within the school environment. Indeed, a regional study, Learning
to Live Together. Education Policies and Realities in the Asia-Pacific, found that while the concept
may be reflected in national policies and curricula, there is little evidence of how this grand visionof education for peace translates into practice in the reality of schools and classrooms (UNESCO,2014). To this end, UNESCO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau (UNESCO Bangkok) launched theHappy Schools Project in 2014 to promote the importance of happiness in schools with the aim ofenhancing learner well-being and holistic development.
This report presents the findings of a study initiated under the Happy Schools Project with the aimof developing a Happy Schools Framework. In particular, the study aimed to identify the criteria
for what may constitute a happy school, along with strategies for reaching each of the criteria
within a school context. The framework was developed following consultation with school-level
stakeholders, and the criteria were structured under three broad themes: 1) People: referring
to social relationships between the members of the school community, 2) Process: referring toteaching and learning methods, and 3) Place: referring to contextual factors.
This framework also relates to other initiatives such as the Child-Friendly Schools (CFS) Modelestablished by UNICEF. Indeed, the CFS model and the Happy Schools Project share some elements,
especially with regard to enhancing learner well-being and improving the quality of education
beyond the notion of academic outcomes. At the same time, they also differ in some respects. While
the CFS model takes a rights-based approach founded on the Convention of the Rights of the Child,with a broader scope incorporating physical infrastructure, health, safety, security, nutrition andpsychological well-being (UNICEF, 2009), the Happy Schools Project focuses on happiness in termsof the quality of education. In particular, it emphasizes the psycho-social and emotional dimensionsof learning to promote happiness within the school context, focusing on the contribution of theschooling experience to learner well-being, growth and development.

4This report begins with a presentation of the research framework for the study, including theconceptual framework and the research methods used in Chapter Two. Chapter Three thenprovides in-depth background on the global and regional context, discussing the theoreticaland philosophical bases for the concept of Happy Schools, presenting global initiatives related
to happiness and well-being, and describing country case studies of relevant development andeducation policies in the Asia-Pacific region. The various strands of the primary data collected fromthe school-level stakeholders are then brought together to form the Happy Schools Framework in
Chapter Four, which presents 22 criteria under three overarching themes, as well as examples ofstrategies for reaching each of the criteria. Reflections, next steps and conclusions will be then beoffered in Chapter Five.

5

INTRODUCTION

This report is mainly targeted at the policy level as well as the school level. While on the one hand itaims to inform policymakers to ensure that education systems prioritize learner happiness and wellbeing, on the other it also aims to share various ideas and practices with schools that could help
enhance happiness and well-being at the school level. Given the relevance of this report to various
initiatives such as Positive Psychology or Positive Education, as well as Global Citizenship Education
among others, it is also targeted towards researchers and academics, as well as the broader
educational development community. Ultimately, it is hoped that the Happy Schools Framework
will provide a starting point as an integral reference for measuring the quality of learning in schoolsthat looks beyond strictly academic outcomes in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.

HAPPY SCHOOLS: A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNER WELL-BEING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

2
Research Designand Methodology

6Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework for happy schools (Figure 2) stems broadly from UNESCO’s mandate
to promote peace through education, and in particular from two of the four pillars of learning:
Learning to Live Together and Learning to Be, as well as the field of Positive Psychology. While
Learning to Live Together includes qualities that are essentially based on relationships, including
empathy, tolerance, respect for diversity, communication and teamwork (UNESCO, 2014), the pillar
Learning to Be refers more to qualities that stem from within a person, such as creativity, criticalthinking, self-motivation, perseverance and optimism (Faure et. al., 1972). The framework also draws
on elements of Positive Psychology, for which the core theoretical concept of well-being is ‘PERMA’:
positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment (Seligman, 2012).
Figure 2. Conceptual framework for happy schools

1 A summary of country experiences reflected through the research methods is presented in Annex 1.

7

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGYThis report, and the Happy Schools Framework that it presents, are based on findings acquired
through several research methods. While it broadly focuses on various countries of the Asia-Pacificregion, the report does not focus in-depth on any particular country but draws on diverse country
experiences,1 while its findings are relevant for many other parts of the world. This chapter presents
the overall research framework for this report, including the conceptual framework for the concept
of Happy Schools as well as an initial hypothesis of the criteria for a happy school. It then examines
the research methods that were employed in identifying the final criteria of what constitutes a
happy school, as well as the examples of strategies in reaching each of the criteria, before ending
with a discussion of the research limitations.

Based on this conceptual framework, an initial hypothesis consisting of the potential criteria forwhat may constitute a happy school was developed, drawing from findings of a desk study thatexamined concepts and initiatives related to learner well-being. The initial hypothesis was usedthroughout the study as a reference. Based on the results from the primary research, this initial
hypothesis (Table 1) was later enriched and developed into the criteria presented in the Happy
Schools Framework in Chapter Four.
Table 1. Initial hypothesis for the criteria for a happy school
PeopleProcess

Place

Friendship with other students(of the same or across grades)

Teamwork learning (help and support
from other students)

Outdoor playing and green spaces

Good relationship between
students and teachers

Learning content is usefulfor daily life

Creative visual displays

Helping students with special needs

Reasonable workload(homework and exams)

A warm and friendly learning
environment

Support from the local community

Freedom to express opinion in school
and in the classroom

Comfortable for students withdifferent needs and backgrounds

Parental encouragement

Interesting and engaging
learning activities

Good nutrition

School leadership

Frequent feedback from teachers

School is safe and free from bullying,stress and competition

Extracurricular activities
Learning outside the classroom

Methods
The research methods employed were purely qualitative in nature. These methods were chosenwith the aim of understanding what factors describe a happy school and to ‘identify variables that
can then be measured, or hear silenced voices’ (Creswell, 2007, p. 40). In this sense, this reportseeks to understand the variables of a happy school based on the voices of those at the schoollevel which may often be unheard. The criteria for happy schools were then identified basedon an interpretation of the collective voices of school-level stakeholders. This study thus used aparticipatory approach, whereby the framework was developed through a desk study, while its
verification was conducted through an empirical as well as experiential approach.
The methods included a desk study, a workshop with schools from member countries in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)2, a survey and a seminar, which were conducted
between June 2014 and November 2015. Each of these methods served a specific purpose in thedevelopment of the Happy Schools Framework.
2 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consists of ten Member States: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

8

The desk study was conducted from the time of the Happy Schools Project launch in June 2014
up until November 2015, with the main objective of mapping various definitions and frameworks
for happiness, as well as of identifying specific themes within the school context. An outcome ofthis desk study was the identification of potential criteria for developing an initial hypothesis, aspresented in Table 1.
The desk study involved reviewing a broad range of literature from social, economic and psychology
studies, in particular examining the fields of Positive Psychology and Positive Education. In addition,
it involved analysis of relevant global, regional and country-specific policy documents and reports,
especially with regard to the social and emotional dimensions of learning, education concepts andrelated initiatives by UNESCO and other organizations.
As part of the desk study, case studies were also undertaken in countries where the concept ofprioritizing happiness and well-being is reflected in national and education policies, namely in
Bhutan, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Vanuatu. A brief overview of each of these country
cases is presented in Chapter Three.

ASEAN Schools Workshop
In November 2014, a two-hour discussion was conducted with students and teachers representing
schools3 from nine ASEAN countries.4 The discussion was part of a training workshop organized by
the ASEAN Children and Youth News Center that was held in Bangkok, Thailand.
The discussion began with a brief overview of what is meant by the concept of Happy Schools
and why there is a need for schools to be happy. Two group activities followed. The first activity
consisted of producing a happy schools country poster, whereby students and teachers weregrouped by country and given a blank poster labelled with their country’s flag as well as a ‘happy’
and a ‘sad’ face, as displayed in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Blank poster used in the ASEAN Schools Workshop

asean

The groups were asked to reflect on their country context andto consider what might make a school happy or unhappy andto write key words on the poster. They were then invited topresent their posters to the other groups.

3 A variety of types of schools participated in the workshop, including government, vocational, private and international schools. For full details
please see Annex 1.
4 R
 epresentatives of schools from nine of the ten ASEAN member countries participated in the workshop: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Only Singapore was not represented.

9

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Desk Study

The second activity consisted of creating a ‘recipe’ for a happy school made up of a bag of‘ingredients’. For this activity, the participants were divided into four teams (two teams of students
and two teams of teachers). The teams were asked to select the ‘ingredients’ that they felt werethe most important for creating a happy school. The ‘ingredients’ consisted of cards labelled with
criteria from the initial hypothesis (Table 1) as well as blank cards, so that the groups could add theirown ‘ingredients’.
Through these activities, school-level stakeholders’ views regarding what constitutes a happy
school were collected and checked against the criteria in the initial hypothesis to obtain a sense ofwhich were most important.

Happy Schools Survey
An online survey5 was designed to collect views from students, teachers, school principals, parents,
school support staff and the general public6 in the Asia-Pacific region on what constitutes a happy
school. The survey consisted of four background questions and the following four open-ended
questions:
1. What can make school a happy place?
2. What can make school an unhappy place?
3. What makes teaching and learning in schools fun and enjoyable?
4. From your experience, what can be done to make sure that all students feel included in schools?

The survey was made freely available online between January and May 2015. It was provided in
English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Thai and the researchers collected over 650
responses (Figure 4). The majority of respondents consisted of students, so this report draws mostly
from a learner perspective. Aiming to obtain a maximum variety of perspectives, no specific sample
size was set, allowing for the survey to be open and accessible to the public to participate on a
voluntary basis. Among the various research methods employed, the survey served as the mostimportant in identifying the criteria for a happy school from a broader audience.

5 See Annex 2 for the full survey (in English).
6 In the context of the Happy Schools Survey, the term ‘general public’ refers to people who are not parents and who are not working or
studying within a school environment.

10

11

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Figure 4. Survey responses by gender, stakeholder group, school type and language

A number of overarching themes and sub-themes were identified from the survey data. These werelater labelled as codes. While some codes were initially noted by the research team in order toguide the analysis of the data, open coding was conducted in order to allow themes to emerge
from the data and to not limit the analysis (Creswell, 2007). The number of codes was limited to 30,
however, so as to keep the themes focused and to more accurately track their frequency. Individual
responses were then coded in order to obtain an idea of the most frequently occurring themes for
all responses, as well as by specific variables, namely by language, gender, stakeholder group andschool type. These codes, or key themes, became the criteria for a happy school, as presented in
Chapter Four.

Happy Schools Seminar
The Happy Schools Seminar was held on 4 and 5 June 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand, bringing together
a total of 20 representatives from six selected schools in five countries: Bhutan, India, the Republicof Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam (Table 2). Each school was represented by one student, one teacher
and one school principal, with the exception of the New International School of Thailand (NIST),
which, as the host of the seminar, was able to ensure the participation of more students. While
representatives from schools in Akita Prefecture of Japan were not able to attend, information fromthese schools was presented at the seminar, based on research conducted by UNESCO Bangkok.
Table 2. Schools that participated in the Happy Schools Seminar

Country

School Name

School Type/Location

Representatives by
Stakeholder group

BhutanPemagatshel Middle Secondary
SchoolPublic, Rural

Student (1), Teacher (1), Principal (1)India

Vidyashilp Academy

Private, Urban

Student (1), Teacher (1), Principal (1)Republic of
Korea

Daegu Gachang Elementary
SchoolPublic, Rural/Provincial

Student (1), Teacher (1), Principal (1)Thailand

NIST International School

Private International
School/Urban

Student (4), Teacher (1), Principal (1)Chulalongkorn Demonstration
Secondary School

Public Demonstration
School/Urban

Student (1), Teacher (1), Principal (1)VNIES Experimental Lower
Secondary School

Public Experimental
School/Urban

Student (1), Teacher (1), Principal (1)Viet Nam

The schools selected to participate in the seminar were chosen because they engage in innovativeand promising practices that are in line with the concept of Happy Schools. The selection process
involved inviting schools in the Asia-Pacific region to submit short applications describing theirschool practices and how they relate to the initial hypothesis.

12

The seminar, facilitated by the JUMP! Foundation,7 began with presentations from the schools
on their best practices, which were followed by four practical and interactive activities8 designed
to obtain country, school, stakeholder and individual perspectives with regard to the concept ofHappy Schools.

Limitations
This report presents an exploratory study of an abstract concept, which is perhaps the first of its kindin the Asia-Pacific region. Based on findings obtained from purely qualitative research methods,
this report takes an interpretive approach in the analysis of the data, which may unintentionallyinfluence the findings. In addition, this report does not intend to represent or reflect the entire
Asia-Pacific region. Country case studies presented in Chapter Three for instance, aim to provide
illustrative examples of countries that are prioritizing happiness and well-being in development
and education policies. With regard to schools selected for the Happy Schools Seminar for instance,these were not intended to reflect the situation of their countries, or schools in disadvantaged
areas. Instead, they were selected based on innovative and promising practices with the ultimate
aim that these could eventually be widely implemented for the benefit of all schools, including
those in disadvantaged areas or with limited resources.
In terms of the Happy Schools Survey, given the linguistic diversity of the region, access to thesurvey may have been limited, since it was only made available in six languages due to limited
resources. At the same time, the survey was also shared as broadly as possible through regionaland global networks, social media and website articles. This was an open online survey accessible
to the general public, and there was no limitation on the sample size, nor on the proportion of
respondents from a particular gender, stakeholder group, or school type. Self-selection, whereby
individuals select themselves to participate in the survey, also presents one of the limitations ofsuch surveys given that those with a particular interest in the topic and access to the internet are
more likely to participate, rather than the general population (Bethlehem, 2010).

7 The Jump! Foundation is an experiential education provider founded to inspire, empower and engage leadership and global citizenshipamong youth through facilitation programmes. Their facilitation of the Happy Schools Seminar ensured that all participants could have avoice in the activities and be encouraged to think about issues from various perspectives. For more information about the Jump! Foundation please see: http://jumpfoundation.org/
8 A detailed summary of these activities can be found in Annex 3.

13

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The overall objective of the seminar was to further develop the Happy Schools Framework tofacilitate its implementation in a diversity of contexts. This involved engaging in discussions to gaina shared understanding of the criteria outlined in the hypothesis and to identify strategies, ways
and means for schools to meet each of those criteria. The seminar allowed for the criteria that wereidentified in the survey to be further enriched and validated by school-level stakeholders, while
enabling further exploration of promising practices in meeting the criteria.

HAPPY SCHOOLS: A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNER WELL-BEING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

The open nature of the survey led to some sizeable differences in these samples across groups,
which meant that two or more variables could not be compared. Some of these cases are worthhighlighting. For instance, of the 121 respondents who completed the survey in Russian, there
was only one student. Therefore, while the results could be considered representative of otherstakeholders such as teachers and parents, they cannot be considered representative of Russianspeaking students. With regard to the respondents who completed the survey in Japanese, itappeared that the majority of responses originated from schools in Akita Prefecture, which arerenowned for prioritizing school happiness and well-being. This means that the results may notreflect perspectives from across Japan, yet allow for the collection of ideas and perspectives fromschools that are already familiar with practices in line with the concept of Happy Schools.
While the analysis and coding of survey responses resulted in the quantification of the results,
unequal sample sizes meant the inability to draw conclusions between and across variables of thesurvey, based on the figures obtained. These differences therefore mean that these figures would
be statistically invalid to cite in the report, but rather, can only give an indication of the importanceattributed to some themes over others.
Nonetheless, given the overall objective of this study to explore an broad definition of what
constitutes a happy school, rather than ‘measuring’ the level of happiness of schools, these methods
allowed for open exploration of variables or ‘criteria’ for a happy school. Most importantly, they
allowed for the opinion of students, teachers and parents to be voiced as the basis for the Happy
Schools Framework. This report, therefore, provides a valuable reference based on the opinionsof school-level stakeholders supported by evidence from other sources, with the potential to bescaled up in further research.

14

3
Global andRegional Context

15

Happiness has long been fascinating for philosophers, policymakers, economists, scientists,
educators and psychologists alike. Looking more broadly at the United Nations mandate for peace,as well as UNESCO’s mandate of education for peace, the linkages between peace and happinesshave also long been recognized. More than 2,500 years ago, the teachings of the Buddha, or The
Dhammapada, stated that there is ‘no happiness higher than peace’ (Fronsdal, 2005, p. 50). In more
recent times, the 2013 note by the Secretary General entitled Happiness: towards a holistic approachto development emphasizes that peace is one of the important determining factors for a country’s
happiness (United Nations General Assembly, 2013). Indeed, happiness has formed the core ofphilosophy and religion, and is now increasingly reflected in policy, including in the global policy
agenda, development and education policies, and as the core focus of global initiatives for humandevelopment and advancement.
Above all and across various disciplines notions of happiness have always highlighted the importanceof education or of ‘learning’, with education perceived as both a means and an end to enhancing
happiness. Whether in Aristotle’s theories of happiness, Positive Psychology, policies of happinessor in today’s global happiness indices, education always seems to feature. The linkages between
happiness and learning also indicate that happiness is, therefore, something that can be taught
and learnt. Writing in an article of Teacher Magazine, Trevor Lee, a school principal from the United
Kingdom argues that schools play a major role in ‘teaching happiness’, or at least, in developing thevalues, strengths and competencies that can nurture happiness. This is both through ‘education as
happiness’, where school is a happy place to be, as well as ‘educating for happiness’ whereby theschool explicitly guides learners as to how happiness can be achieved (Lee, 2001, p. 31).
With this in mind, this chapter is structured in three parts. Section A first examines theories ofhappiness from ancient philosophies until the present day. Section B then looks at the wider global
context in terms of global trends and trends in education, as well as happiness within the context
of UNESCO’s mandate frameworks. Section C explores how happiness has been prioritized andreflected in development and education policies, by briefly examining five country cases.

A. Theories of HappinessIn exploring the theoretical background behind the concept of Happy Schools, it is first important tobriefly define the terms happiness and well-being, which are used interchangeably throughout thisreport. Happiness can be defined as being in a positive emotional state or state of positive affect,
whereas well-being refers to a value, or what can be considered as good for a person (Haybron, 2013).
Given the purpose of this study, the term ‘happiness’ is particularly compelling ‘because it allows
individuals rather than experts to decide what is important to them. Purpose, mastery, connections, andself-regard are without worth unless they help individuals to create more satisfying lives for themselves
and others’ (Diener et. al., 1998, p. 37). The World Happiness Report for instance, chooses to use the term
happiness as opposed to its academic equivalent ‘subjective well-being’, seen as more accessible andable to attract wider interest (Helliwell et. al., 2015). Bearing this definition in mind, it should be notedthat while this section of the report is not exhaustive in terms of theories of happiness, it does draw
from selected examples that provide conceptual background to the notion of Happy Schools.

