The Science of Happiness: Implementing Well-being Interventions in Schools

Overview

Forging the most ideal pathway to promote well-being in schools remains an elusive goal for many societies. Given the increasing incidence of students’ and teachers’ mental health issues, there is a need to prioritise scientifically grounded initiatives to boost students’ and teachers’ well-being. However, the achievement-oriented, competitive, and elitist nature of school systems in many contexts exacerbate the struggles associated with cultivating well-being in school contexts.

Against this backdrop on the current state of well-being practices in school settings, this keynote speech concentrates on describing theoretically grounded, methodologically sound, cost-effective, and practically meaningful pathways to build well-being interventions in schools. Guided by the positive psychology literature and the speaker’s research programmes in well-being science and inclusive education, theories and research findings on psychosocial resources and strength-based strategies that facilitate students’ and teachers’ well-being outcomes are discussed.

Further, this talk elaborates potential practical strategies to build well-being interventions in schools. Evidence of how technological tools can support the delivery of well-being strategies are also described.

This keynote offers actionable insights and strategies for school leaders, educators, and mental health professionals to create a thriving school environment. Future directions are charted to enrich the landscape of well-being policies and practices in local school contexts.