In pursuit of happiness

What does it mean to ourish? e Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University de nes ourishing as ‘complete human wellbeing: a state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good’ (VanderWeele 2017, 8149), including the following ve domains: • happiness and life satisfaction •mental and physical health •meaning and purpose •character and virtue • close social relationships

In 2021, we began a project with researchers from Research Schools International (RSI) and Harvard to discover to what degree our students are ourishing, which researchbased practices we already used to support ourishing, and which practices we might implement more o en. We collected survey data from students across school years and analysed this data using a mixed-methods approach. Student and teacher research fellows worked alongside RSI to learn about educational research and human ourishing, and to develop their research skills, including learning about survey design and analysis.

Many evidence-based activities compiled by Harvard to enhance student ourishing were reported in school. Exercise, use of humour, and volunteering ranked on the higher end, and are regularly encouraged and practised at Sevenoaks. ere were also many examples of acts of kindness, inspiring wonder, and healthy sleep and eating being encouraged by teachers. Opportunities to engage with nature, express gratitude, receive social support and practise mindfulness were, however, ranked lowest in terms of how o en students are encouraged to engage in these activities at school. e research ndings were shared with our sta , who were invited to re ect on ways that individual teaching practice could attend more explicitly to the above areas for growth. All teachers were asked to

Expressive activities, like painting, aid mindfulness, which is one of the practices that has been found to aid flourishing

Social activities support all-round fulfilment

The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard and Research Schools International has curated a collection of activities that research has shown can support students’ flourishing in schools, including: • Exercise • Volunteering • Use of humour • Healthy sleeping and eating • Wonder • Acts of kindness • Connecting with nature • Gratitude • Social activities • Mindfulness

At Sevenoaks, exercise, use of humour, and volunteering ranked on the higher end, and are regularly encouraged and practised. There were also many examples of acts of kindness, inspiring wonder, and encouragement of healthy sleep and eating. Opportunities to engage with nature, express gratitude, receive social support and practise mindfulness were ranked lowest in terms of how often students are encouraged to engage in these activities at school, and are areas the school is exploring.

Volunteering can help students flourish at school

What does it mean to flourish? How can I truly make myself happy? These are questions I’ve asked myself before, as many have, when I feel that times are tough. I’ve found myself asking these questions more over the last year, wondering what exactly it is that I feel that I’m missing. However, I’m very fortunate to have been able to take part in the Flourishing project. This incredible opportunity truly came at a time in my life when I felt that I was at a loss for how to improve my wellbeing. It was then that I was first introduced to the concept of flourishing.

I learned that flourishing is less of a tangible, physically attainable state of mind and more of an approach to living life. To flourish is to feel contentment throughout the di erent aspects of your life, – happiness and life satisfaction, meaning and purpose, mental and physical health, character and virtue, and positive social relationships (VanderWeele, 2020).

To truly flourish is not about the temporary pleasure that we tend to label as happiness, but to feel fulfilled in all the di erent aspects of your life. Working with Harvard researchers on this project has invited me to reflect on what this means in practice, as well as how I can begin to feel more fulfilled in my own life.

I would suggest to anyone who wishes to be happier (which I think is everyone!) to take some time to reflect on what it might mean to do so. When you approach your own life with an outlook of flourishing, thinking beyond the momentary pleasure to the longerterm happiness and contentment, it might make a real di erence.

A particular feature of the project has been to involve students as active participants and research fellows. When asked to reflect on the process, their insight into flourishing in schools, and experience of helping to identify areas for growth, was overwhelmingly positive. One student wrote, ‘The project enabled students throughout di erent years to undertake research, and ran through lower, middle and upper school. For many of us, this was the first real research we’d participated in and it taught us valuable skills for designing surveys, filtering data, analysing it and drawing conclusions.’

propose an activity that would address one of these areas and apply them through their own practice. Some teachers have taken a further step and developed their ideas into action research projects. For example, teachers are undertaking projects focusing on: use of mindfulness activities in lessons; using re ective practices to promote student thinking about the meaning and purpose of education; strategies for supporting students with perfectionist tendencies; and facilitating ow through teaching. is research has inspired consideration at the most fundamental level of what education is for. As an IB school, we want to understand better how to help students develop meaningfully as happy and healthy people, with a greater awareness of themselves and of others, just as much as they achieve success in academic terms. Detailed consideration of human ourishing has already made a signi cant di erence to the way we understand the practical and ideological implications of this aim. We’re looking forward to implementing further changes in the future.