16In both Western and Eastern thought, ancient philosophers contemplated happiness in theirworks.9 Each of them identified themes that relate to today’s world and our daily lives, and to theconcept of Happy Schools. According to the Buddha, one can achieve happiness through thepower of the mind, by overcoming needs and wants, equanimity or peace of mind and positive
thinking (Fronsdal, 2005). Buddhism identifies happiness as something that is not only central to theindividual being, but as something collective that is shared with others. This draws from our needfor positive friendships and relationships in order to be happy. As noted in The Dhammapada, or
teachings of the Buddha, ‘happiness is having friends when the need arises’ (Fronsdal, 2005, p. 80).
It may thus come to no surprise that positive friendships and relationships consist of one of the key
criteria for happy schools as will be further explored in Chapter Four.
According to Socrates, happiness is not only the purpose of life, but also something that is‘obtainable and teachable’ through human effort; in particular through being ‘virtuous’ (Beebe,2003). This effort to be virtuous is linked to learning, not only in terms of character developmentof skills, values and attitudes, but also in terms of how we relate to others within schools, which
for learners is essentially a microcosm of society. On the other side of the globe, Confucius had
identified social relationships as a source of happiness, and that learning can lead to happiness (Yao,
2003). This is expressed in The Analects as follows: ‘To learn… [and] in time to practice, is that not
joy? To have friends come visit from afar, is that not also happiness?’ (Dietz, 2010, p. 222). Not only
does this reflect relationships with others, but it also emphasizes the importance of love of learningand just how important it is for learning to be applied in daily life.
Aristotle later identified happiness not only as the purpose of human existence, but as something
dependent on exercising moral character through virtues among which were friendship, justiceand citizenship (Crisp, 2000). He also envisioned education as multidimensional consisting of four
branches: 1) reading and writing, 2) gymnastics, 3) music, and 4) drawing; with reading, writing
and drawing seen as useful abilities, gymnastics as instilling the virtue of courage, and music as an
essential pleasure (Jowett, 1994; Newman, 2010).
Among the many great thinkers produced by the Age of Enlightenment, in the seventeenth
century, was British philosopher John Locke, who coined the phrase ‘the pursuit of happiness’ inthe literary masterpiece An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Locke examined educationfrom various angles: psychology, philosophy and religion, with a ‘concern for the physical, as wellas the mental and spiritual well-being of children’ (Aldrich, 1994, p. 68). Influenced by John Locke,
Johann Pestalozzi, who some see as the ‘father of modern pedagogy’, explored how education
could ultimately bring happiness and improvement of the human condition by focusing on the‘whole child’; aspiring beyond academic outcomes, to promote physical, mental and psychologicaldevelopment. He advocated for education to provide children with a crucial balance of three
9 For a comprehensive and accessible overview of different philosophies of happiness, from which many references in this section weresourced, please see: http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/

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Philosophies of Happinesselements: head (cognitive development), heart (emotional development) and hands (physicaldevelopment) (Brühlmeier, 2010). All of these stand at the core of the Happy Schools concept.
Box 1 lists the most relevant aspects of Pestalozzi’s approach to education that are also mirrored by
the findings of this study explored in Chapter Four.
Box 1. Selected aspects of Johann Pestalozzi’s approach to education• Child-centred teaching and learning• Learner freedom• Relationship between students and teachers• Experiential learning through practical and engaging teaching approaches• Cross-curricular learning• Authority based on love, not fear
• Parental engagement in learning
Sources: Adapted from Brühlmeier, 2010; Soëtard, 1994.

Direct references to happiness in education are also found in the 1930 work of the Japanese
educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, entitled The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy. According toKumagai (2000), Makiguchi saw the realization of happiness as the goal of value-creating pedagogy
where ‘education is guiding the person being educated in such a way that they are able to achieve
happiness’ (Kumagai, 2000, p. 35).

Science of Happiness
Philosophies of happiness were influential in the development of what is often referred to as
the ‘science of happiness’, which stemmed from the founding of Positive Psychology by Martin
Seligman in the late 1990s. Positive Psychology can be defined as follows:
Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive.
The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what isbest within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.
– Center for Positive Psychology, University of Pennsylvania

In his book Authentic Happiness, Seligman (2002) identifies three pillars in Positive Psychology: positive
emotion, positive traits and positive institutions. In particular, positive institutions are seen to ‘support
the virtues, which in turn support the positive emotions’ (Seligman, 2004, p. 80). Positive institutions
also support people in ‘identifying and using your highest strengths in order to belong to and serve
something larger’ than they are (Ibid, p. 86). The link to education and the concept of Happy Schools
is clear – while positive emotion refers to feelings, traits refer to potential skills and competencies thatcan be acquired through learning, while institutions can be interpreted as the schools.

18

Figure 5. The six virtues and 24 character strengths in Positive Psychology

Source: Adapted from Values in Action, 2015.

In his later work Flourish, Seligman (2012) offers a theory of well-being consisting of five measurable
elements known as PERMA: 1) Positive Emotion, 2) Engagement, 3) Relationships, 4) Meaning, and
5) Accomplishment (Seligman, 2012). As will be explored in Chapter Four, these five elements,
which are developed through practice of the six virtues and 24 character strengths, are all verymuch present in the Happy Schools Framework.
Within this context, in an article on Positive Education, Seligman and other researchers argued thatthat happiness can in fact be taught in schools (Seligman et. al., 2009). Not only can it be taught,
but evidence also shows that ‘more well-being is synergistic with better learning’ by broadening
learners’ attention, creative thinking and holistic thinking (Ibid, p. 294). In addition to better learning,
the article advocates for well-being programmes in schools in order to help address depression andincrease life satisfaction among learners. The article placed a particular emphasis on schools as theideal setting: ‘because most young people attend school, schools provide the opportunity to reachthem and enhance their well-being on a wide scale’ (Ibid, p. 295).

10 The classification system of character strengths and virtues, as well as the character strengths survey can be accessed on the VIA Instituteon Character website: http://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths/VIA-Classification

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GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT

Seligman also identified six core virtues that are recognized across all cultures consisting of: wisdom
and knowledge; courage; humanity; justice; temperance; spirituality and transcendence (Seligman,2002). Based on an extensive review of religious and philosophical texts, these six virtues were
each further elaborated as 24 character strengths (Peterson and Seligman, 2004).10 Many of these
are reflected in the Happy Schools Framework in one way of another, namely creativity, love oflearning, kindness, and teamwork (Values in Action, 2015). These virtues and character strengths areillustrated in Figure 5.

Other research in the field also indicates that child happiness, which is developed through practiceof the virtues and character strengths, is related to higher learning achievements and is linked tofuture success in the world of work. For instance, self-discipline is seen as a better predictor ofacademic performance in high school than intelligence quotient (IQ) (Duckworth and Seligman,2005), and happy teenagers are likely to earn significantly higher incomes than less happy teenagers
after 15 years (Diener, 2002). Arguably, therefore, achieving happiness and well-being in learners is
not only an objective in and of itself, but also presents a means for higher educational outcomesand potential success in future life and work.
A more recent initiative, the International Positive Education Network (IPEN), which was launchedin early 2015, defines Positive Education as a ‘double helix’ of academics coupled with character
and well-being (IPEN, 2016a). IPEN brings together school-level stakeholders as well as academia,
government and relevant organizations, aiming to influence education policy reform, change
education practices and support collaboration among a growing Positive Education community(IPEN, 2016b). Indeed the Positive Psychology and Positive Education movements have led to a
multitude of ever-expanding research and initiatives, of which these are only some examples.
Throughout these various perspectives, the notion of altruism is strongly present. The Buddha
and Confucius recognized the need for friendships, and in more recent times Seligman’s theory ofwell-being sees a meaningful life as one where the virtues and strengths are applied for a greater
purpose. All of these perspectives shed light on how happiness can potentially form the essenceof human development. These philosophical and scientific notions of happiness also emphasize
the fundamental role that education can play as both a source of happiness, and as an objective ofeducation in itself.

B. Global Initiatives
Happiness is increasingly becoming part of the global policy agenda. Global trends in our everchanging world are calling for a need to focus on happiness and well-being at the highest levels.
This section will therefore examine the way that happiness and well-being are being integrated by
the international community into the global development agenda, and also how these concepts
are reflected in UNESCO’s mandates and frameworks, namely in Education 2030, as well as throughits philosophical bases. It will also briefly examine other global initiatives, both within and beyond
the United Nations system, that seek to make happiness and well-being a priority, especially withregard to measuring countries’ development.

20

As we adapt to our ever-changing world, some global trends call on the need for happiness to becomea priority in development policies as well as in education policies. Increased mobility means that oursocieties are becoming more multicultural – calling for respect for diversity and cultural sensitivity
towards others (UNESCO, 2014). At the same time we are also seeing a rise in violent extremism,
which is leading to increasingly intolerant societies. Moreover, rising inequality between the richand poor is bringing about greater divisions in societies. Environmental degradation also calls on allof us to be more respectful towards nature and the environment around us (Ibid). Simultaneously,
rapid technological advances, while they bring many benefits, are leading to ‘information overload’or ‘infollution’. Experts in neuroscience argue that while technology such as ‘smartphones’, social
media and email have made a vast amount of information available, it is impossible for humans tokeep up with it, and our attempts to do so have led to unhealthy forms of multi-tasking which resultin increased stress and ultimately perhaps, greater unhappiness (Levitin, 2015). In response to thesetrends, the Action for Happiness movement was founded in 2010 by experts from various disciplines,
including psychology, education, economics and social innovation (Action for Happiness, 2016).
The nature of work is also changing. In some cases, employers are paying less attention to theacademic results of prospective and current employees, but rather, to the skills and competencies
that enable employees to better contribute to the workplace, such as communication and teamwork.
Indeed, the advent of new technologies means that machines will soon replace us in a numberof jobs, including so-called white-collar jobs. Some experts believe that machines could replacealmost half of the existing jobs over the next 20 years (Frey and Osborne, 2015, p. 1). Competitionis growing for the limited jobs, and this is reflected in the microcosm of society: schools. Morethan ever before this signals the need for education to focus on the skills and competencies thatmachines cannot replace, such as creativity, communication and collaborative problem solving.

Global Development Agenda
In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 65/309 entitled ‘Happiness:towards a holistic approach to development’, recognizing that ‘the pursuit of happiness is afundamental human goal’ (United Nations General Assembly, 2011). The resolution called upon
Member States to develop indicators to ‘capture the importance of the pursuit of happiness andwell-being in development with a view to guiding their public policies’ (Ibid, p. 1). Following on
from this resolution, in 2012 the Government of Bhutan convened the high level meeting at the UN
Headquarters in New York entitled ‘Happiness and Well-being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm’,bringing together more than 800 people including heads of state, spiritual leaders, experts andrepresentatives of civil society and the media (Royal Government of Bhutan, 2012). Subsequently,
following submissions by Member-States sharing their perspectives on the pursuit of happiness andwell-being, the United Nations Secretary General published a note mapping a number of global,
regional and national policies, along with programmes, research and other initiatives relating to thistheme (United Nations General Assembly, 2013).

21

GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXTGlobal Trends

As we embark on the new international development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) launched in New York in September 2015 reflect the importance placed on the notion ofwell-being within and across the various goals and targets (United Nations General Assembly,
2015a). For example, SDG 3, which is dedicated to health, seeks to ‘ensure healthy lives and promote
well-being for all at all ages’ (Ibid, p. 14). SDG 9, dedicated to industry, innovation and infrastructure
also includes a target that refers directly to the need to ‘support economic development and humanwell-being’ (Ibid, p. 14), and SDG 16, which aims to ‘promote peaceful and inclusive societies’ (Ibid,
p. 14). Education plays a tremendous role in global development and, as such, SDG 4, which aims
to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities
for all’ (Ibid, p. 14), also captures many aspects of great relevance to the concept of Happy Schools.

Trends in Education
Countries often measure their success or level of development based on numbers and figures,such as economic indicators. Education systems have also traditionally relied on numbers andfigures to measure their success and to gauge the development of learners. For example, thequality of education may be determined by considering student performance in examinations
and in national or international assessments. Within this context, students are facing pressure toachieve higher scores as they compete to secure places in the best universities. This has led toincreased private tutoring, and in some cases led to bullying, school violence, and in the worst
cases, teenage suicides.
The pressure on schools as well as students to improve academic outcomes has arguably led toless attention being paid to other dimensions of learning, notably social and emotional learning,which are perceived as enhancing happiness. In Creative Schools, Robinson and Lou (2015) callupon education systems to shift away from ‘exam-factory’ education that over-emphasizes grades,
and to place less emphasis on international league tables and standardized testing, to instead
recognize the importance of developing creativity among students. They also argue that the real
problem lies specifically in how international league tables are used by countries/policymakers to
impose standards on school systems in order to compare and benchmark their performance withothers (Robinson and Lou, 2015). In 2006, Sir Ken Robinson argued that schools were in fact ‘killing
creativity’ and that ‘creativity is as important now in education as literacy and we should treat it withthe same status’ (Robinson, 2006). Furthermore, Robinson and Lou (2015) argue that this requires
giving equal importance to the arts as to academic subjects. In addition to creativity, they also
point to eight core competencies that education should develop in students: curiosity, criticism,communication, collaboration, compassion, composure and citizenship.

22

The vision for education as presented in the Incheon Declaration, initially adopted at the World
Education Forum (May 2015), refers to a number of themes of great relevance to the concept ofHappy Schools. In particular, these are also noted in the seventh target (Target 4.7) of SDG4:
By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development,
including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, humanrights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciationof cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.
(United Nations General Assembly, 2015, p. 14).

Arguably, the emphasis on ‘skills’ in order to create a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable world
can be understood as the competencies, values, virtues or strengths relating to human behaviours
and characteristics that were discussed earlier.
Since its inception in 1945, UNESCO has embodied these crucial aspects of learning. The
UNESCO constitution states that ‘it is in the minds of men [and women] that the defences ofpeace must constructed’. The emphasis on the power of the mind relates back to philosophies
highlighting the importance of learning and education as the means to achieve happier andmore peaceful societies.
UNESCO’s mandate to promote peace through education has evolved over the past 70 years. In
1972, the landmark report Learning to Be, which was prepared by the International Commission on
the Development of Education, focused on the development of human potential and highlighted
important aspects of well-being in examining the state of the world’s education (Faure, 1972). The
Chairman of the Commission, Edgar Faure, emphasized the importance of complete fulfilment,richness of personality, the citizen, as well as the ‘inventor of techniques and creative dreamer’ pointing towards the necessity for education to nurture these aspects so as to ‘be’. Almost 25 years
later, in 1996, the Commission for International Education for the Twenty-first Century publishedanother landmark report, Learning: The Treasure Within. The report identified four pillars of learning:
Learning to Know, Learning to Do, Learning to Live Together and Learning to Be (Delors, 1996).
While acknowledging the importance of all four pillars, the report emphasizes the need to focus
more on the third pillar, Learning to Live Together, in order to promote peace through education:
Learning to live together, by developing an understanding of others and their history, traditions and spiritualvalues and, on this basis, creating a new spirit which, guided by recognition of our growing interdependence
and common analysis of these risks and challenges of the future, would induce people to implement common
projects or to manage the inevitable conflicts in an intelligent and peaceful way.
(Ibid, p. 22).

23

GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXTUNESCO’s Mandate and Frameworks

These landmark reports and their underlying philosophy point to two very important dimensionsof improving happiness among learners. While Learning to Be may refer to the learner’s capacity todevelop individual skills such as creativity, critical thinking and optimism, Learning to Live Together
refers to the learner’s development of inter-personal skills such as empathy, communication,
teamwork and cultural sensitivity.
UNESCO’s more recent initiatives and priority areas, including the Culture of Peace, Education for
Sustainable Development as well as Global Citizenship Education, are based on the underlying
philosophy that education is the means to achieving more peaceful societies. UNESCO’s Asia-Pacificreport on Learning to Live Together reflects this philosophy, noting that ‘education is the mostimportant tool for equipping young people, our future generation of leaders, with the knowledge,
skills and attitudes to tackle prejudice and hostility and to build more peaceful, tolerant andequitable societies’ (UNESCO, 2014, p. v). The report highlights the importance of assessing learning
outcomes in line with the skills and competencies that have the potential to enhance happiness,and emphasizes that promoting the assessment of such skills and competencies will continue toform an important part of education policy reform processes (UNESCO, 2014). Such efforts were
demonstrated in UNESCO’s Global Citizenship Education: Topics and Learning Objectives, the firstpedagogical guide on the topic (UNESCO, 2015a). Building on UNESCO’s landmark publications
on the two pillars of Learning to Be and Learning to Live Together, UNESCO’s Rethinking Education:
Towards a global common good? also calls for renewed dialogue for a more humanistic vision of
education (UNESCO, 2015b).

Other Global Initiatives
A number of other initiatives both within and beyond the UN system demonstrate how happiness
and well-being are increasingly being incorporated as a measure of countries’ development in aneffort to shift beyond economic indicators. These include numerous efforts to measure levels ofhappiness and well-being in countries. The World Happiness Report is one example. The first editionof this annual report was prepared for the 2012 high-level meeting on happiness and continues tobe published as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN).
Other surveys and indices that have sought to measure happiness and well-being include the
New Economics Foundation’s Happy Planet Index, the World Values Survey, Gallup World Poll, theEuropean Social Survey, the Eurobarometer, the Asiabarometer, the Latinobarometro, the United
Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Index and the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Better Life Index (United Nations, 2013). In
particular, the Better Life Index recognizes education among 11 factors that are essential for thequality of life (OECD, 2015b). In addition to this initiative, in 2012 the OECD also included indicatorson student happiness as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Accordingly, in 2018, PISA will include a questionnaire dedicated to well-being, that will explore thelink between learners’ broad well-being and their learning outcomes, in terms of measures of socialand emotional skills, learning contexts such as school, family, and community, as well as outcomessuch as education, labour market, health and life satisfaction (OECD, 2015a).

24

Some countries have, to various extents, formally recognized happiness as a goal of their development
and education policies. These countries include Bhutan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore andVanuatu. While some may have reflected happiness in their policies because this philosophy is inline with their local culture and views of ‘happiness’, others have developed these policies as a direct
response to levels of perceived unhappiness in the country based on various factors.

BhutanThe Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan is renowned worldwide for prioritizing happiness in its national
vision of development, using the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) as a holistic approach
to measuring development progress rather than using purely economic indicators (United Nations
General Assembly, 2013). Bhutan’s 2008 constitution supports the pursuit of GNH, defining thegovernment’s role as being to ‘ensure peace, security, well-being and happiness of the people’(Royal Government of Bhutan, 2008, p. 38). GNH is based on four pillars,11 which have been further
elaborated into nine domains of well-being (Figure 6). These include education, psychologicalwell-being and community vitality (GNH Centre Bhutan, 2015).
Figure 6. The nine domains of Gross National Happiness in Bhutan

Source: Adapted from GNH Centre Bhutan, 2015.
11 The four pillars of GNH are good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of culture, andenvironmental conservation.

