Abstract
Positive education is being increasingly applied to improve students’ wellbeing in schools. The main positive education strategies adopted by schools consist of teaching wellbeing skills directly to students to increase their resilience, positive emotion, engagement, and meaning. These wellbeing skills can be either added to or integrated into the existing curricula of schools. While school leaders and teachers have a key role to play as change agents in institutionalizing positive education and developing ‘happy’ schools, little research exists in the literature on leadership practices in happy schools. The current article attempts to fill this knowledge gap by reporting a qualitative case study of leadership practices for improving students’ wellbeing. The case study was set in a junior secondary school in Guangzhou, China, where the wellbeing of secondary school students is generally low as a result of academic pressure. Research methods included interviews with school leaders and teachers, observation of lessons, and document analysis. The said school implemented an alternative approach underpinned by positive expectation of student development; that is, it embraced a student-centered approach in curriculum adaptation, pedagogical design, staff development and resource management. This approach aimed to relieve the academic pressure on students and to better support their learning and development. Findings show that, after the school had adopted wellbeing-oriented education for 3 years, student learning and wellbeing were greatly improved. This study expands the idea of positive education practices beyond the direct teaching of wellbeing skills and enriches our understanding of positive education in China.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chen, Z., & Davey, G. (2008). Happiness and subjective wellbeing in mainland China. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 589–600.
Chi, X. (2009). The reasons for middle students’ lacking of happiness and educational strategies. Modern Primary and Secondary Education, 2, 47–50.
Day, C., & Leithwood, K. (2007). Successful school principalship: International perspectives. Dordrecht: Springer.
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective wellbeing in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377–389.
Gao, Z. (2009). Exploring students’ pressures in the new basic education curriculum reform. The Science Education Article Collects, 5, 51.
Jian, Y., & Li, X. (2012). The key of building happy schools is to developing happy classrooms. Secondary and Primary School Principals, 7, 48–49 (in Chinese).
Kristjánsson, K. (2012). Positive psychology and positive education: Old wine in new bottles? Educational Psychologist, 47(2), 86–105.
Liu, C. (2003). Education for happiness. Beijing: People’s Education Press (in Chinese).
Ma, Y., & Liu, D. (2005). Middle school students’ learning subjective well-being and the contextual factors that influenced their well-being. Psychological development and education, 1, 74–79 (in Chinese).
Mao, X. (2014). Exploring the building of street-based happy learning community: Applying the happy education theory into practice. Secondary and Primary School Principals, 2, 14–17 (in Chinese).
Miao, Y., Liang, X., & Huang, J. (2012). Survey on students’ wellbeing and strategies of happy education. Journal of Educational development, 4, 36–39 (in Chinese).
Napoli, M., Krech, P. R., & Holley, L. C. (2005). Mindfulness training for elementary school students: The attention academy. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 21, 99–125.
Ni, Y. (2011). Serving students’ happy growth and preparing for their lifelong development: Developing Jinzhou Experimental Primary School into a happy school. Chinese Journal of Special Education, 135, 88–89 (in Chinese).
Northcutt, N., & McCoy, D. (2004). Interactive qualitative analysis: A systems method for qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Patton, M. Q. (1999). Enhancing the quality and credibility of qualitative analysis. Health Services Research, 34(5), 1189–1208.
Qian, Y. (2012). On the lack of happiness in education: Reading “Classics of Chinese education: Guided Readings”. In Examinations Weekly, 59, 166–167 (in Chinese).
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY: Free Press.
Sha, H. (2005). Education: For the happiness of human being. Beijing: Education & Science Press (in Chinese).
Shen, B. (2011). On the practice of a growing happy primary school. Chinese Journal of Special Education, 135, 57–61 (in Chinese).
Sun, T. (2013). High school students of the relationship between stressors and coping styles. Unpublished Master Degree thesis. Inner Mongolia Normal University (in Chinese).
Tugade, M. M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 320–333.
Yao, S., Feng, W., & Li, W. (2013). A garden full of happy flowers: The development of Ningyang Experimental Senior Secondary School. Contemporary Novel, 12, 71–74 (in Chinese).
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed.). California: Sage Inc.
Yu, J., Zhang, M., Pan, C., & He, H. (2012). A brief discussion on the reduction of psychological burdens on middle school students. The Science Education Article Collects, 4, 175–176 (in Chinese).
Zeng, L. (2006). Experts call for more attention: More than 70% of secondary and primary school students suffering from lack of sleep. Beijing: Xinhua (in Chinese).
Zhang, Y., & Hu, G. W. (2010). Between intended and enacted curriculums: Three teachers and a mandated curricular reform in mainland China. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Conceptualization for language policy in education (pp. 123–142). New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank the case school and the participating school leaders and teachers for their generous sharing and support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix: Survey About Students’ Happiness of Studying in the School
Appendix: Survey About Students’ Happiness of Studying in the School
Do you agree with the following statements? Please put a tick in the box that shows your opinion on each statement.
A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. My teachers care about me | |||||
2. I am happy with the small class learning environment in the school | |||||
3. I feel happy studying in the school | |||||
4. I like coming to school and playing with my classmates | |||||
5. I have made progress after I studied in the small class setting in the school |
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, Y. Making Students Happy with Wellbeing-Oriented Education: Case Study of a Secondary School in China. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 25, 463–471 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0275-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0275-4