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Publication
What makes a school a happy school?: parents’ perspectives
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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Well-being, equity, and inclusion are central aspects of happy schools. In this context,
we aim to provide information to identify the characteristics of happy schools and Portuguese
children’s level of happiness at school. In total, one thousand three hundred and ninety-nine parents
of children from five to twenty years old participated in this study by answering a mostly open-ended
questionnaire. They indicated their perceptions of how happy their children were at school, the
moments they associated with individual happiness and unhappiness, and the characteristics of
schools that they found conducive to promoting happiness. The findings show that parents value the
relationships their children establish at school, teachers’ personal and professional skills, learning
strategies, and the fact that students can be creative while learning valuable content. From the
perspective of parents, unhappy schools are characterized by teachers with negative attitudes and
attributes, bullying, an excessive workload, and consequent stress. Differences in terms of gender
and age were not significant in this study. We found that levels of happiness at school decrease as
students’ ages increase.
Description
Keywords
Happiness Happy schools Parents’ perspectives Basic education Secondary education
Citation
Gramaxo, P., Seabra, F., Abelha, M. Dutschke, G. (2023). What makes a school a Happy School? Parents’ perspectives. Education Sciences, 13, 375. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040375. ISSN 2227-7102