25

GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT

C. Happiness in Policy

Based on these domains, a GNH Index was developed consisting of 33 indicators in 2010.
This was created as an alternative to conventional measures of development and provides amultidimensional measure of happiness (the goals of development in Bhutan), which focuses lesson the individual and more on collective happiness (Ura et. al., 2012). Of the 33 indicators, theseinclude four categorized under the domain of psychological well-being (life satisfaction, positive
emotions, negative emotions, and spirituality), and four under the domain of education (literacy,schooling, knowledge and values) (Ibid).
Bhutan’s 2011 national policy of Educating for Gross National Happiness underscores thefundamental role of education in promoting happiness and well-being among learners. The
policy aims to infuse GNH through curriculum and teaching with the vision of ‘an educated andenlightened society of “gyalyong gakid pelzom” [Gross National Happiness] at peace with itself, atpeace with the world, built and sustained by the idealism and the creative enterprise of our citizens’(Ministry of Education [Bhutan], 2012, p. 6). Furthermore, the policy states one of its objectives as
being ‘To build a cadre of highly motivated and competent educators who are endowed with
an abiding love of children, a deep love of learning, and who passionately value education as apositive instrument of empowerment’ (Ibid, p. 6).
According to Bicknell (2012), the policy of Educating for GNH gives importance to elements suchas collaboration between stakeholders, particularly involvement in schools by students, families
and communities; sustainability; community service; and education practices that enable students
to ‘pause and reflect’ so as to refresh the spirit, because ‘education is about the heart and spirit,
as well as the heart and soul’ (Bricknell, 2012, p. 59). Zangmo (2014) likewise notes that the
GNH-infused curriculum and, in particular, its inclusion of meditation and mindfulness, enables
students’ emotional needs to be equally considered alongside their academic performance.
Bhutan’s Education Blueprint (2014-2024) promotes the vision of Educating for GNH andemphasizes the importance of a ‘positive school culture’ that enables both academic performanceas well as learners’ holistic development based on GNH values (Ministry of Education [Bhutan],2014). Central to the policy of Educating for GNH is the importance of sustainability and protectionof the environment, with the construction of ‘green schools’ listed as part of the policy’s mission(Ministry of Education [Bhutan], 2012). The concept of ‘Green Schools for a Green Bhutan’ refers to
the idea of the natural environment as an ‘integrating context for learning’ with the dual purposeof both ‘conserving and learning with the environment’ (Drakpa and Dorji, 2013, p. 314). This notionof greenery is further defined by the eight elements or dimensions of ‘green schools’ (Figure 7),
all of which relate to the various criteria in the Happy Schools Framework.

26

Source: Adapted from Drakpa and Dorji, 2013.

These eight dimensions reflect the philosophy behind the concept of Happy Schools and the criteriapresented in the Happy Schools Framework. As part of the ‘Green Schools for a Green Bhutan’concept, they also provide an example of how education policies formulated at the national levelcan be relevant and directly applicable at the school level.

Japan
In 2010, Japan’s Cabinet Office established the Commission on Measuring Well-being and, in
2012, conducted its first Quality of Life Survey (United Nations General Assembly, 2013). While theBetter Life Index, which compares well-being across OECD member countries, shows Japan to be
performing above the OECD country average with regard to education, income, jobs and security,
it indicates that Japan is performing lower than the average with regard to subjective well-being
and related factors such as work-life balance (OECD, 2015c).
Japan has seen an increase in national concern for happiness and well-being in recent years, which
may in part be due to a high frequency of mental health issues and high levels of stress in the
country. According to the 2013 National Livelihood Survey, 48 per cent of respondents over theage of 12 reported feeling stress or concern in regard to their daily lives (Ministry of Health, Labourand Welfare [Japan], 2013). In the survey conducted in 2010, the main cause of stress among
respondents aged 12 to 19 was reported to be related to academic performance and examinations(Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare [Japan], 2010). The stress may also be a result of high levelsof bullying, with data from 2013 indicating that 48.4 per cent of primary schools and 65.5 per centof junior high schools had reported cases of bullying that year (Ministry of Internal Affairs and27

GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT

Box
2. Theeight
GreenSchools
Schoolsa Green
BhutanFigure7. Theeightdimensions
dimensions ofof ‘Green
forfora Green
Bhutan’Communications [Japan], 2014). The high levels of stress are reflected in Japan’s suicide rates, which
are among the highest in the world, including among younger generations (WHO, 2015). In 2011,
suicide accounted for 10.2 per cent of deaths among children aged 10 to 14, and 29.3 per centof deaths among adolescents aged between 15 and 19, with suicide among the top three mostfrequent causes of death in the country across all age groups (Japan Cabinet Office, 2013).
Japan’s education policies reflect the increased concern for happiness and well-being. For instance,the 2007 School Education Act, which was seen as a major shift in the direction of education in
Japan, emphasizes the importance of fostering a positive attitude towards learning, promoting
individual uniqueness, developing an enriched sense of empathy and self-reliance, and fostering
global citizenship while also preserving local culture and tradition (MEXT, 2011). In addition, thenational curriculum development guidelines promote the principle of ‘Zest for Living’, whichemphasizes the importance of well-balanced development of ‘Chi-Toku-Tai’ (知・徳・体), referring
to academic prowess, well-rounded character and mental and physical health) (MEXT, n.d.).
Akita and Fukui prefectures have prioritized the concept of happiness in their sub-national
policies and plans. Akita Prefecture’s ‘Strategic plan to nurture students’ ability to question at
three levels’, for example, seeks to enable students to reach learning goals through relationships
and collaborative problem solving, and through developing respectful relationships via voluntary
activities, shared experiences and interactions with people from diverse backgrounds (UNESCO,2014). Similarly, in Fukui Prefecture the prefectural five-year basic plan for education promotes theprovision of physical and psychological help to ensure schools are free of bullying and children
are well-nourished. It also aims to create a culture of trust in schools, involving the family and local
communities, and encourages participation in sports and playing outdoors (Education Bureau of
Fukui Prefecture, 2011).
Akita and Fukui are among the highest-performing prefectures in Japan’s public examinations,which test both academic knowledge and the application of knowledge in daily life (National
Institute for Educational Policy Research, 2015). In 2015, both prefectures performed particularly
well across the various levels of education in assessments of the application of knowledge, with
Akita and Fukui attaining first and third place, respectively, at the primary level, and first and second
place, respectively, at the junior high level. It can be argued that the priority these prefectures
accord to happiness and well-being, rather than to academic performance, may explain student
success in these examinations. In this sense, high academic performance can be one of the benefitsof prioritizing non-academic aspects of education.

28

The Republic of Korea faces a number of social challenges, which are reflected in its suicide rate:
the second highest in the world (OECD, 2015d). According to the OECD’s Better Life Index, in2015 Koreans had the lowest level of social network support among all OECD countries, with life
satisfaction also below the OECD average (OECD, 2015e). While Korea ranks highly among OECD
countries in domains such as health, educational outcomes, income and wealth, child well-being
indicators indicate that it ranks among the bottom third of OECD countries in the domain ‘social andfamily environment’, particularly in terms of ‘sense of belonging’ and ‘time spent with parents’ (ibid).
Despite being one of the highest performing countries in PISA, 2012 results also showed that Korean
15-year-olds reported being the unhappiest among all participating countries (OECD, 2013, p. 24).
This unhappiness among Korean children appears to stem from the education system and, more
specifically, from the pressure they face to excel academically. Studies from 2013 found that thetwo highest causes of stress among students aged between 9 and 11 were exams and homework,
followed by difficulties in their relationships with their parents as a consequence of their school
grades (Korea Institution for Health and Social Affairs, 2013). This pressure may explain why the
majority of Korean students are enrolled in private tutoring, with data from 2013 indicating that70.5 per cent of students (elementary, middle and high school) received private education (Hankuk
Bang Jeonghwan Foundation, 2013).
Rising school violence and bullying are of growing concern in the Republic of Korea, and it appears
that these may also be linked to pressure on learners to achieve academically. A situation analysis
conducted in 2013 found that 32.2 per cent of students aged between 9 and 17 had reported beingbullied, while 21.5 per cent of students had reported bullying other students. According to Bae
Joo-mi, an expert from the Korea Youth Counselling Institute, bullying is fuelled by competition to
succeed in society but also within schools, as well as by the lack of importance placed on the kindsof non-academic skills that encourage children to develop ‘healthy and moral personalities’, bothat school and at home (Lee, 2012). An analysis of the hopes and realities experienced by students
showed a stark contrast between the two, as illustrated in Figure 8. For example, although morethan 60 per cent of students reported that they hoped to rest at home after school, in reality lessthan 6 per cent reported doing so. Similarly, while almost half of the children reported that they
hoped to play with friends after school, only around 23 per cent did so in reality (Korea Institutionfor Health and Social Affairs, 2013).

29

GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT

Republic of Korea

Figure 8. Hope and reality in after-school activities among Korean children (%)

Source: Adapted from Korea Institution for Health and Social Affairs, 2013.

Recognizing the alarming signs of unhappiness among Korean students, the Governmentof the Republic of Korea developed a clear policy on promoting happiness in education. Since
the inauguration of President Park Geun-hye in 2013, the government has been promoting theconcept of ‘Happy Education’, with the slogan ‘Happy Education for all, creative talent shapes the
future’, under which annual national education policy and plans have been launched (Ministryof Education [Republic of Korea], 2014). Accordingly, the 2013 national education policy includes

30Box 2. 2013 education policies and plans in the Republic of Korea• E mphasize curricula that foster students’ dreams and talents (exam-free semester,
character-building education, textbook-oriented exams).12• Provide student-centred, customized academic and career counselling services.
• Increase physical education at school.
• Create favourable working environments for teachers to concentrate on teaching.
• Simplify college entrance examinations to reduce the financial and psychological burden ofthese examinations.
Source: Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea, 2013a, p.3.

Four key education policies in the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) Major Education Plan for 2014 canbe identified as seeking to improve happiness in education through: 1) the Free Semester System,
where instead of exams students can enjoy experiential learning activities and a ‘career search
week’; 2) the Integrated Curriculum of Liberal Arts and Science to Nurture Creative Talent; 3) the
focus on humanities, arts, sports and character-building through activities and clubs; and 4) theViolence-Free Safe Schools policy, which seeks to secure students’ mental health through providing
anonymous counselling systems, personalized education to prevent cyber-bullying and early
detection of students who are at risk of depression (Ministry of Education [Republic of Korea], 2014).
The Free Semester System has attracted particular attention. According to the MoE, the rationale
for this initiative is to build learners’ character and nurture creativity, enhance learner happiness andreduce stress, and to provide learners with the opportunity to develop their talents and identify
their future dreams (Ministry of Education [Republic of Korea], 2013b). With regard to the latter, MoE
data (2013b) indicates that 11.2 per cent of students in elementary school, 34.4 per cent in middle
school and 32.3 per cent in high school reported having ‘no future dream’. This was perceived
as being due to having too little time to identify their talents and interests and to reflect on their
future dreams. The main critics of the initiative have claimed that not enough activities have beendeveloped to implement the Free Semester System, and that it may increase work for teachersor have a negative impact on learners’ learning abilities (Lee, 2015). Proponents of the initiative,
however, feel that a break from exams enables students to take the time to reflect on their talents
and interests, which may have long-lasting benefits for their future. The initiative, which is currently
being piloted, could potentially be expanded to other levels of education and implemented more
frequently if it results in successful outcomes for learner development and well-being.
12 This is based on the assumption that exams purely based on textbooks would decrease the need for students to enrol in private tutoring.

31

GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT

among its most important objectives the need for education to shape students’ dreams and talents(Ministry of Education [Republic of Korea], 2013a). In accordance with this policy, the government
initiated measures to tackle unhappiness in students, such as the introduction of more physicaleducation and efforts to reduce stress relating to university-entrance examinations (Box 2).

Policy efforts to promote student happiness and well-being have also been initiated at theprovincial level in the Republic of Korea, and in particular in Daegu Metropolitan area. Daegu’s
education policy, entitled ‘Cultivating dreams, hope and happiness’ has four major strategies:
1) cultivating the five major abilities of students (social, moral, academic, physical and emotional),
2) supporting ability-based education 3) creating a safe and pleasant educational environment,
and 4) establishing an educational community based on trust and happiness (Daegu Metropolitan
Office of Education, 2013). Accordingly, the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education has developed
various programmes and activities including the ‘Interactive happy time programme between
students and teachers’, which aims to foster communication and respect between students andteachers through enabling them to engage in activities and attend events together. The Office of
Education has also established school counselling offices in which professional and sympathetic
counsellors help students to address any difficulties and struggles they may be facing (Daegu
Metropolitan Office of Education, 2013).

SingaporeThe 2015 World Happiness Report ranked Singapore as the happiest country in Asia (Helliwell, et. al.,2015), and the results of PISA 2012 found that 15-year-olds in Singapore were not only among thehighest performers, but also among the happiest at school (OECD, 2013). While the indicators ofhappiness in these measurements may not necessarily correspond with the definitions of happinessexplored in this report, Singapore’s results suggest that high levels of happiness are compatible
with superior academic performance.
However, despite high scores in student happiness rankings, Singapore’s education system has
been described as a ‘pressure cooker of stress’ (Hill, 2010). A survey conducted in 2001 by UNICEF
found that anxiety, driven by exams, was one of the greatest causes of unhappiness among the
14-year-old students surveyed, with 36 per cent stating failure in exams as their greatest fear
(UNICEF, 2001). The pressure and stress also stem from students’ high workloads, private tutoringand parental pressure to achieve high grades (Davie, 2015).
Recognizing the high level of stress that Singaporean students face at school, the Ministry of
Education has taken a number of measures. For instance, since 2012 it has sought to reduce‘unhealthy competition’ by no longer releasing the names of top performing students in thePrimary School-Leaving Examination; no longer grading the performance of secondary schools
based on student performance in exams; and by reducing awards to education institutions basedon academic achievement (Ang, 2012).
Ongoing reforms are also being introduced, include revising in-school recognition to include
non-academic achievements and thereby encouraging students to become more well-rounded
and active; cutting back on syllabi content to leave space for deeper learning and application;and conducting a review of examinations and assessment methods ‘to reduce reliance on rotelearning and encourage independent learning and experimentation’ (Ministry of Education[Singapore], 2016a).

32

The Ministry of Education has also introduced Social Emotional Learning (SEL), which is an approach
to holistic learner development that fosters positive relationships (Yeo, 2011). The ministry
recognizes that a ‘safe and caring school environment’, including positive relationships between
students and teachers, is crucial to the teaching and facilitation of SEL and to good academic
outcomes (Ministry of Education [Singapore], 2015). In Singapore, SEL is based on four guiding
principles: 1) integrating Singapore’s core values into the curriculum; 2) ensuring that social andemotional competencies are infused or taught within the five domains of self-awareness, social
awareness, self-management, relationship management and responsible decision-making;3) making the school environment an enabler and supporter of developing these competencies;and 4) ensuring that learners demonstrate good character and citizenship based on their acquisitionof these competencies and based on the core values (Ministry of Education [Singapore], 2015).
SEL is integrated into the Ministry of Education’s Character and Citizenship Education syllabus, whichemphasizes the core values: respect, responsibility, resilience, integrity, care and harmony, which areseen as fundamental for good character. Based on these core values, the syllabus outlines the SEL
competencies and skills that relate to citizenship as components of civic literacy, global awarenessand cross-cultural skills consisting of active community life; global awareness; national and cultural
identity; and socio-cultural sensitivity and awareness (Ministry of Education of Singapore, 2012).
The guiding principles for the development of the Character and Citizenship Education syllabus
include student-centric, values-driven education; balanced representation of character andcitizenship, expanding domains from self to the world; and students’ life experiences. Of particular
relevance to the Happy Schools Framework are its principles for teaching and learning, which
include recognition that teachers are role models, so their attitudes and attributes should reflect thecore values. This principle is based on the notion that values are not only taught but also ‘caught’,or ‘lived’ through experiences, recognizing that ‘the quality of teacher-student relationships and acaring environment will be essential to the character development of students, and acknowledging
the need for teachers to use engaging approaches and for parents to be partners in schools.
The syllabus identifies certain process-based teaching methods that allow for the developmentof the desired competencies, including storytelling, role-playing, experiential learning, dialogue
and cooperative learning (Ministry of Education [Singapore], 2012). The syllabus also includes theValues in Action initiative, which provides a learning experience whereby learners can contributemeaningfully to the community (Thaiyalan, 2015). The syllabus has an interesting approach toassessment, whereby the students are put at the centre of the assessment process, which uses

33

GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXTIn addition, the Ministry of Education’s recent addendum to the 2016 Presidential Address
highlighted priorities for the education sector that aim to increase student happiness and well-being.
These include ensuring schools are inclusive of all learning needs and backgrounds; encouraging
students to develop a passion for learning, ‘to bring out the best in every child, regardless of his or
her starting point’; and reducing the ‘excessive focus on academic results’ in favour of more holistic
education that enables learners to pursue a broader range of interests and develop a variety of skills(Ministry of Education [Singapore], 2016b).

HAPPY SCHOOLS: A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNER WELL-BEING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

self- and peer-assessment, and whereby assessment criteria are clearly communicated to students
so that they are able to monitor their own progress and set goals for themselves, and whereby
teachers discuss the process among themselves to ensure a more holistic feedback procedure(Ministry of Education [Singapore], 2012).

Vanuatu
In 2006, the New Economics Foundation’s Happy Planet Index ranked Vanuatu the happiest country
in the world, with measures based on three well-being indicators: life satisfaction, life expectancy
and ecological footprint (NEF, 2006). In 2012, the country piloted the ‘Alternative Indicators of
Well-being for Melanesia’, which aimed to reflect Melanesian values based on a survey covering
three domains: resource access, cultural practice and community vitality. The well-being survey,
which looked at both individual and household factors, considered a number of important aspectsof collective well-being, namely education, respect, cultural participation and environmental
protection (MNCC, 2012).
The concepts of happiness and well-being are reflected in Vanuatu’s national and education
policies. The Vanuatu Education Sector Strategy (2007-2016), for instance, outlines a vision for a‘caring education system which provides every young person with the lifelong skills, values andconfidence to be self-reliant and to contribute to the development of Vanuatu, and which works inpartnership with all stakeholders to provide well-managed schools’ (Live and Learn, 2011). Similarly,
Vanuatu’s 2010 National Curriculum Statement states the curriculum’s purpose as being to enable
students to develop skills that will allow them ‘to lead happy and peaceful lives’ (Ministry of Education[Vanuatu], 2010, p. 2). Its vision is a ‘supportive and caring teaching and learning environment’ (Ibid,
p. 10), and lists ‘caring, sharing and participating’ as one of the six paramount outcomes of national
education (Ibid, p. 31). The statement makes direct references to the four pillars of learning, and inparticular to Learning to Live Together, and lists well-being and happiness-related competencies
such as respect, creativity, communication, self-confidence, recognition and expression of feelings.
Vanuatu’s national teaching and learning resources also reflect a desire to foster well-being
among students. For example, a teacher’s guide for teaching history, which was developed by the
Vanuatu National Cultural Council in 2005, suggests that, for each class, teachers engage students
in exercises such as ‘comprehensive questions’, ‘discussion’ and ‘thinking further’ to enhance
student understanding and ability to think critically (Vanuatu National Cultural Council, 2005). The
guide also aims to foster student involvement in learning processes and to enable students tointeract within groups. The guide is designed in a way to encourage students to be creative, andit recommends that teachers ‘encourage students to think creatively’, noting that ‘there are noright or wrong answers. Students should be able to give good reasons for their decisions’ (Ibid,
p. 42). Arguably, this relates to many of the criteria within the Happy Schools Framework, such aslearner freedom, creativity and engagement, as well as teamwork and collaborative spirit as will be
examined in Chapter Four.

