My PHD Thesis

 

1. Introduction

1.1 Happiness in education, the importance for the future

Happier students learn better, connect better with people and contribute more to peace. The body of literature on happiness has grown over the past two decades (Kim, 2018). Recently, investigators have vastly worked on happiness research making this the "hottest subjects not only in economics but far beyond" (Frey and Gallus, 2016). Evidence from a number of experimental studies has established that happiness is relevant politically, educationally, economically, and socially. In education, happiness has been believed to have a considerable impact on students' learning, behavior, and relationships (e.g., Noddings, 2003; Tachibanaki, 2016; Michalos, 2017). It has been observed by scholars as Tachibanaki (2016) that "education is positively correlated with happiness." (p. 1). Despite an increased interest in happiness in education, it is surprising that little empirical research has actually been conducted on the topic, especially from the student’s perspectives.