A Mixed Approach to Measuring the School Happiness of Elementary School Students in Tehran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 M.A. of Educational Research, University of Tehran

2 faculty member, University of Tehran, Faculty of Psychology and Education

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the rate of students’ subjective well-being in elementary school in Tehran. The statistical population consisted of all primary school students in the 15th district of Tehran. From this population 410 students, 4 schools and 12 classrooms were selected by convenience sampling method. The present study followed a mixed approach including both quantitative and qualitative methods to answer a specific research question. The data for analysis were collected using the Kamali Elementary School Students’ Subjective Well-Being Scale (2019) as well as a researcher-made checklist. The results showed that among the six components of school happiness, the three components including "teacher teaching", "student friends" and "student self" are in a relatively satisfactory condition and in three components including "managerial executive", "cultural", "environmental" has been in a state of unsatisfactory happiness and dissatisfaction. A comparison of alignment results revealed that in seven classes, students' and researcher's opinions were consistent. In three classes where students' opinions did not agree with the researcher, the researcher evaluated the conditions better and the students did not consider the conditions appropriate.
 

Keywords

References

Band, B. (2021). Happy School 365: Action Jackson's Guide to Motivating Learners. The School Librarian, 69(1), 71-71.
 Al-Bataineh, O. T., Mahasneh, A. M., & Al-Zoubi, Z. (2021). The Correlation between Level of School Happine+ss and Teacher Autonomy in Jordan. International Journal of Instruction, 14(2), 1021-1036.
Giản, Phạm ., Bảo, Đặng., Tâm, Tăng., Tặc, Phạm. (2021). Happy Schools: Perspectives and Matters of Organization-Pedagogy in School’s Building and Development. International Education Studies. 14(6). 92-102.
Hart. L. C., Smith. S. Z., Swars. S. L., & Smith. M. E. (2009). An Examination of Research Methods in Mathematics Education. Journal of Mixed Methods Research.3(1). 26 – 41.
Hills, P. & Argyle, M. (2002). The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 33(7), 1073-1082.
Kim, S. W., & Kim, L. Y. (2021). "Happiness education and the free year program in South Korea". Comparative Education, 57(2), 247-266.
Lahey, J. (2016). Letting happiness flourish in the classroom [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://well.blogs.nytimes.com.
Long, R. F., & Huebner, E. S. (2014). Differential validity of global and domain-specific measures of life satisfaction in the context of schooling. Child Indicators Research, 7, 671-694.
Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111-131.
Martin-Krumm, C., Fenouillet, F., Csillik, A., Kern, L., Besançon, M., Heutte, J., ... Diener, E. (2016). Changes in emotions from childhood to young adulthood. Child Indicators Research, 11(2), 541–561. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12187-016-9440-9. Child Indicators Research, 11, 541–561.
Mitchell, K. J. (1997). What happens when school reform and accountability testing meet? Theory into Practice, 36(4), 262-266.
OECD (2017), PISA 2015 Results (Volume III): Students' Well-Being, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264273856-en.
Padilla, R. (2005). High-stakes testing and educational accountability as social constructions across cultures. In A. Valenzuela (Ed.), Leaving children behind: How 'Texas-style' accountability fails Latino youth (pp. 249-262). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Sezer, S., & Can, E. (2019). School happiness: a scale development and implementation study. Euras. J. Educ. Res. 79, 167–190.
Sezer, S. & Can, E. (2020). School Happiness: A Grounded Theory. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 15(1), 44-62.
Salehi, K., & Golafshani, N. (2010). Using mixed methods in research studies: an opportunity with its challenges. International journal of multiple research approaches, 4, 186 – 191.
Seligman, Martin E. P. (1990). Learned Optimism ، New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., p. 101, ISBN 0-394-57915-1.Mahon, N. E. Yarcheski، A. and Yarcheski، T. J. (2010).
Telef, B, B., (2021). The Relation between Happiness, School Satisfaction, and Positive Experiences at School in Secondary School Students., Education and Science, 46(205), 359-371.
Tian, L., Zhao, J., Scott Huebner, E. (2015). School-related social support and subjective well-being in school among adolescents: The roles of self-system factors. Journal of Adolescence, 45(8), 138-148.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 12 September 2020
  • Revise Date: 30 May 2022
  • Accept Date: 22 February 2021

Share

How to cite

Statistics