34

This chapter examined the socio-political context of happiness, covering: theories of happiness,
global initiatives, and happiness in policy through five country case studies. The various theories ofhappiness examined here share the recognition that education, through enabling understandingof oneself and others, can be a source of happiness in itself, and that through gaining certain
competencies happiness can be learned. The theories also all share the view of education being
multidimensional, encompassing academic, social and emotional and physical domains. In Positive
Psychology, for example, schools promote happiness through encouraging students to develop
virtues or ‘character strengths’, which in the context of UNESCO’s work are referred to as ‘transversal
competencies’ (UNESCO, 2016). In addition, learner happiness and well-being are perceived asleading to better learning, higher levels of achievement and success later in life.
Happiness and well-being are increasingly recognized as a global priority, including in the newinternational development agenda. This has followed from the recognition that the pressures oftoday’s ever-changing world, including the changing nature of work, may be leading people tobecome unhappy, which requires education systems to adapt and shift towards prioritizing ‘nonacademic’ domains of learning. At the global, national and education levels, efforts have been madeto measure well-being and the skills and competencies that enhance happiness and well-being.
This is demonstrated by the seventh target of SDG4, which is dedicated to promoting the skills andcompetencies that are reflected in concepts such as Learning to Be and Learning to Live Together
as well as Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education.
The five country cases presented here – Bhutan, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Vanuatu– demonstrate how happiness and well-being have been recognized in their development andeducation policies in various contexts. While these countries may each have a different rationale
for prioritizing these concepts, their policies share some similarities. First, they all capture, to various
extents, notions of the importance of peace and sustainability for happiness. These countries’ policies
also are alike in the sense that they seek to use education to achieve national goals or develop
national values. For example, Bhutan’s ‘Educating for GNH’ policy seeks to enable the achievement of
GNH; Singapore’s policies to promote SEL and Citizenship Education seek to strengthen the nation’s
core values; and in Vanuatu education serves to uphold local culture and community. Japan’s ‘Zest
for Living’ policy and the Republic of Korea’s ‘Happy Education’ policy similarly seek to bring about
improvements in students’ lives with the overall aim of creating happier societies. The five countries’
policies also all share the general understanding that promoting happiness and well-being requiresthat education systems go beyond academic domains of learning, and encompass the social,emotional and physical domains. All of these countries, therefore, also share the recognition that
education should be ‘holistic’ in order to enhance learner happiness and well-being.

35

GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT

Chapter Conclusion

HAPPY SCHOOLS: A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNER WELL-BEING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

4
The Happy Schools
Framework36This chapter begins with an overview of the criteria for a happy school, supported by an analysisof the key findings from the Happy School Survey. The following sections examine the threeoverarching categories of the framework – People, Process and Place. These sections explore eachof the criteria in more detail, as well as examples of innovative and promising strategies for meeting
each of the criteria. The examples cited in this chapter, unless otherwise indicated, are based on thefindings of the survey, workshop and seminar.

A. Presentation of the Criteria
The criteria for a happy school, presented in Table 3, were selected based on an in-depth analysisof the data collected via the Happy Schools Survey and aim to present the collective ‘voice’ of
respondents. The core of the Happy Schools Framework comprises the 22 criteria grouped in three
categories: 1) People: referring to social relationships; 2) Process: referring to teaching and learning
methods; and 3) Place: referring to contextual factors. These three categories are interconnected,
with the criteria mutually reinforcing one another.
Table 3. The Happy Schools Criteria
PeopleProcess

Place

Friendships and Relationships in the
School Community

Reasonable and Fair Workload

Warm and Friendly Learning
Environment

Positive Teacher Attitudes andAttributes

Teamwork and Collaborative Spirit

Secure Environment Free from Bullying

Respect for Diversity and Differences

Fun and Engaging Teaching and
Learning Approaches

Open and Green Learning and Playing
SpacesPositive and Collaborative Values andPractices

Learner Freedom, Creativity andEngagement

School Vision and Leadership

Teacher Working Conditions andWell-being

Sense of Achievement andAccomplishment

Positive Discipline

Teacher Skills and Competencies

Extracurricular Activities and School
EventsGood Health, Sanitation and Nutrition

Learning as a Team between Students
and Teachers

Democratic School Management

Useful, Relevant and Engaging
Learning Content
Mental Well-being and StressManagement

37

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORKThis chapter presents the Happy Schools Framework based on stakeholder definitions of what
constitutes a happy school. As the very heart of this report, it also explores how notions of happiness
and well-being are perceived and put into practice based on their perspectives. Recognizing
stakeholders’ perceptions is vital given that parents, teachers and other school-level stakeholders
are the most crucial in integrating any vision for education (Delors, 1996). This focus on the schoollevel also echoes calls for revolutionizing education from the ground up (Robinson and Lou, 2015).

The survey aimed to obtain these perspectives by asking four main questions: 1) What makes aschool happy?, 2) What makes a school unhappy?, 3) What can make teaching and learning fun andenjoyable?, and 4) What can be done to make all students feel included? This section examines the
key findings for each of these questions, and presents the similarities and differences between the
respondents’ answers, based on gender, stakeholder type (student, teacher, etc.) and school type
(public, private, international, etc.).

What makes a school happy?
The respondents, across all stakeholder groups, placed great emphasis on human interactions,
as illustrated in Figure 9. The respondents emphasized the importance of friendships andrelationships within the school community, which they felt should be based on trust, respect
and tolerance, and they felt that the school community should be inclusive of all backgrounds andtreat all members equally. Another key factor for a happy school identified by the respondents wasa warm and friendly learning environment – both in terms of atmosphere and infrastructure –including a safe, clean and green school community free of bullying, with outdoor spaces for playing
and sports, and free, healthy and delicious school meals. Respondents also cited learner freedom,
creativity and engagement, fuelled by creative and practical activities, including experiential
learning within and outside the classroom, field trips and extracurricular activities. They felt thatappropriate activities would enable learners to express their opinions and learn freely, without thefear of making mistakes, i.e. ‘learning without worrying’, enabling students to develop a love forlearning naturally and the curiosity to question what they are learning, while also allowing students
the space to dream and develop their talents. The respondents felt that students needed to develop
a sense of belonging and a collective identity, and that this could be developed through teamwork
and a collaborative spirit, not only among students, but also between students and teachers.
This factor relies on another factor, positive teacher attitudes and attributes, which respondents
described as kindness, enthusiasm and fairness, as well as the role of teachers in serving as inspiring,creative and, ultimately, happy role models for learners.
Figure 9. Top five factors for a happy school

Overall, respondents (and in particular school principals) felt that a happy school is one that
promotes holistic learner development, encompassing mental, physical and psychological wellbeing and providing emotional support to become ‘a place where the child can grow’. According
to a male secondary school student in Japan, a happy school means ‘deciding one happy thing
every day before going to school’, which indicates the importance of thoughts in determining a
student’s level of happiness.

38

No major differences were observed between male and female respondents, with four of the
top five criteria shared between both groups. Analysis of the responses of the different typesof school-level stakeholders and schools found that all stakeholder groups and school types
emphasized the importance of friendships and relationships in the school community andthe importance of a warm and friendly learning environment. The latter factor was consideredparticularly important for students and school principals, and for respondents from all school types
except international schools, who placed greater emphasis on teamwork and collaborative spirit.

What makes a school unhappy?
As illustrated in Figure 10, respondents felt that the factors that can make a school unhappy wererelated to human interactions between the stakeholders in the school community. The mostfrequently cited factor was an unsafe environment prone to bullying, with school violence andlack of respect between students. This factor was seen as being related to issues such as learnerfear and anxiety, loneliness and low self-esteem. Another key factor that respondents across all
stakeholder groups identified as contributing to making schools unhappy places was high student
workload and stress driven by exams and grades, as such conditions resulted in long learning
hours and an imbalance between study and play, as well as an emphasis on memorization, rather
than understanding, so as to score highly in examinations. According to a teacher from Indonesia,
the high workload and stress stem from a ‘focus on standards, benchmarks and learning outcomes
rather than on the human being’.
The next most-frequently cited factor in making schools unhappy was a negative learning
environment and school atmosphere, which was mostly identified in terms of perceptions andbehaviours, for instance a feeling of tension, apathy and silence, as well as a ‘lack of smiles’, absenceof trust and poor harmony in the school community. Another factor perceived to be contributing tomaking schools unhappy was negative teacher attitudes and attributes, including attributes suchas strict, unkind, unfair, unsupportive and insincere, and behaviours such as the use of conservative
or conventional teaching methods. From the perspective of a male high school student from India,
such attitudes and attributes meant that ‘some teachers seem to be enemies and the kids are so
13 While no conclusions can be drawn by country, with the exception of the survey conducted in English and to some extent the survey in
Russian, where respondents were from different countries, almost all respondents taking the survey in Chinese, Japanese, Korean andThai were residents of those countries.

39

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

Comparisons by language in which the survey was conducted led to some interestingobservations.13 When answering what makes a school happy, responses to the survey conductedin Japanese placed a high emphasis on the ‘harmonious’ school, with ‘greetings’ and ‘smiles’
deemed crucial to building a warm and friendly learning environment. Responses to the survey inChinese, however, indicated that a happy school is one where students have freedom and have lesspressure from exams, while respondents to the survey in Korean indicated that a happy school is
one that gives learners the freedom to dream and is one that is free from bullying. Responses to thesurveys in Russian and Thai placed particular emphasis on the importance of discipline, rules andwell-behaved students.

afraid of them that they start disliking the teacher and hence the school’. This relates to anotherfactor identified by stakeholders: bad relationships within the school community, whether
among students, teachers or between students and teachers. Respondents cited a lack of caring,selfishness and competition as features of bad relationships. Overall, the factors that contributemost to a school being an unhappy place stem primarily from people and their behaviour, which
are also determining factors for making a school a happy place.
Figure 10: Top five factors for an unhappy school

Responses to the survey in Japanese clearly identified an unhappy school as one with a negative
learning environment and school atmosphere, manifested by a ‘dismal mood’, ‘silence’, a ‘lackof smiles’ and lack of consideration for others. Responses to the survey in Russian, tended toplace more emphasis on the relationships between stakeholders, and the need for improved
communication and more involvement of parents. Across all stakeholder groups and school types,
most respondents felt that the two determining factors most likely to make a school unhappy werean unsafe environment where students were prone to bullying, and high workload and stress. Publicschools emphasised the importance of a negative learning environment and school atmosphereand an unsafe environment in making a school an unhappy place, while international schools listed
poor leadership as a significant factor, one that was not significantly reported by respondents fromother types of schools.

What can make teaching and learning fun and enjoyable?
Across all groups, the factors that were perceived as making teaching and learning fun and enjoyable
stem both from the Process and People categories, as outlined in Figure 11. The most-commonly citedfactor was a variety of fun and engaging teaching and learning approaches, with respondents
listing approaches such as project-based or experiential learning and investigative study thatallow students to apply learning to daily life. As expressed by a female public school teacher from
Kazakhstan, ‘teaching should be interesting, entertaining, informative and dynamic’. Respondents
from all groups also placed high importance on learner freedom, creativity and engagement,emphasizing that learners should be free to express their diverse opinions without judgement, tomake mistakes and to have enough space to engage in learning that would stimulate their dreams,
creativity and imagination. Another commonly-cited factor was teamwork and collaborative
spirit, with respondents noting the importance of students learning together collaboratively. A
similar factor was learning as a team, between teachers and students, emphasizing cooperation
between students and teachers and a focus on shared objectives and goals. According to a female40

Figure 11. Top five factors in making teaching and learning fun and enjoyable1

A comparison of the responses based on language found that students responding to the survey
in Japanese viewed ‘fun and engaging learning’ as being highly collective and including activities
such as collaborative problem solving and group projects, emphasizing the link between learningand cooperating with others. As a primary public school student explained, this means ‘studying
together to consider each other’. The stakeholder groups and school types did not differ withregard to the level of importance given to learner freedom, creativity and engagement as afactor making teaching and learning more enjoyable. Most stakeholders and school types, with the
exception of school principals, felt that a variety of fun and engaging learning approaches was
the most important factor affecting whether teaching and learning was enjoyable. Interestingly,
teamwork and collaborative spirit was ranked among the highest for students, but was notamong the top five factors for other stakeholder groups.

What can be done to make all students feel included?
An important feature of a happy school is that students from all backgrounds feel included aspart of the school community. The top five factors contributing to such inclusion are illustrated
in Figure 12. The most frequently cited factor by all respondents, but particularly by students, waspositive and collaborative values and practices, which encompass love, empathy, compassion,
acceptance, respect, and collective experiences conducted through teamwork and collaborationthat create a sense of belonging, as well as fairness in terms of opportunity, inclusive pedagogies,
and standing up to discrimination and injustice. This relates to another frequently-cited factor,
respect for diversity and differences, which refers to respect for diverse religious, cultural andsocio-economic backgrounds and gender identities as well as for differing abilities and disabilities.
A significant theme that emerged more for this question than for others was the importance ofshared experiences and extracurricular activities, whereby students can learn to work and live
together though sports, cultural events, community outreach and monthly team-building activities.
As explained by a female primary school student in Japan, these are ‘activities that make everyone
smile’. While these experiences and activities were often cited with regard to interactions among
students, they were also cited for interactions between students and teachers, as well as with other41

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

secondary school student from Japan, this means ‘making time to communicate closely with one
another and to complete something together’. This factor depended heavily on positive teacher
attitudes and attributes, as these result in better communication and cooperation with students.

members of the school community. Indeed, teachers play a fundamental role in making schools
more inclusive. As expressed by a male teacher from a private school in the Philippines, ‘teachersand schools should stress the importance of tolerance and love’. This highlights the importanceof positive teacher attitudes and attributes, another important factor in making all students
feel included. Respondents also emphasized the need for learner freedom, creativity andengagement, so that all students feel that they can express their opinion freely in class, without
fear of retribution, but also in terms of freedom in learning and thinking, and in valuing differences
through positive behaviour.
Figure 12. Top five factors in making all students feel included

Analysis of the differences in responses to the survey by language found that respondents to thesurvey in Chinese tended to perceive making all students feel included in terms of treating all
students equally regardless of their academic achievement, while also ensuring the representationof ethnic minorities both in the curriculum and in school cultural events. Responses to thesurvey in Japanese were in the same line as the responses of this language-group to the otherquestions, that is, highlighting the importance of human relationships through practicing
values and collaborating with others, as well as through friendships. Respondents to the Russian
survey, tended to perceive inclusion in terms of the need to enrol and accept more students
with disabilities into schools, as well as to ensure that schools are equipped with psychologists
and mediators, so as to consider students’ mental and emotional well-being, thus taking a more
holistic approach to learner development.
Overall, the importance of positive and collaborative values and practices ranked highly
irrespective of gender, stakeholder group or school type. It ranked highest, however, among
students, followed closely by teachers. All stakeholder groups and school types also gave great
importance to shared experiences and extracurricular activities. All types of respondents
ranked respect for diversity and differences highly, but particularly parents, school support staff
and the respondents from private schools. While it did not appear in the overall top five factors, theneed for democratic school management, whereby students, teachers, parents and the wider
community all have a voice in the running of the school, was given the highest importance among
all factors by respondents from international schools, it was not accorded high importance in othertypes of schools.

42As explained in the presentation of the criteria for a happy school, the respondents rated humanrelationships and interactions as being the most significant. While this was reflected across thethree categories of People, Process and Place, the category of People was considered to beparticularly important.
This section examines each of the criteria that were presented in Table 3 in more detail to explore
how they are envisaged, based on the research findings, and gives examples of strategies that could
be employed to achieve them. The examples were taken mainly from the survey responses, theschool workshop and the Happy Schools Seminar, but also from other sources where appropriate.

Friendships and Relationships in the School Community
As noted previously, the respondents placed a particular emphasis on friendships and relationships
as being vital in making schools happy places and in making learning fun and ensuring inclusion. Asa male member of the general public from Indonesia commented, a happy school is one in which
there is ‘built-in social time and/or social learning time that encourages students to build strong
friendships and intellectual relationships’. Student respondents saw this in terms of friendships
with their classmates or students from different grades, and their relationships with teachers. While
teachers also reported this in terms of relationships with students, this criterion also reflects theneed to build strong and positive relationships with school management, and most importantly byengaging parents and the school community. The following provide some examples of potential
strategies to facilitate these relationships.
Encourage parental involvement by making schools ‘open’ to the community
In Akita Prefecture (Japan), schools place particular importance on engaging the local community
in school management and ensuring their active involvement. In the village of Higashi Naruse for
instance, the attendance rate at parent-teacher associations is 120 per cent, with grandparents
and other relatives also attending, and with 18 per cent of villagers registered as school volunteers(Yamaguchi et. al., 2016). In Yuzuwa Higashi Primary school, various parent-child learning activities
are organized, and in Higashi Naruse Primary School local volunteers provide sports lessons. Thereis also a policy of ensuring that the school is open seven days a week for any parent, relative orcommunity member who wishes to visit, participate or offer their support (Ibid). This is also common
practice in Yuzawa Higashi Primary School, and as expressed by the school principal Shinji Suzuki,‘I believe that the school should be an open place for everybody. So, our school is always open to
the community members’.

43

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

B. PeopleImplement multi-grade clubs or houses
NIST International School (Thailand) works on developing friendships across different grades
through student ‘houses’, which are named various colours. Students belong to a ‘house’ and sit
together in house groups, wearing hats in their house colour, during lunch breaks. This provides
them with an opportunity to learn from other students of different ages. According to experts,
multi-grade groupings of students can simulate relationships that resemble those of siblings andtherefore create a family environment within schools (Hough, 2015).
Implement activities with other schools in the broader community
In Akita Prefecture (Japan), villages and schools implement various activities designed to foster
positive friendships and relationships among students across different schools and with the broader
community. In Higashi Naruse for instance, a project to promote ‘hometown education’ involved
students and teachers learning together with members of the local community by planting flowers
together and participating in joint sports events and games. As Takashi Tsurukai, the head of theboard of education in Higashi Naruse village, explained, these activities aim ‘to provide students
with the opportunity to develop bonds with students from different grades’.

Positive Teacher Attitudes and Attributes
Among all criteria concerning teachers, the need for positive teacher attitudes and attributes
emerged as being highly important for happy schools. This was particularly emphasized by
students, but also by parents and by teachers themselves. As a male public high school student
from the Philippines noted, ‘professors must not be strict or pressure the students in exams, projects
or activities. I know that some professors can make the students learn without pressuring them;
the attitude of professors greatly matters to students’. A male parent from Kyrgyzstan explained
the kinds of attitudes and attributes needed, noting that it is important to have ‘active, positive,
encouraging, interactive teachers who are innovative and fun’. A female parent from Australia
also highlighted the issue of teacher recruitment and selection, noting that at times there was a‘wrong match between personalities and teaching roles’. A male teacher from a religious schoolin the Philippines similarly noted that a factor in unhappy schools is the ‘I teach, you listen’ kind of
relationship between teachers and students. The following outlines examples of strategies used topromote more positive attitudes and attributes among teachers.
Create a sense of family in the school environment
Some schools have found that likening the school environment to that of a family can have agreat impact on creating positive relationships between teachers and students. Chulalongkorn
Demonstration Secondary School (Thailand), for instance, aims to do just that. Half of the students
in the school are relatives of Chulalongkorn University staff, so this led to teachers treating all
students as if they were their own children or relatives, giving them equal importance. While it may
not be possible to exactly replicate this scenario in the average school, it is possible to foster a morefamily-like atmosphere within the school, which can bring out positive attitudes in teachers as wellas in the wider community.

44

While this may apply more at the policy level in terms of teacher education and certification, it
can also apply at the level of school management. UNESCO’s study on Learning to Live Together
found that, in some countries, teacher training can encompass aspects of teacher character andpersonality and teacher trainees can be assessed in these terms in order to receive their teachingcertification (UNESCO, 2014). Similarly, evaluations of teachers could focus on whether or not they
have positive attitudes and attributes and how well-rounded their students are, rather than on
how well their students’ performed in examinations.
Establish a system to allow for students to give feedback to teachers
The Viet Nam Institute of Educational Sciences (VNIES) Experimental School (Viet Nam) preparedand delivered a survey for the purpose of preparing for the Happy Schools Seminar, to identify
what students viewed as the most important elements of a happy school. The survey identified thetwo most important factors as being ‘teachers are enthusiastic and listen to students’ and ‘beautiful
friendships with no violence’. Accordingly, in the presentation the school representative of VNIES
noted that there is a need to ‘teach students with real enthusiasm, to inspire them and give themfrequent encouragement’. The school encourages mutual respect and communication between
teachers and students, as well as friendship between teachers and parents. While in this instancethe survey was prepared for the purpose of the seminar, surveys to identify opinions and needs
could be a valuable way for students to communicate feedback to their teachers, while at the sametime providing an opportunity for students to engage in investigative learning. This approach
could also be used more widely to identify the perspectives of other stakeholders within the schoolcommunity. This strategy also complements criteria such as offering students a variety of fun andengaging learning approaches and enabling democratic school management.

Respect for Diversity and Differences
Respect for diversity and differences was another factor cited by survey respondents as
highly important for happy schools. The stakeholders all saw a need for schools to be inclusiveof different needs, abilities and backgrounds, whether in terms of culture, ethnicity, religion,
gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or physical and learning disabilities and difficulties.
Stakeholders also highlighted the need to eliminate competition and favouritism among
students, which could be achieved through encouraging more teamwork and collaboration.
As a female member of the general public from India expressed it, schools need to ‘encourage
participation from all students, discuss different cultures and backgrounds in a class setting toraise awareness of differences and commonalities, and foster teamwork and collaboration on
projects’. Ensuring respect for diversity and differences relates to criteria such as useful, relevant
and engaging learning content, fun and engaging teaching and learning approaches,and positive teacher attitudes and attributes. The following strategies offer a few examples
of how this criterion can be promoted.

45

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

Prioritize teacher personality, attitude and ethics in teacher recruitment and evaluation

Promote knowledge of other cultures both within and outside the school context
At VNIES Experimental Secondary School (Viet Nam), school events such as performances of
traditional dances and music are held regularly to celebrate Viet Nam’s ethnic minorities and toincrease awareness of the diversity of cultures within the country. Other schools in the Asia-Pacificregion raise awareness of diversity and differences through international exchanges, school twinningand field trips, though such activities inevitably require a larger school budget. At Daegu Gachang
Elementary School (Republic of Korea), for example, cross-cultural awareness programmes, global
camps and international exchange programmes have led to students developing an understandingof other countries and cultures. In particular a school exchange programme with China enabledstudents to share various experiences and build bonds through learning and playing together,dancing and music.
Encourage role play and discussion to create empathy and understanding
Linking to the need for more fun and engaging teaching and learning approaches, the use of roleplay and discussions can help to promote a sense of empathy and understanding among students
and teachers alike. A teacher’s guide in Vanuatu, for instance, suggests a lesson using role play,which requires students to analyze a story from two different perspectives. This is followed by adiscussion in which students give reasons for each of the perspectives. According to the guide, ‘This
is also an opportunity for students to compare and contrast different religions and their toleranceof traditional aspects of life’ (Vanuatu National Cultural Council, 2005, p. 61). This type of lesson
could be adapted in a number of ways, such as to heighten sensitivity for those with special needs
or to better understand students from different backgrounds and – most of all – differences inopinion. At NIST international school (Thailand), role plays and simulations are conducted as partof humanities classes, for instance simulating the journey of a refugee, so that students can put
themselves in the shoes of others.
Promote understanding of others through teaching various religions and languages
Among the findings of the survey, respondents suggested that learning about various religions
and learning languages other than one’s own are effective ways of creating sensitivity andunderstanding among different groups. This reflects one of the suggestions made by UNESCO’s
Asia-Pacific study on Learning to Live Together, which was to review subject content ‘to ensure
fair representation of countries’ diverse groups in subjects such as history’ and to consider
teaching religious education and various national languages to students of varying faiths andbackgrounds so as ‘to heighten understanding among various groups’ (UNESCO, 2014, p. 81).
This links to UNESCO’s work on promoting intercultural dialogue as an essential tool for humandevelopment and peace building.
Include students with special needs through collaborative learning
Chulalongkorn Demonstration Secondary School (Thailand) promotes collaborative learning
between students, including those with special needs, such as those with autism or those who are

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Positive and Collaborative Values and Practices
The survey respondents frequently cited positive and collaborative values as one of the mostimportant factors for a happy school. This refers to notions of kindness, empathy, tolerance, careand equal treatment across the school community. The following examples of specific strategies
were identified for encouraging these values.
Infuse positive values, attitudes and practices
At NIST International School (Thailand), various positive attitudes and aspects of a learnerprofile are encouraged by displaying reminders of these throughout the school, in classrooms
and elsewhere, such as the indoor basketball court, in the form of illustrations, definitions
and statements. The desired attitudes include integrity, commitment, respect, appreciation,
cooperation, tolerance, curiosity, independence, creativity, enthusiasm, empathy and confidence.
Colourful visualizations of these attitudes are considered to serve as important reminders notjust for learners but for the entire school community. The learner profiles are targeted more to
students, and include statements referring to specific values, attitudes and behaviours, such as
the statement for ‘principled’, which is expressed as ‘I understand that we have rules, so that we
can respect each other and play safely, as well as enjoy ourselves’, and ‘caring’, which is expressedas ‘I will take my turn as a leader and as a team player, I will think about others’ feelings when I
work in groups’.
Introduce dual-purpose learning across subjects‘Dual-purpose learning’ refers to integrating ‘character strengths’ (based on Positive Psychology)
into each lesson by identifying, reflecting and discussing those strengths within the context ofthe topic (Tough, 2011). For instance, in the teaching of a particular event in history, students
may be asked to reflect on the main characters to identify the strengths or competencies thatthey employed, such as courage, optimism and perseverance, in achieving a certain goal. This isbelieved to not only enable students to better understand historical events and figures, but toenable them to more strongly identify with the values, strengths and competencies that motivateddecisions leading to historical events. This presents an example of how these can be integrated
throughout various subjects, rather than taught in isolation in dedicated subjects such as values
education, for instance.

47

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

visually impaired. Allowing students of mixed abilities and differing needs to learn collaboratively is
believed to create a feeling of inclusion through reducing stigma, and may also develop valuable
competencies among other students, such as the ability to show sensitivity, empathy and enhanced
understanding. Therefore, the strategy of including learners with disabilities into mainstream classes
could be considered.

Teacher Conditions and Well-being
A recent review of teachers’ status and rights in eight countries of the Asia-Pacific region found that
despite increases in recent years, teachers’ salaries remain low relative to those of other professions(UNESCO, 2015). In addition, as the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of
the Recommendations concerning Teaching Personnel (CEART) highlighted in its triennial working
sessions, teachers in many countries are working in a context of low social recognition, weak
professional training and a lack of continuing professional development (ILO and UNESCO, 2012).
Many teachers who responded to the Happy Schools survey noted that good teacher conditions
and well-being are essential in making schools happier places, and that, ultimately, focusing
on improving teacher conditions and well-being could help in ensuring positive attitudes andattributes among teachers. Teachers who took part in the survey also reported that they felt aneed for positive school management that could ensure better recognition and rewards, as well asa sense of accomplishment. As a female public school teacher in Myanmar explained:
If teachers have a decent salary, respect and acknowledgement, as well as the opportunity to grow in theirprofession, it will benefit their teaching. Motivated teachers will try to motivate their students to learn. The
teaching and learning process greatly depends on the usefulness of the subject content and how it is taught.

The survey findings suggest that many of the criteria related to teachers are interrelated, with better
teacher conditions potentially improving teacher attitudes, which may ultimately lead to teachers
actively participating in training to improve their skills and competencies, in turn leading to moreengaging teaching and learning approaches. The following provides an example of a strategy to
improve teacher conditions.
Observe and celebrate teachers and their contributions to schools and society
Observation, at the school level, of World Teachers’ Day and other days that recognize the valuable
contributions teachers make, enables students and other stakeholders in the community to learn
about the important roles teachers play and to develop greater respect for the profession. Similarly,
giving teachers prizes for their accomplishments fuels motivation in teachers and results in improved
performance and increased appreciation for their work. Two notable prizes at the global level
include the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance in Enhancing theEffectiveness of Teachers and the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize. Prizes and certificates
can also be offered at the school level. These could be in addition to, or an alternative to, traditional
teacher evaluations. Other measures to help enhance teacher well-being and working conditions,
include involving teachers and their representatives through unions or associations, and offeringteachers financial incentives, subsidies and bonuses when they are willing to teach in remote andrural areas or in difficult contexts, for instance.

48

While many survey respondents highlighted the importance of highly skilled and competentteachers in making schools happy, teachers emphasized that opportunities for professional
development were particularly important in improving happiness in schools. They felt that training
opportunities, especially in terms of innovative and creative teaching methods, would enable
them to learn how to make teaching and learning more fun and engaging. Given the high cost of
professional development, however, such opportunities are not always provided through official
channels. While at one level it is clear that opportunities for professional development are essential
at the national level, it was also found that initiatives taken by management at the school level canbe very beneficial, particularly in cases of limited budget allocations to professional development at
the national level (UNESCO, 2015c, p. 4). Nonetheless, they can be provided informally at the schoolor local level as demonstrated by the following strategy.
Enhance teacher skills and competencies through school networks and peer support
Financing professional development in low-resource contexts at the local or school levels can bedifficult, but this obstacle to training can be partially overcome by developing school networks
and peer support within schools. These allow teachers to exchange experiences and information,
which not only enhances their knowledge and skills, but also helps to increase their motivation. In
Akita Prefecture (Japan), for instance, schools have highly motivated, committed and enthusiastic
teachers, as a result of two main factors: 1) regular and close communication between teachers
who offer each other peer support; and 2) a great sense of responsibility and pride in being ateacher as a consequence of engagement with the local community (Yamaguchi et. al., 2016). A
local advisor from the prefectural board of education established this network of teachers throughmaking over 100 visits to schools per year (Ibid). Similarly, VNIES Experimental Secondary School(Viet Nam) has increased teacher enthusiasm through holding weekly teacher seminars in whichteachers reflect upon the week’s activities, and share their ideas and experiences in using creative
teaching methods.
Summary
Based on the various criteria explored in this section, Box 3 provides a summary of the suggested
strategies listed in the category of People.

49

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORKTeacher Skills and Competencies

Box 3. Strategy Box: People• Encourage parental involvement by making schools ‘open’ to the community• Implement multi-grade clubs or houses• Implement activities with other schools in the broader community• Create a sense of family in the school environment• Prioritize teacher personality, attitude and ethics in teacher recruitment and evaluation• Establish a system to allow for students to give feedback to teachers• Promote knowledge of other cultures both within and outside the school context• Encourage role play and discussion to create empathy and understanding• Promote understanding of others through teaching various religions and languages• Include students with special needs through collaborative learning• Infuse positive values, attitudes and practices• Introduce dual-purpose learning across subjects• Observe and celebrate teachers and their contributions to schools and society• Enhance teacher skills and competencies through school networks and peer support

C. Process
Teaching and learning processes are a fundamental aspect of making schools happier places. As thesurvey found, the teaching and learning methods teachers use determine whether or not learning
is enjoyable, and some methods can enable learners to gain non-academic skills and competencies.
Furthermore, the approach to teaching and learning used by teachers affects whether or notlearners feel free to express themselves, and are creative and engaged in learning. Given pressureon academic achievement, this also calls for different assessments that encompass non-academic
skills and competencies, such as formative assessments at the school and classroom level.

Reasonable and Fair Workload
Among the most-frequently cited factors emerging from the survey regarding what makes schools
unhappy was the perception of an unreasonable and unfair workload for students with regard
to homework and examinations. Indeed, evidence from Chapter Three highlighted how therising levels of students are experiencing significant stress resulting from pressure to score highgrades in examinations. This pressure stems from both the education systems and from parents,
and is based on the perception that examination results are the best means of measuring student
learning and success in school. As a female member of the general public from China explained,‘In China, students are allocated to classes according to their academic performance, which has
led to discrimination among students and physical punishments by teachers and parents. I think

50

Reduce standardized testing and exams
An increasingly popular strategy for improving student well-being is to reduce summative
assessments, such as examinations, which focus on measuring knowledge, and to adopt forms
of assessment that focus on evaluating students’ progress and development of non-academic
competencies. The Republic of Korea has a policy in this regard: a semester that is free of
exams. This policy aims to reduce student stress, and is being extended beyond the trial zones
and throughout the country. While this policy only applies to middle schools, other schools are
adopting similar policies. For example, Daegu Gachang Elementary School, which was designateda ‘happy school’ in 2012 by the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education, does not give any multiple
choice examinations or tests, and instead evaluates students’ performance through means suchas performance assessments. In addition, recognizing the pressure to obtain good grades placedon students by their parents, the school has made efforts to educate parents on the benefits ofalternative evaluation systems, via the school’s ‘parents’ cooperative’. Similarly, Vidyashilp Academy(India), observing the negative impact of excess pressure and the stress faced by students withregard to examinations and tests, implemented a school policy of eliminating examinations forthe first six years of schooling. Instead, assessment takes place on a daily basis through qualitative
reviews of learners’ thinking and of how they have learned through activities (using worksheets).
This approach assesses their overall progress and seeks to create an enjoyable learning journey
for students. Therefore it seems to be worth exploring whether exams can be to some extent
supplemented by other forms of student evaluation and/or delayed until later years of schooling.
The following outline examples of strategies to alternative forms of student evaluation.
Replace homework with optional activities to ‘extend’ learning
At Vidyashilp Academy in India, for all grades until Grade 6, homework has been replaced with
optional ‘extended activities’ for students to choose from. These meaningful and enjoyable activities
aim to ‘extend’ learning. They are based on lesson plans related to a particular topic and usually do
not involve writing, but instead consist of investigative activities whereby students engage in alearning activity and then share what they have learned with the rest of the class. These presentations
by students can involve explaining new ideas learned from a book, or presenting objects and usefulproducts they have made. For example, after learning about coconut trees, students made items

51

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

China should gradually abolish the exam-based mentality since everyone has their own abilities
in different things. There should be a holistic approach to evaluating students’ performance’.
Participants in the study identified alternative assessments as being beneficial for learner
well-being as they shift emphasis from assessing purely cognitive skills towards assessing values andnon-academic skills and competencies in students. Respondents also pointed to a need for schools
and university to use non-academic criteria in their admissions processes. Integrating factors suchas student personality, values, strengths and competencies is arguably especially important at
the university level and it could shift the emphasis away from getting good grades in high-stakes
exams and towards assessments based on ‘the whole person’. The following presents examples ofstrategies with regard to ensuring a reasonable and fair workload for students.

from coconuts at home, and after learning about the life cycle, a student visited a silk farm and latermade a presentation to the class describing her visit and displaying a silk cocoon in the classroom,
enabling her classmates to learn about the process of silk-making. The learning activities also offer
the opportunity to interact with parents, relatives and other members of the school community.
After learning at school about Aryuveda medicine,14 for instance, students went home and learned
about home remedies from their grandparents. Since these extended activities are not mandatory,
students are free to participate depending on their interest in the topic. According to the Deputy
Principal of the academy, ‘this makes motivation for learning intrinsic’ and has resulted in progress
among learners.
Value non-academic domains of learning through alternative assessments
Pemagatshel School (Bhutan) implements two types of alternative assessment programmes, which
are based on the policy of Educating for Gross National Happiness (GNH): the ‘Character Certificate’and the ‘Socially Productive and Useful Work’ (SUPW) programme. These aim to assess affective
skills (feelings, values, appreciation and motivation) and psychomotor skills (physical movement
and coordination). The Character Certificate is awarded to students based on an assessment of tencompetencies relating to character, including leadership, honesty and integrity, respect for others
and creativity. The SUPW is used among older students (grades 9 and 10) to assess their GNH values,
which include empathy, love and care for nature, respect for self and others, integrity, green school
spirit, teamwork, cooperation and creativity.
A similar programme is implemented by NIST International School (Thailand), one of four schools
worldwide that offer the Global Citizen Diploma, an optional qualification for high school students.
The overall aim of the programme is to assess students in their attitudes, character and experiencesthat make them ‘good global citizens’ and to provide ‘a holistic measure of what students are bestat as individuals’ (Global Citizen Diploma, 2015), looking beyond traditional grading to measurea broader skill-set. Students enrolled in the programme work on projects based on three criteria:
communications, global perspective and community engagement. Participation in these projects
has enabled learners to develop critical thinking and communications skills by applying theirlearning through reflection on their personal experiences. Since the programme is optional, thishas allowed for more student ownership as well as the development of self-motivation.
Include non-academic factors in school admissions
At NIST International School (Thailand) the admissions criteria for students include non-academic
factors such as extracurricular activities and community involvement. As has been a longstanding
practice in some countries such as the United States for instance, universities use evaluation
methods to assess student competencies such as leadership, resilience and creativity, whichsome claim to have been particularly successful in identifying promising students who may notscore highly in tests and examinations (Tomsho, 2009). Similarly, as noted earlier, the Republic of
14 Aryuveda medicine is a traditional form of medicine originating from the Indian subcontinent.

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Teamwork and Collaborative Spirit
Survey responses highlighted the importance of teamwork and a collaborative spirit in making
happy schools. Elements included creating a sense of belonging and encouraging students to learn
together since ‘cooperation enables learners to work together, as well as share responsibilities,
materials, roles, and learning opportunities’ (UNESCO, 2004, p. 22). The following two strategies
emerged from the research findings.
Introduce group assignments for collaborative problem-solving
Many of the respondents to the survey conducted in Japanese listed collaborative problem-solving
as the most enjoyable part of learning, with students stating that this kind of activity involved‘solving problems with classmates during lessons’, and that it gave students ‘a lot of opportunities
to communicate with friends in the class’ and to ‘answer difficult questions together, rather thanalone’ and enabled students to ‘accomplish something by cooperating together’.
Introduce diverse teamwork learning activities
Teachers at Daegu Gachang Elementary School (Republic of Korea) use a variety of teaching andlearning approaches, with a particular emphasis on collaborative learning. Students work in teams
and learn in various ways, via surveys, debates and games, and students and teachers help eachother throughout the learning process.

Fun and Engaging Teaching and Learning Approaches
Respondents to the survey highlighted the need for more fun and engaging learning approaches
in order to make the teaching and learning process more enjoyable for both students and teachers
alike. Such approaches do not necessarily make learning easier and may not require less effort fromlearners, but rather, such approaches help fuel a genuine love of learning, which enables learners to
succeed in school. According to a female public school teacher from the Philippines, a happy school
would have ‘fun and enjoyable lessons using creative and colourful instructional materials and fun
activities’. The following presents a number of examples to incorporate such learning approaches.
Seize the potential of alternative learning approaches
Vidyashilp Academy’s (India) Beyond Academics programme uses a variety of practical andinnovative approaches to learning that aim to enhance academic learning through making learning
fun and engaging for students and teachers alike. The programme’s five components relate to53

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

Korea views simplifying and reducing the burden of university entrance exams as part of theirnational education policy on school happiness. Beyond this case, it remains unclear how far thisis reflected in university admissions across the Asia-Pacific region, and therefore presents an areafor further exploration.

various criteria across the three categories of People, Process and Place. For instance, the Shilp Dew
news-writing component encourages learner freedom and creativity, while the Shilp Encounterand Shilp Sparsh components foster intra-community relationships and respect for diversity anddifferences. The programme’s components are presented in Box 4.
Box 4. Alternative learning approaches used in Vidyashilp Academy’s Beyond Academics Programme (India)
Shilp Dew – This activity engages students by giving them the opportunity to create and publish
school newspapers. In a dedicated room with an informal environment that simulates a real
newsroom, learners broaden their knowledge of various issues. According to the school, thishands-on activity not only increases the relevance of the learning content, but has also resulted indramatic improvements in writing skills.
Shilp Encounter – In this activity, students develop their communication skills through preparing
and delivering speeches and presentations to an audience, including parents. The activity offers
students a fun way to develop research skills (while preparing the presentations) and debating
and critical thinking skills (by responding to questions from the audience), and to increase theirself-esteem and confidence (by presenting to an audience made up of their peers and adults).
Shilp Sparsh – This is an experiential learning approach that involves weekly visits to local villages
where learners participate in activities, though do not simply provide ‘help’. This sensitizes students
to the realities in communities that are less privileged than their own. The visits are followed byclass discussions and written reflections.
Shilpreneurship – This activity aims to enable students to develop entrepreneurship skills
through practical learning and real-world experiences that relate to the world of work. Led by
the students themselves, activities include shadowing in enterprises, in which the students learn
about such things as production processes, marketing techniques and accounting, and put theirlearning into practice by developing their own products to present to the school community.
Shilpgreenergy – In this approach, students engage in activities to apply what they havelearned through practical experiences aimed at enhancing environmental awareness, to createa ‘greenergy campus’.
Source: Adapted from Vidyashilp Academy, 2013.

Learner Freedom, Creativity and Engagement
Some survey respondents felt that, in some cases, schools provide a ‘stifling’ environment for learning,
one that suppresses learner freedom, creativity and engagement. According to a male parent from
Bangladesh, this makes children ‘afraid to talk or feel unsafe to talk’. This, along with students’ fearof making mistakes, was cited by all stakeholder types as an issue. School representatives at the
Happy Schools Seminar highlighted the importance of valuing mistakes as part of the learning
process, rather than seeing them as a source of shame. Many educators perceive mistakes as being
an essential part of ‘deliberate practice’, whereby trouble spots are identified to work on, improveand eventually master. According to Mats and O’Brien (2014), ‘Mistakes are the most important

54

The more I am teaching, the more I’m trying to give to my students the possibility to express themselves and to
make mistakes. It creates a space of real dialogue on everyday subjects, which is a great way to start. Art is also a
way to give a place and role to each student. Through art each one of them can express feelings and experiences
in a personal way.

The following offers examples of strategies to create more open atmospheres in classrooms.
Value mistakes as part of the learning process
Some schools encourage teachers to put students’ work up on the wall, even if it has mistakes, asa common practice, as they feel this promotes learner freedom and reduces their fear of making
mistakes, leading to greater learner motivation and perseverance. Mistakes are subtly correctedduring lessons, with displays improving gradually over time. At Vidyashilp Academy, negative
feelings that students are likely to have about their mistakes being displayed are minimized
through encouraging learners to help each other in correcting their mistakes, while at the sametime acknowledging their successes and the aspects of their work for being displayed. At VNIES
Experimental Secondary School (Viet Nam), teachers have made great efforts to provide positiveand encouraging feedback in student workbooks so as to reduce students’ fear of making mistakes.
This involves not placing a score or mark in the book and not highlighting errors using a red ‘X’, butinstead focusing on what the student did correctly and providing helpful and practical comments,
advice and encouragement.
Teach students to ask questions
Many survey respondents felt that students should be encouraged to ask questions in the classroom.
According to Rothstein and Santana (2011, p. 1) who advocate for using the Question Formulation
Technique, ‘when students know how to ask their own questions, they take greater ownershipof their learning, deepen comprehension, and make new connections and discoveries on theirown’. Despite the simplicity of this approach, and the many benefits it brings, it has rarely been
deliberately taught (Hough, 2015). This technique could be applied in schools in various contexts
to encourage learners to ask questions.

Sense of Achievement and Accomplishment
Many of the students who responded to the survey felt that happy schools are places in which
students feel a sense of achievement and accomplishment. This was not in terms of scoring highmarks in examinations or obtaining good grades in assignments, but more in terms of receiving
recognition and encouragement from teachers, parents and the wider school community. Indeed,55

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

thing that happens in any classroom because they tell you where to focus that deliberate practice’.
As expressed by a female principal at an international school in India, a happy school is one that
ensures ‘freedom of expression and shared responsibilities in a non-threatening way, and where
mistakes are not frowned upon’. Similarly, a female public school teacher in Thailand explained thebenefits of encouraging learner freedom in schools, saying:positive feedback and public recognition can hold a very high value in the eyes of students, and canmotivate them to improve academically. Given that Positive Education strives for a combinationof academic excellence and character and well-being (IPEN, 2016a), learner efforts to accomplish
goals, even if small, should be celebrated. The following provides a few examples of ways tocelebrate students’ efforts.
Provide positive feedback and public recognition
In schools in Akita Prefecture (Japan), teachers ensure that they provide positive and careful feedback
to students when reviewing homework, essays, paintings and presentations. Such work is displayedin the classroom along with the teacher’s detailed comments. This ensures that students can see
their accomplishments and have these achievements publicly recognized. According to teachers inthese schools, this provides all students with the chance to be praised and acknowledged. Likewise,
teachers in Daegu Gachang Elementary School (Republic of Korea) also display learners’ work on
the walls. As expressed by 11-year-old Joo Eun Kim, who participated in the Happy Schools Seminar,‘we make many displays to share what we have learned. It makes us feel happy and proud when
we can share with others’.
Create a ‘portfolio of dreams’
Daegu Gachang Elementary School’s ‘Dream Project’ (Gachang Dalinje) enables students todevelop their dreams and think about their future. As part of the project, each student has a ‘dream
steppingstone book’ where they can outline their progress throughout their time at school. Entries
are based on students’ participation in the Gachang Master Program, which provides a space forstudents to develop their talents, whether in languages, ICT, music or sports. Students are thenprovided with a certificate as recognition. Arguably, this provides students with the opportunity
to reflect on their learning experiences, progress as well as their future ambitions and longer term
purposes, meaning and significance – all of which are important within the context of Positive
Education. In addition, the programme not only allows for the development of character strengths
such as perseverance or love of learning for instance, but it also enables them to feel a sense ofachievement and accomplishment for developing skills that are not necessarily academic but are
given equal importance.
Introduce prizes and rewards through school contests
Many survey respondents cited school contests as a way to celebrate students’ efforts. Contests
can provide students with a number of opportunities to engage in specific projects, such as aperformance, essay or painting, and be recognized for their achievements, which is motivating
for them. The recognition of accomplishments, especially small steps, is in line with the concepts
underlying Positive Education.

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All of the schools that participated in the Happy Schools Seminar agreed that extracurricular
activities and school events may be one of the most important strategies in making schools
happier places. Not only are extracurricular activities considered to help enhance learning inacademic domains, but they are also widely acknowledged as being particularly beneficial in
inculcating important character strengths that are central to Positive Education, such as kindness,
perseverance and teamwork. In general, the seminar participants felt that extracurricular activities
should be led by students, or organized collaboratively by students and teachers. From a student
perspective, these activities are what made them happiest in school. Many students felt, however,that pressure to prepare for examinations limited the time they could spend on such activities. The
following presents strategies for integrating such activities into the learning experience.
Offer after-school activities as an alternative to private tutoring
In response to the growing phenomenon of private tutoring in the Republic of Korea, which often
results in excessive learning hours and little play time for students, Daegu Gachang Elementary
School (Republic of Korea) launched a comprehensive after-school programme offering a broad
variety of extracurricular activities. Offering such a broad variety of activities is seen by the school
as a way to reduce private tutoring, and as a result has meant that few of its students are enrolled
in private tuition given these opportunities to develop new skills. Through these many activities,
the after-school programmes allow for students to develop new skills in an enjoyable way, ranging
from learning new languages, martial arts, creative arts or dance.
Organize school events to promote a sense of collective purpose in the school community
Pemagatshel School (Bhutan) organizes events and celebrates national days as a means of bringing
the school community together. For example, the school organizes collective picnics, to gather all
members of the community. Similarly, the school holds an annual ceremony in which they give awhite scarf (khadhar) to the new students to mark the beginning of their school life, with the aimof developing a sense of belonging in the students. The school also celebrates international days;for example, students organize and celebrate Teachers’ Day to show their gratitude and to create
positive relationships between students and teachers. Likewise, the school marks the annual Earth
Hour to increase students’ environmental awareness; observes ‘Hand Washing Day’ to improvestudents’ personal hygiene and health; and encourages students to engage in community service.
Engage students through media clubs
School media and newspapers are extracurricular activities that provide students with a funand engaging way to learn various skills. Pemagatshel Middle School (Bhutan) offers learning
opportunities using various forms of media so as to engage the whole school community. The
media used by the school include a school newsletter (Gatshel Selwi Melong), brochure, handbook,a Saturday morning news programme and a radio show. Similarly, Vidyashilp Academy, as noted
in Box 4, uses media as part of its Beyond Academics programme, which has reportedly resulted in
improving students' written communication skills, spelling and grammar.

57

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORKExtracurricular Activities and School Events

Learning as a Team between Students and Teachers
Survey respondents frequently cited the need for students and teachers to learn together as ateam, either through a shared journey or towards a common goal, so as to give them a sharedsense of ownership in the teaching and learning process. According to a male public school
student from China, ‘Relationships in which there is friendship between teachers and students
ensure both are given the equal chance to learn from each other’. The following presents aparticularly pertinent strategy.
Replace textbooks with collaborative lesson plans
At Vidyashilp Academy (India), textbooks have been replaced with lesson plans so as to giveteachers a sense of ownership over lesson content, which they develop through their own research.
Teachers create draft lesson plans, which each include an aim, objective, activity and outcome.
Developing a lesson plan is a highly collaborative process, whereby the draft lesson plan is shared
online and peer reviewed by several teachers as well as by students. Students provide feedback at
the planning stage, come up with questions for assessments based on the lessons, rate the lessons
after their delivery and also reflect on their own work. Students can suggest new content based onwhat they have learned outside of school or based on questions they have raised in class. At times,
students’ work is used as part of the lesson plans. It is believed that allowing for diverse perspectives
in the development of lesson plans increases the relevance of the learning content to students.
According to Selvi, the Deputy Principal at Vidyashilp, this shared experience between teachers andstudents in designing lesson plans ‘creates a sense of credibility for children’s thought processes
and helps them understand that we genuinely value their opinions and feedback in curriculum
design through teamwork’.

Useful, Relevant and Engaging Learning Content
Many participants in the survey and seminar felt that learning content in school was not useful or
relevant to learners’ daily lives. As explained by 14-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Van Thao from VNIES
Experimental Secondary School (Viet Nam), there is a gap between content that is assessed andcontent that is useful in everyday life:
What do you think about a student who gets ten out of ten on a civic education exam about honesty, but has
actually cheated in the exam to get such high marks? Or we learn biology to protect our environment -somestudents get really good marks in biology exams, but they litter trash in the street! We must emphasize that themain purpose of studying is to improve our real life and to help our countries develop. We are not learning to
be a genius or to make our brains bigger! We always say 'knowledge is power', but according to the American
author Dale Carnegie, ‘Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied’.

At the national level, this requires that curricula be designed to reflect contemporary and relevant
issues, with guidance for teachers on how to make these issues relevant to learners’ lives, and at theschool level this requires integrating experiential learning into subjects. In the words of a female

58Ensure that learning content can be applied
The strategy on ‘extended activities’ used by Vidyashilp Academy (India), which was presented under
the criterion fair and reasonable workload, serves as a good example of how learning can be‘extended’ beyond the classroom for learners to apply in daily life. Other examples include replicating
real-life scenarios or environments, allocating creative spaces for learning, and encouraging learners
to make use of social media to share their learning with others (Roscorla, 2014).
Make learning more interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary learning approaches applied across subject areas was also raised by respondents
to the survey. An example is found in the case of Finland where education reforms undertaken
in 2015 introduced the notion of ‘teaching by topic’ as opposed to ‘teaching by subject’, using
interdisciplinary classes to make learning more applicable to daily life and, in particular, to better
prepare students for the world of work. According to education officials in Finland, the benefits ofsuch an approach include making learning less passive and more collaborative, improved learning
outcomes among students, more ‘joyful learning’ and the development of competencies such as
creativity, critical thinking and communication (Garner, 2013). A more interdisciplinary and integrated
approach to curricula, as well as to teaching and learning approaches could therefore be considered.

Mental Well-being and Stress-Management
As was explored in Chapter Three, education is essentially multidimensional and must be viewed
as a means to not only develop academic or intellectual skills, but also to develop physical andpsychological capacities. The following describes strategies that have been used to enhance
students’ mental well-being and stress-management.
Provide in-school psychologists or counsellors
Many respondents to the survey emphasized the need for schools to have an in-house psychologist
or counsellor, or easy access to these services, so that students have the opportunity to talk about
their concerns in a safe and anonymous space. This reflects the findings of many experts whobelieve implementing well-being programmes in schools have many benefits (Seligman et. al.,2009). Such programmes and services allow for early detection of stress and depression, and canbe of great benefit not only for students, but also for teachers and other members of the schoolcommunity. While not all school budgets may allow for an in-house certified psychologist, it may

59

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

public school teacher in Thailand, learning content needs to ensure ‘contact with real things fromeveryday life - nature, food, emotion and philosophy’. At the same time, there is also a need toensure assessments are appropriate. Teachers must evaluate the values, skills and competencies
that relate to topics and learning content at the school level – whether through discussions between
students, teachers and parents or through observations by the students, teachers and/or parents.
The following presents two strategies to ensure learning content is useful, engaging and relevant.

be possible to hire a school counsellor. Pemagatshel School (Bhutan) employs a full-time counsellor
who plays a very important role in providing students with a space to speak anonymously, and who
also provides career counselling and peer support. Another option in low-resource contexts is toappoint and train a teacher or a member of the local community to serve as a school counsellor,either on a paid or voluntary basis.
Implement school well-being programmes
Northwood Prep in the United Kingdom promotes the concept of ‘lessons in pupil well-being’ or‘happiness lessons’, and has seen many benefits. According to Trevor Lee, the school principal, theprogramme has resulted in students not only looking forward to lessons, but also being able to learn
practical methods such as meditation or increased sleep for instance, for dealing constructively withdifficult times in their lives (Lee, 2001). Other ‘reflective’ activities also include painting, listening tomusic, writing poetry or journaling.
Introduce mindfulness meditation
There is growing interest in the innovative practice of ‘mindfulness’ and ‘mindfulness meditation’ inschool settings. Drawing from local customs and Buddhist heritage, Pemagatshel School (Bhutan)
has introduced mindfulness meditation and has found this to have had a positive effect not only
on student focus and concentration, but also on learners’ well-being. Mindfulness meditation isincorporated in daily school life in various ways, including two-minute meditation sessions before
the first, fifth and seventh periods, guided meditation sessions every Monday during the school
assembly, and mindfulness practice during extracurricular activities. Other schools could replicate
this programme by identifying a suitable time in the timetable to allocate to meditation practiceor other quiet reflection, whether in a specific class, as part of assemblies or as a separate activity.
Use visual displays with suggestions for stress-management
Another simple way to teach stress-management techniques in schools is to communicate
suggestions to learners through posters displayed prominently in the school. NIST International
School (Thailand), for example, displayed a poster titled ‘Stress Less’ in the school hallway with anumber of stress-management suggestions for students, such as dancing, going for a walk, talking
about problems, going to bed earlier, meditating, eating healthily, listening to music and smiling.
Visual displays such as these are considered to not only provide positive reinforcement to a learner
who may be suffering from stress, but to also provide an important form of communication withthose who may not feel able to express their problems and to illustrate that they are not alone infeeling stressed.
Summary
Based on the various criteria explored in this section, Box 5 provides a summary of the suggested
strategies listed in the category of Process.

60• Reduce standardized testing and exams• Replace homework with optional activities to ‘extend’ learning• Value non-academic domains of learning through alternative assessments• Include non-academic factors in school admissions• Introduce group assignments for collaborative problem-solving• Introduce diverse teamwork learning activities• Seize the potential of alternative learning approaches• Value mistakes as part of the learning process• Teach students to ask questions• Provide positive feedback and public recognition• Create a 'portfolio of dreams'• Introduce prizes and rewards through school contests• Offer after-school activities as an alternative to private tutoring• Organize school events to promote a sense of collective purpose in the school community• Engage students through media clubs• Replace textbooks with collaborative lesson plans• Ensure that learning content can be applied• Make learning more interdisciplinary• Provide in-school psychologists or counsellors• Implement school well-being programmes• Introduce mindfulness meditation• Use visual displays with suggestions for stress-management

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THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORKBox 5. Strategy Box: Process

D. Place
Schools have the incredible potential to serve as positive, or ‘happy’, institutions. While this section
focuses on schools as a ‘place’ in terms of the wider learning and school context, it is important tonote that many of these criteria are also related to the category of People.

Secure Environment Free of Bullying
The survey respondents identified an unsafe environment prone to bullying as the factor most likely
to lead to unhappiness in schools. Respondents cited rising school violence and bullying as being
due to students’ differing socio-economic backgrounds and to competition in student rankings
based on academic achievement. In addition, respondents felt that an unsafe environment gave
students a sense of isolation, fear, anxiety and loneliness. The following two strategies are being
used to improve learning environments in schools.
Foster student interaction and collaboration through shared learning and playing activities
At Daegu Gachang Elementary School (Republic of Korea) they believe that the broad variety ofactivities they offer, including sports, arts and languages, has reduced stress among students, whichis caused by competition. Other types of activities include extracurricular activities, group learning,‘ice-breakers’ within the classroom, and play activities and games that promote collaboration during
recreational breaks. The activities have had the result that students tend to interact more with one
another and help each other. As a result of the school’s efforts, the Daegu Metropolitan Office of
Education assessed the school as being safe and free from bullying.
Install a buddy bench
A number of schools worldwide have recognized the benefits of installing a ‘buddy bench’ inthe playground to reduce bullying, promote friendships among students and reduce loneliness(Hough, 2015). Some consider that this could also help in developing important competencies
among learners such as solidarity and kindness towards others. NIST International School (Thailand)
installed a buddy bench in the playground and explained to the students that if a student is seen
sitting on this bench, they are seeking friends so other students should approach them and join
them. This strategy is also of great relevance to fostering positive friendships and relationships.

Warm and Friendly Learning Environment
Respondents to the survey felt that a warm and friendly learning environment was the secondmost important factor in fostering happiness in schools, and expressed a need for more interaction
between school-level stakeholders, learner-friendly classroom environments and the use of music
and visuals in learning. The following provide strategies to promote warmer and friendlier learning
environments in schools.

62As explored earlier in this chapter, results from the survey conducted in Japanese placed aparticular emphasis on the importance of greeting and smiling at one another in order to create awarm and friendly learning environment. When asked what factors make a school happy, a female
primary public school student cited ‘a lot of smiles’. Similarly, a male public school principal cited‘cheerful smiles and greetings’. According to Hough (2015), encouraging smiling in schools may
be one of the simplest strategies for creating a warm and friendly learning environment. Citing ateacher who made this an everyday goal, it was found that it enhanced well-being in the schoolcommunity (Hough, 2015).
Remove walls around classrooms
Yuzawa Higashu Primary School in Akita Prefecture (Japan) has made its classrooms completely
open, by removing the doors and some of the interior walls. These open classrooms have beenfound to create a sense of transparency, by making the teaching and learning process openly
visible to the school community, including other teachers, parents and school staff. The hallway is
wide and spacious so that it can also be a space for learners to play during the cold winter months.
Similarly, NIST International School (Thailand) keeps classrooms open in early grades so that thestudents in these classes can interact more with one another. While implementing this strategy
would depend on the infrastructure of the school, for these schools it was noted as contributing toa happier learning environment, particularly at the primary level.
Replace school bells with music
In 2011, the then principal of Pemagatshel School (Bhutan) replaced the school bell with music
following his visit to Sathya Sai School in Thailand. The main objectives of this initiative were to startthe day positively; preserve and promote culture and tradition; refresh the mind of the students
after lessons; support learning through music; and end the day positively. The music that is played
varies, with the school playing traditional Bhutanese songs, English nursery rhymes, and religious
music on auspicious days.
As explained by Jigme, a teacher from Pemagatshel School, ‘We are very careful about the type ofsong that we play, as it is the whole school that will be listening, relaxing and enjoying that very
moment’. According to this teacher, the use of music rather than bells has resulted in a numberof positive changes. Both teachers and students have learned traditional songs, students havebegun to show an interest in religious/cultural days and have an increased sense of belonging andstudents have become more aware of the time. Furthermore, learning has become much livelier
and the initiative has eased stress, thereby creating a happy learning environment. He noted that
‘It is very exciting to see students and even some teachers happily grooving to the tune of music’.

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THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

Place emphasis on greetings and smiles

Use creative, colourful and meaningful visual displays
Schools in Akita Prefecture (Japan) organize monthly book displays in their hallways, with a newtheme each month, and they display colourful and informative posters created by students anduse the steps in their schools to display synonyms and vocabulary. These visual displays are used tocommunicate with students and raise their awareness of various issues. Similarly, NIST International
School (Thailand) raises awareness of the importance of exercise by noting the number of calories
lost through walking each step in the school. This also supports other criteria such as health,sanitation and nutrition which will be examined later in this chapter.

Open and Green Learning and Playing Spaces
The survey respondents felt that happy schools have spaces and equipment that are conducive tocreating a positive learning environment, including good infrastructure, sanitation facilities and ICT
equipment. In particular, respondents stressed the important of green outdoor spaces for learning andplaying, so that learners can spend time outside the classroom and connect with nature. According
to a female private school teacher from the Philippines, a happy school is one with ‘an environment
conducive to learning and socialization, with plenty of natural light and greenery, and well-maintained
infrastructure’. A female public school teacher from Thailand likewise recognized the importance ofgreen spaces, but in a broader sense, saying that ‘contact with the outside world – nature and peopleof other cultures and ages’ is essential. The following strategies are listed in this regard.
Create relaxing and creative spaces
Pemagatshel School (Bhutan) opened a school ‘reading cafe’, to provide a comfortable space forlearners to enjoy reading during their spare time. The environment in the cafe is more relaxed thana traditional library and provides a space for students to socialize and relax, as well as read.
Establish a school garden
Given the importance for students to have a green school environment, a number of schools have
implemented school garden programmes which they consider as making the school environment
greener and providing opportunities for practical learning activities, while also leading to improved
nutrition and greater involvement of parents and other members of the school community. Daegu
Gachang Elementary School (Republic of Korea), for instance, established a vegetable garden thatstudents and their families are welcome to use in their free time.
Make use of outdoor spaces for learning and playing
VNIES Experimental Secondary School (Viet Nam), allows students to study subjects such as art,
physical education and biology outside. Students enjoy this experience and feel that they learn
well outdoors. As student Nguyen Ngoc Van Thao expressed it, ‘We are allowed to enjoy fresh air
and beautiful scenery to improve our health and have more inspiration, so that lessons are more64

School Vision and Leadership
Looking more at the wider management of the school, respondents felt it was important to havea school vision that was conducive to happy schools. Among the schools that participated in theseminar, several had school visions, mottos or slogans with direct references to happiness or that werelinked to the concept of Happy Schools. The following describes examples of these school visions.
Promote school visions that prioritize happiness
The vision of Daegu Gachang Elementary School (Republic of Korea) is a ‘school that nurtures dreams
and talents’. Similarly, the vision of Yuzawa Higashi Primary School also refers to dreams, ‘Be a childwith dreams and self-motivation, let’s make a happy school together!’ Based on this school vision, theYuzawa Higashi school principal, Shinji Suzuki, envisions happiness as consisting of four elements:
1) to be loved, 2) to be praised, 3) to have a role, and 4) to be appreciated. These elements reflect
many important aspects of the other criteria presented as part of the Happy Schools Framework,
particularly with regard to friendships, relationships and the importance of having a sense ofachievement. The visions of four schools in Akita Prefecture (Japan) are listed in Box 6.
Box 6. School visions from selected schools in Akita Prefecture (Japan)

Yuzawa Higashi Primary School
Be a child with dreams and self-motivation, let’s make a happy school together!
Higashi Naruse Junior High School
To raise students who learn proactively, have compassion, and live a full life.
Yuzawa Kita Junior High School
To raise students who have compassion, an indomitable spirit and creativity.
Higashi Naruse Primary School
Filled with dreams, being bright, and having compassion and an indomitable spirit.
Source: Yamaguchi et. al., 2015.

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THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

effective’. Similarly, Daegu Gachang Elementary School (Republic of Korea) uses the local naturalenvironment in the community for sports activities and to encourage students to exercise and stayhealthy. The school uses green spaces within the school campus for investigative learning activities,
and as a learning space, with outdoor classrooms set up with tables and benches. Given the longschool hours, this serves to enable students to have more time outside the classroom.

Positive Discipline
Many of the participants in the study highlighted a need for schools to use ‘positive discipline’techniques rather than physical or emotional punishment. Indeed, physical and emotional
punishment, were cited by survey respondents as being among the factors most likely to makeschools unhappy places. One type of emotional punishment cited by students was when teachers
compared students with each other, whether in terms of their achievements, behaviour orappearance. Rather than having the intended effect of motivating students, such comparisons led
to students losing confidence in themselves. Likewise, punishment for mistakes tends to undermine
students’ self-assurance and learning capacity. As noted by a male private school teacher from thePhilippines, ‘Children are “punished” for making mistakes, but making mistakes is learning’. In theface of issues such as school violence and delinquency, clearly schools need to have some form of
discipline. Some believe that assisting students to develop the character strength of self-regulation
could provide a solution. They suggest that timely teacher interventions are more effective than theapplication of conventional forms of punishment, and argue that discipline should be viewed as along-term learning process (Short et. al., 1993). The following strategies offer examples of ‘positive
discipline’ that can be used in schools.
Replace punishment with constructive activities that foster emotional regulation
According to Hough (2015), listening to students and using alternatives to conventional punishments
such as student isolation or ‘time out’, could create a safe space with constructive activities thatcan enable learners to foster emotional regulation. Similarly, students can develop skills in selfdiscipline through games. He cites an expert in this field, Christina Hinton, who has observed thatparticipating in activities and games relating to emotions enable learners to experience and deal
with their emotions rather than suppressing them (Hough, 2015).
Introduce delayed gratification in the classroom
More than 40 years ago, a team led by the American psychologist Walter Mischel conducted aseries of studies that are today known as the ‘Stanford marshmallow experiment’. The experiment,
which involves a child being given the option of either receiving one treat, such as a marshmallow,
immediately or waiting 15 minutes for a bigger reward, such as two marshmallows, found that when
the children converted ‘the passive waiting situation into an instrumental activity’ they were able towait longer for the reward (Mischel and Bill, 1974, p. 1086). Thus, it is necessary for students to develop
character strengths such as self-regulation and the capacity to distract themselves from temptation.
Similarly, other studies have found that there is a direct link between self-regulation and learners
reaching their intellectual potential (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005). Accordingly, those who are able
to regulate their emotions and delay gratification are more likely to succeed in school. Therefore,
efforts to introduce methods that enable students to develop self-discipline and delay gratification
have the potential to reduce conflict and violence in schools, thereby avoiding a need for punishment.

66

Survey respondents cited the importance of a clean and healthy school environment, as well as
improved nutrition, in making schools happier places. At the Happy Schools Seminar, nutrition
was highlighted as being particularly important, along with initiatives to combine environmental
awareness with health and sanitation. The following strategies demonstrate how schools canimprove health, sanitation and nutrition.
Ensure the availability of healthy food in school cafeterias
The cafeteria at NIST International School (Thailand) offers a discount to students on meals that are
selected from the salad bar. This gives students a financial incentive to make healthy meal choices.
In addition, the school has installed snack stations around the school that offer juices, nuts andother nutritious food, with limited junk food options. In addition, the school displays posters withnutritional information on the walls to raise awareness among students of which types of foodare nutritious and to encourage them to make healthier choices. In low-income contexts, anothermeans of improving nutrition in schools is to introduce school vegetable gardens or a vegetableproducing cooperative led by the local community.
Have a school nutritionist
As noted in an earlier example, Daegu Gachang Elementary School (Republic of Korea) establisheda vegetable garden, which while also serving as a means of encouraging community involvementin the school, provides vegetables to the school lunch programme, under which healthy andnutritious meals are prepared by a professional nutritionist. While hiring a professional nutritionist
may be challenging in a low-income context, schools could identify volunteers, such as local
members of the community, to prepare school meals and could raise funds to cover the costs ofnutrition training for the volunteers.
Organize school community clean ups
Pemagatshel School (Bhutan) regularly organizes school clean-ups within the community to keep
the school and local community free of litter. This practical and collaborative activity not only
contributes to improved sanitation and health, but also enables students and teachers to feelengaged together while also developing a sense of responsibility for health in their local community,
as well as appreciation for the beauty of the local environment.

Democratic School Management
The various stakeholder groups all felt that democratic school management, wherein the views of
all stakeholders are considered, is important for a school to be happy. Respondents highlighted theneed for students to be able to question what they felt were ‘strict and unreasonable’ school rules
and regulations, and for teachers and students to be allowed to contribute suggestions regarding67

THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORKGood Health, Sanitation and Nutrition

the overall management of the school. As a female university student from Viet Nam explained,‘students should take part in almost all activities within the school, including expressing their ideas
about school rules, uniforms and lessons, to make the school happier’. The following is an example
of a strategy that can be used to give students greater input in school management.
Allow students to be the principal for a day
While allowing for student voices to be more present in the management of the school, the survey
results showed frequent responses suggesting for students to act as school principal for a day. Thisis implemented at NIST International School (Thailand), which allows students to spend a day as
the school principal. During that day, the student is accompanied by a teacher to oversee school
management and is free to make suggestions for improvements around the school.
Summary
Based on the various criteria explored in this section, Box 7 includes a summary of the suggested
strategies listed in the category of Place.
Box 7. Strategy Box: Place• Foster student interaction and collaboration through shared learning and playing activities• Install a buddy bench• Place emphasis on greetings and smiles• Remove walls around classrooms• Replace school bells with music• Use creative, colourful and meaningful visual displays• Create relaxing and creative spaces• Establish a school garden• Make use of outdoor spaces for learning and playing• Promote school visions that prioritize happiness• Replace punishment with constructive activities that foster emotional regulation• Introduce delayed gratification in the classroom• Ensure the availability of healthy food in school cafeterias• Have a school nutritionist• Organize school community clean ups• Allow students to be the principal for a day

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The Happy Schools Framework was developed based on the collective opinions and perspectives ofschool-level stakeholders: students, teachers, school principals, school support staff and membersof the general public. Thus, it was constructed through a participatory approach, with the researchteam analyzing the responses of the stakeholders to identify 22 criteria under the three broad
categories: People, Process and Place.
While the strategies presented in this chapter are not exhaustive, they do provide ideas andexamples of ways in which each of the criteria for a happy school can be achieved.
The strategies under the People category show the importance of encouraging friendships andrelationships between the members of the school community, particularly those between teachersand students. They also illustrate how schools can ensure people of all backgrounds and needs feelincluded, and can ensure respect for diversity and differences.
The strategies described under the Process category illustrate how schools can use fun andengaging approaches to make learning enjoyable for students and teachers alike and how schools
can promote learner freedom and encourage students to express their opinions and feel free tomake mistakes. They also show how schools can make students’ workloads more reasonable, thus
preventing excessive stress among students. In addition, they offer ideas for extracurricular activities,
which are among the factors considered most important for making schools happier places.
Strategies described under the category of Place showed how to promote happiness throughimproved infrastructure and physical contexts and through making these environments warm,
friendly and conducive to learning.
In general, these strategies show that simple ideas and small changes can make large and positive
differences in students’ well-being and learning outcomes. The 22 criteria under the three categories
and the strategies used to achieve those criteria are linked and mutually reinforce each other. For
example, strategies to improve relationships and friendships (People), can also help to create awarm and friendly learning environment (Place), while strategies to encourage positive teacher
attitudes and attributes and improvements in teachers’ skills and competencies (People) can leadto fun and engaging teaching and learning approaches (Process). Thus, the three categories are allof equal importance in making schools happier places.

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THE HAPPY SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

Chapter Conclusion

HAPPY SCHOOLS: A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNER WELL-BEING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

5

Reflections,
Next Stepsand Conclusions70

As discussed in this report, happiness has always been defined as a human purpose in various
philosophies, from ancient times until today. Well-being is now reflected as part of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and Education 2030 (SDG4), with the latter highlighting the importanceof developing skills and competencies that nurture well-being. It is clear that an increasing numberof countries are also prioritizing happiness and well-being as part of their policy frameworks. In
particular, education has been recognized as something that can enhance happiness and wellbeing through contributing to learners’ holistic development, nurturing their intellectual, physical,
psychological and moral competencies and giving them a sense of belonging and meaning.
Given the importance placed on happiness and well-being today, this report has pointed to anumber of important policy implications that lead us to question existing education policies andpractices. Reviewing overloaded curricula with too many subjects, ensuring new types of teachersand pedagogies that promote positive attitudes and attributes, as well as a renewed emphasis on
school organizations and clubs are but a few examples. It also questions the motivation behind
education policymaking, in particular with regard to assessment systems and the disproportionate
focus on international league tables, benchmarks and results from examinations. While international
league tables may not themselves be the problem, they do influence countries/policymakers,
driving them to impose standards on school systems in order to compare and benchmark theirperformance with others (Robinson and Lou, 2015).
Within this context, this report calls for a fundamental shift in education to allow for learners’
unique talents and strengths to shine. An enabling school environment that provides moretime for reflection as opposed to the rush-and-efficiency logic, could potentially result in equal
if not higher levels of achievement and would almost certainly lead to greater well-being among
students and teachers.
Based on the many perspectives examined throughout the report, one can conclude that they all
recognize happiness as something that is both collective and strongly linked to education.
Indeed, education may not only be the means for happiness, but it can also bring happiness in andof itself by fuelling a genuine love of learning. When reflecting on the strengths and competencies
required of learners for success in their future lives and work, many are seen to also promotehappiness and well-being, for instance those that relate to friendships and relationships with others,
such as communication, teamwork and empathy among others.

Therefore, all human beings can learn to be happy, but can also be happy to learn. This is
recognized in the various theories and concepts explored in this report, and mirrored by the resultsof the primary research methods conducted for this study. As expressed by Nguyen Ngoc Van Thao,a 14-year-old student from VNIES Experimental Secondary School (Viet Nam), learning should besomething essentially enjoyable that gives them the self-motivation to strive for excellence, rather
than something that is forced: ‘I think that we shouldn’t make the students feel that studying is a

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REFLEC TIONS, NEXT STEPS AND CONCLUSIONS

Reflections

burden. The teacher’s duty is not just giving homework to force students to be hardworking. They
should try to make students love learning so that they will become hardworking naturally!’ Thishighlights that learner happiness does not imply a lower level of effort or hard work, but rather, istied to effort and accomplishing goals through character strengths such as perseverance, zest anda love of learning.
The need to fuel such a love of learning is supported by evidence that prioritizing happiness andwell-being can result in higher academic achievement. Indeed, Positive Education perceives
both academic excellence combined with character and well-being as equally important for learners.
As explored in the case of Singapore, a number of ongoing reforms appear to highlight a shift inthis direction, aiming to reduce emphasis on standardized tests and instead seeking excellence
through a ‘holistic education’ that can instill ‘passion for learning’ in students (MoE [Singapore],
2016b). At the sub-national level, the examples of education in Akita and Fukui, two of Japan’shighest performing prefectures in national assessments, have demonstrated that making notionsof happiness and well-being the focus of policies and plans, rather than academic achievement, hasresulted in excellent learning outcomes. This approach has seemingly yielded a number of benefits,with other academic evidence proving that well-being can be a bigger predictor of learner successand achievement than tests and exams (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005).
Reflecting on global trends and changes in our increasingly competitive world, a continued
exclusive or predominant focus on ‘numbers’ as indicators is undermining happiness andwell-being – whether in terms of using only exam scores as indicators of student learning or interms of using only economic indicators to measure human development. Arguably, such an
exclusive focus on ‘numbers’ can in fact be destructive to learner well-being. The country cases
examined in Chapter Three demonstrate how issues such as student stress, depression and feelingsof disengagement with society and the broader world – which in the worst cases can even resultin student suicide - are growing and appear to be linked to pressures to perform academicallyand obtain high grades. In addition, even if we were to focus in purely economic terms in viewof the human ‘competitive advantage’ in the future, it is the very virtues, values, strengths andcompetencies that were envisioned in theories of happiness that cannot be replaced by machines
or by technology – as highlighted by Sir Ken Robinson and his call for creativity (Robinson, 2006),
and which therefore must be prioritized by education systems.
As this report has shown, to make schools happier places there are two levels of intervention:
the policy level and at the school level. Interventions at each of these levels are interdependent
in many respects. For example, a school may seek to implement a happy school strategy but may
be restricted in doing so by national education policies, regulations, curricula and assessment
practices. At the same time, there may be national policies and curricula that strongly reflect thephilosophy behind the concept of Happy Schools, but their implementation may be lacking at theschool level. Thus, reforms at the national level need to be in harmony with reforms at the schoollevel, with both having equal importance.

72

With regard to pedagogy, this report highlights the need for a new generation of ‘positive
teachers’ who are both equipped and supported to use innovative teaching and learning strategies.
Dual-purpose learning was presented as an example of how important values and competencies
can be taught within and across subjects, while at the same time making the learning content more
relevant to learners’ daily lives. This report also highlights the importance of teachers’ attitudes andattributes, which should be given equal, if not more, weight than other factors in terms of criteria
for teacher recruitment and evaluation. As explored in Pestalozzi’s approach to education (Box 1),
positive relationships between students and teachers and teachers’ authority based on love as
opposed to fear are pertinent aspects that are mirrored in the results of the Happy Schools Survey.
In particular, the impact of teacher attitudes and attributes on learner happiness were highlighted insurvey results, with respondents citing positive traits such as caring, understanding and empathetic
teachers, and negative traits such as strict, conservative and uncaring teachers. While teachers may
fear the loss of authority or lack of discipline from their students, the research findings show thatwhen teachers award students with a sense of trust and responsibility for their actions, as was pointed
out in the example on self-regulation, it can lead to a more balanced and harmonious environment.
With regard to assessment, the values, strengths and competencies that can develop andnurture happiness among students need to be recognized and evaluated and given equal
weighting to more academic skills that are assessed in high-stakes examinations. Given that thesecond unhappiest factor in schools was reported as stress related to student workload in preparing
for exams, education systems need to prioritize assessing those skills and competencies that are
ultimately the most important. This highlights the need to ‘measure what we treasure’, meaningthat learner happiness and well-being should be reflected as part of learning outcomes within
education systems.
This report gave examples of alternative assessments that formally recognize and measure suchcompetencies, including the Global Citizen Diploma offered by NIST International School (Thailand)
and the Character Certificate offered at Pemagatshel School (Bhutan). The ‘exam-free’ semester

73

REFLEC TIONS, NEXT STEPS AND CONCLUSIONSAt the policy level, this issue brings up a number of considerations for governments: primarily toprioritize happiness and learner well-being in national and education policies, to review
evaluation and assessment systems, how time is spent in school on activities that consider
non-academic aspects of learner achievement, and including students’ character, personalities andrelevant skills and competencies in the admissions process. There is a very strong case for countries toprioritize happiness and well-being as part of their development and education policies. As exploredin Chapter Three, examples from five countries – Bhutan, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore
and Vanuatu – each with different cultures, levels of development, and different conceptions ofhappiness, show that this is possible. While some countries such as Bhutan and Vanuatu, havereflected notions of happiness and well-being based on their traditions and culture, others, such as
Japan and the Republic of Korea, have taken such measures in direct response to perceived levelsof unhappiness. As demonstrated by these country cases, happiness can be reflected in national
policy in a number of ways – whether through national visions and philosophies, curricula, teacher
policies, training or guidelines, as well as through suggested school practices.

policy in the Republic of Korea for instance, also highlights the extent to which student stress fueledby exams has become a national concern. While this may be only a temporary lifting of exams, itaims to allow time for learners to reflect on their talents and strengths to identify their future dreams(Ministry of Education [Republic of Korea], 2013b). The reduction of exams may not necessarily befeasible or desirable in all contexts, however countries can consider changing the content andforms of assessment so as to help better reflect competencies that nurture happiness as somethingmeasurable alongside academic competencies.

Next Steps
The policy implications of the research findings suggest an important need for policy
dialogue, whereby the findings could be scaled up and translated into succinct conclusions
and recommendations at the policy level. Indeed, the country case studies examined in Chapter
Three highlight how some countries have been promoting happiness and well-being in theirdevelopment and education policies. At the same time, the criteria for happy schools, which are
based on various stakeholder perspectives at the school level, provide an important source of
feedback in view of incorporating a participatory approach in the development of such policy
recommendations. These could be further built upon through the holding of a policy seminar to
examine how countries could apply the Happy Schools Framework within their policy context, as
well as through the production of a policy brief to outline these recommendations.
The strategies highlighted in this report are not exhaustive and simply outline some examples ofpractical actions that arose from the research findings and that can be implemented at the schoollevel. As a starting point, a repository of strategies, or a ‘strategy bank’ could be established,
where individuals, schools, experts or members of the general public could be invited to submit
practical ‘strategies’ relating to one or more of the criteria for happy schools to be considered. Such a‘strategy bank’ could be in the form of an online database, in order to be easily accessed by schools.
In addition, the over-focus on ‘numbers’ highlights the need for an advocacy campaign thatcan change attitudes with regard to the meaning of ‘good quality’ education. This would help togive enhanced recognition to the importance of happiness and well-being in schools in a world
driven by statistics, tests and competition. In particular, a campaign using innovative forms of
advocacy, whether through social media, and special events, could help reach a broader audience.
For example, the research findings have indicated the influential role of parents, relatives and othercommunity members in shaping learner values and competencies. Indeed, parental pressure on
students to perform academically cannot be underestimated, and such a campaign could betargeted to sensitizing them to the role of education in nurturing learner’s unique talents.
Arguably, the Happy Schools Framework has the potential to be scaled up to other regions
given its relevance to many other parts of the world beyond the Asia-Pacific region. As examined
in Chapter Three in particular, the desk study found that many of the issues calling for sucha framework have been voiced in other parts of the world, which could be applied and thenadapted based on different regional contexts.

74

Conclusions
To conclude, this report has presented the Happy Schools Framework based on two main sourcesof evidence: theories and policies of happiness and well-being based on the desk study, and thecriteria for a happy school based on the primary research findings.
Firstly, of the various definitions of happiness explored in Chapter Three, these clearly outline thelinkages between happiness and education: happiness is not only something that can be learnt,
but learning can also be a great source of happiness. Education is, therefore, both a means and an
end to happiness.
Furthermore, in response to trends such as demographic changes, rising mobility, growing
intolerance and violent extremism, increased competition and rapid technological advancement,
many countries have recognized that education has a key role to play in building happier,healthier and more peaceful societies. In particular, this requires reflecting on how to best prepare
learners, especially in terms of their human ‘competitive advantage’ through developing skills andcompetencies such as creativity, critical thinking, communication and teamwork.
The new global development agenda and Education 2030, as well as other global initiatives
such as the International Positive Education Network (IPEN), all reinforce this notion andreflect the concepts of happiness and well-being, while country examples from Bhutan, Japan,
Republic of Korea, Singapore and Vanuatu each highlight the different emphases, approaches
and perspectives on what constitutes ‘happiness’. Throughout these examples of theories,
initiatives and policies presented in Chapter Three, it is clear that educational quality and school
happiness are inseparable, with growing recognition that excellence can be a result of happierlearners and happier school systems as opposed to standardized testing and examinations alone.
This demonstrates that happiness and well-being in learners should not be considered only as
an objective for education systems, but also as a means for higher educational outcomes andpotential success in future life and work.
Secondly, the report introduced the Happy Schools Framework and the 22 criteria that makefor a happy school. These were developed based on the primary research findings, which useda participatory approach to capture the collective opinions and perspectives of school-level
stakeholders. The report then presented examples of concrete and practical strategies that can

75

REFLEC TIONS, NEXT STEPS AND CONCLUSIONSIn light of growing efforts to measure happiness, the Happy Schools Framework could present
the basis for an integral measure of the quality of education. Indeed, in addition to existing
initiatives such as the World Happiness Report and the World Values Survey, countries are also
increasingly looking to measure non-academic skills and competencies as learning outcomes. The
Happy Schools Framework could, therefore, present an opportunity to link measures of happinesswith measures of educational quality. The criteria could be reviewed and validated, with additional
quantitative measures developed for the Happy Schools Framework to be eventually applied incountries, whereby recognition could be given to schools that reach the criteria.

be taken, in most part at the school level, to achieve the criteria required to make schools happy.
The criteria are interrelated across the three categories of People, Process and Place, making themmutually reinforcing of one another.
As demonstrated in Chapter Four, the survey results showed a number of determinants of a happy
or unhappy school, from which these criteria were drawn. Respondents to the survey felt that a
happy school is one in which there are positive friendships and relationships within warm andfriendly environments. They also felt that learners should have the freedom to express themselves
and be both creative and engaged through a collaborative spirit facilitated by positive teachers. In
contrast, they felt that an unhappy school is one which is prone to bullying and where students
have excessive workloads, driven by an emphasis on exams and grades, which leads to high levelsof stress. Other features of an unhappy school include a negative learning environment and school
atmosphere, fuelled by negative teacher attitudes and attributes and, more generally, by poor
relationships. The latter three sections of Chapter Four on People, Process and Place therefore
aimed to more clearly define how the 22 criteria for a happy school can be reached throughsuggested strategies, generally at the school level. While these are not exhaustive, they do provide
ideas and examples based on the research findings, on a number of initiatives or interventions thatcan enhance happiness and well-being in schools.
Overall, both the theoretical and practical aspects of this report appear to provide a basic common
vision of what constitutes a happy school. This calls for us to question a number of existing policies
and practices with regard to curricula, pedagogy and assessment, in order to review how far they
are conducive to enhancing happiness and well-being in school systems.
The findings presented in this report indicate a clear need for more time and space for learners
and educators in order to enhance happiness and well-being in schools. The need for more time
– including time for extracurricular activities, for learners to reflect on their learning and identify
their passions, or for more engaging and enjoyable teaching and learning methods to be prepared– may have been restricted due to fears of low academic achievement in learners. The need formore space – including the space for learners to express their personalities or to make mistakes, toapply learning content through a wider perspective in daily life, or even for green and outdoor areasfor playing or to learn outside of the classroom – may have been restricted due to fears of teachers
losing authority or a lack of school discipline.
The fears that have traditionally restricted time and space in schools must be overcome so as to fuela genuine love of learning, higher levels of learning achievement and, ultimately, learner happiness
and well-being. This report calls on policy makers and schools alike to stop, pause and reflect,
to create more time and space in schools so that learners can focus on developing their uniquetalents, strengths and interests. Only through joint efforts from decision-makers at both the policy
and school levels, can happiness be prioritized in education systems and schools, inspiring happierlearners who can create happier societies and, ultimately, a happier world.

76

77
REFLEC TIONS, NEXT STEPS AND CONCLUSIONS

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Annex 1

Summary of countries reflected in
the research findings
This report reflects various country experiences, as gathered through the participation of various
respondents and schools.
With regard to the ASEAN schools workshop, these were chosen as a sub-region with schools
selected for their involvement with the partner (ASEAN Children’s News Centre – ACN), whereas
for the Happy Schools Survey respondents participating in the various languages (Chinese, English,
Japanese, Korean, Russian and Thai) were each asked to state their country of residence. The Happy
Schools Seminar, however, reflects a selection of schools based on promising and innovative
practices rather than by country.
Desk Study
The desk study covered countries that have given particular attention to the concept of happiness
and well-being in national and education policies:• Bhutan• Japan• Republic of Korea• Singapore• Vanuatu

ASEAN Schools Workshop15
The ASEAN Schools Workshop selected schools from the ASEAN sub-region based on theirinvolvement with the partner, the ASEAN Children’s News Centre.

15 All ASEAN Member States were represented at the workshop with the exception of Singapore.

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Country

School Name

School Type/Location

Brunei Darussalam

Jerudong International School

International School/Urban

Cambodia

Preah Sisowath High School

Public/Urban

Indonesia

Budi Mulia Dua Vocational High School

Vocational/Urban

Laos

School for Gifted Student and Preparatory
Studies

Government/Urban

Malaysia

St George’s School

Private/Urban

St. Joseph Secondary School

Private/Urban

MyanmarCrane International School Myanmar

International School/Urban

Philippines

University of Santo Tomas High School

Private/Urban

ThailandIslamic College of Thailand

Public/Urban

Vajiravudh College

Public/UrbanPhạm Ngọc Thạch – Junior High School

Public/Urban

Viet Nam

Happy Schools Survey
The survey was made available in six languages (Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Russian andThai) and respondents were asked to state their country of residence.
Table A2. Number of respondents to the Happy Schools Survey, by country/jurisdiction of residence
Afghanistan

1

Malaysia

1

Australia

2

Mongolia

2

Bangladesh

1Myanmar

1

Brunei Darussalam

2

Pakistan

1

Cambodia

1

Philippines

26

China

71

Russia

32

India

37

Singapore

1

Indonesia

12

Thailand100

Iran, Islamic Republic of

1

Tokelau

1

Japan

155

Turkey3

Jordan

1

USA

2

Kazakhstan

65

Uzbekistan

1

Korea

107

Viet Nam

6

Kyrgyzstan

19

Zimbabwe

1

Lao PDR

1

Total

654

89

ANNEX 1

Table A1. Participating schools in the ASEAN Schools Workshop, by country and school type/location

Happy Schools Seminar
The Happy Schools Seminar included various schools, selected for their promising and innovative
practices rather than for their country.
Table A3. Participating schools in the Happy Schools Seminar, by country and school type/location
1

Country

School Name

School Type/Location

BhutanPemagatshel Middle Secondary School

Public, Rural

India

Vidyashilp Academy

Private, Urban

Japan

Selected schools from Akita prefecture16

Public, Rural/Semi-urban

Republic of Korea

Daegu Gachang Elementary School

Public, Rural/Provincial

Thailand

NIST International School

Private International School/Urban

Chulalongkorn Demonstration Secondary
SchoolPublic Demonstration School/Urban

VNIES Experimental Lower Secondary School

Public Experimental School/Urban

Viet Nam

16 While representatives from selected schools in Akita prefecture were unable to attend the seminar, an overview of perspectives waspresented based on practices from the following nine schools in Yuzawa City: Yuzawa Nishi primary school, Yamada junior high school,
Yuzawa Higashi primary school, Yuzawa Kita junior high school, Komagata primary school, Inakawa junior high school; Ugo Town: Ugo
junior high school; Higashi Naruse Village: Higashi Naruse primary school, Higashi Naruse junior high school.

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6Happy Schools Survey
1. What is your gender?

❏ Male❏ Female❏ Transgender❏ Other (please specify)
2. Are you a...

❏ Student❏ Teacher❏ School Principal❏ School Support Staff❏ General Public❏ Other (please specify)
3. In which country/jurisdiction do you currently reside?
Drop down menu of Asia-Pacific Member States❏ Other (please specify)
4. In which type of school are you currently studying/working?

❏ Public government-funded school❏ Private school❏ International school❏ Other (please specify)
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ANNEX 2Annex 2

5. What can make schools a happy place? (Please list three things)

6. What can make schools an unhappy place? (Please list three things)

7. What makes teaching and learning in schools fun and enjoyable?
(For example, how should teachers teach, classroom/school environment, student involvement in thelearning process, learning content).

8. From your experience, what can be done to make sure that all students feel included in schools?
(For example, students from different cultures, religions and ethnicities, students with disabilities or special
learning needs, and to reduce bullying, negative competition and exam-related stress).

92Happy Schools Seminar Activities
1 Build a Happy Learner
In this activity, participants were separated into groups based on stakeholder type: students,
teachers and principals. They were provided with flip charts and markers, and were instructed to‘build’ a happy learner. This involved drawing of a body to symbolize ‘the learner’, with participants
free to draw or write either within or around the body, and to present the drawing as a poster.
The only instructions given were to reflect and discuss on what is most important for a learner tobe happy from the perspective of their stakeholder group. This activity was designed to get eachstakeholder group to reflect, discuss and reach consensus on what ‘criteria’ are the most important
for a ‘happy school’ with regard to the individual learner. Based on analysis and interpretation of theposters, a number of key themes were identified.

2 The Criteria in Practice – Individual Reflections
Stakeholder posters from the first activity were displayed as a gallery walk, and participants were
each given five cards and asked to write down the top five most important criteria for a happy
school. Each stakeholder group was given a specific colour in order to distinguish the different
perspectives: students (green), teachers (gold) and principals (orange). The purpose of this activity
was to allow all participants to reflect on the different ways that a ‘happy school’ can be viewed, andthen select the criteria that have struck them individually. Participants were then divided into four
mixed groups and asked to categorize their cards by general theme. This enabled the grouping of
the criteria under major themes.

3 The Criteria in Practice – School Posters
In this activity, participants were grouped by school and asked to keep in mind the various themes
from previous activities. They were given guidelines, which included identifying the top five mostimportant criteria that apply in their school, and to provide examples of the strategies taken by
their schools to reach these criteria. Each school group was provided with flip chart paper, markers,
post-its and a print out of the initial criteria, and were allowed to freely brainstorm, draw and write
based on these guidelines. They were reminded that this should be a ‘school poster’, reflecting thesituation of their school, rather than a general example from their country.

4 The Criteria in Different Contexts – Country Posters
The participants were then grouped by school/country and asked to reflect on their broader
country context. They were asked to consider how the criteria identified in earlier activities could

93

ANNEX 3Annex 3

be reached in different types of schools17 within their country context. That is, when looking at thecriteria, they were asked to take into consideration examples such as schools in rural areas, schools
with low budgets, and/or schools with mixed cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds. They werealso asked to identify any challenges to reaching the criteria and how those challenges can beovercome. Guiding questions were provided, as follows: 1) How can these criteria be met in yourcountry context? 2) How can they apply to different cultural, religious or social/economic groups?
3) What are the challenges in meeting these criteria and how can they be overcome?

17 The schools participating in the seminar were chosen based on their implementation of innovative and promising practices that are in linewith the concept of Happy Schools and its initial criteria, and therefore were not necessarily representative of the average school in their countries. The purpose of this activity was to consider other types of schools within their country context; especially those that are less privileged.

94

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