Moments of happiness in Sengwarden: Students discover their places of happiness”

Moments of happiness in Sengwarden: Students discover their places of happiness”

At Sengwarden primary school, the focus is on happiness! During an exciting project week, the students, guided by theater teachers from the Junge Landesbühne (Julabü), explored their very own “happy places”. The school principal Ute Schürmann and the theater teacher Caroline Wybranietz initiated this innovative format, supported by the Gerd Möller Foundation. NWZonline reports that five days of action were organized for all classes to provide students with a deeper understanding of joy and happiness.

But what exactly did the children do? The first and fourth graders developed a moving concept: While the first graders performed a “happiness choreography,” the fourth graders hung their wishes for the coming school year on a wish tree. The second graders gave free rein to their creativity and decorated their favorite places in the school yard with colorful ribbons, while the third graders carried out activities to strengthen solidarity. Picture books on the topic of happiness were also included, which underlined the students' commitment and joy.

Integration of positive psychology

The overarching goal of this project week was to integrate positive psychology into everyday school life. The students wrote things that make them happy on pieces of paper and kept them in jam jars. Headmistress Ute Schürmann emphasizes the great importance of a positive school environment for everyone – students, teachers and parents. An approach supported by Dr. Ernst Fritz-Schubert and his school subject happiness is strengthened. Create Your Life highlights that this subject is based on positive content from pedagogy, psychology and philosophy. It aims to promote life skills and enjoyment of life.

In this context, students can recognize their character strengths and discover what they can contribute to their own life satisfaction. The methodological approaches in the subject of happiness are on solid ground, as they include exercises from organizational consulting and experiential and theater education. The positive results of scientific evaluations show a significant increase in well-being and the school climate as well as an increase in the students' motivation to learn and goal orientation.

A concept with a future

The successes of the project awaken desires for repetition at other schools. Wybranietz and Osterkamp hope that the concept will reach wider circles. Officially, the school subject of happiness is not yet part of the education ministries' canon of subjects, but the integration of positive approaches into school education already shows a lot of potential.

Overall, the project week at the Sengwarden primary school reflects the positive charisma and innovative way of thinking that is required in education today. The future is being shaped here – and in a happy way! The need for action in education should not be underestimated given the results. Because with the right basics, you can not only impart learning content at school, but also joy of life. The scientific findings on positive psychology are particularly exciting. The pedagogy specialist portal describes in detail how such approaches can have an impact and how they can be embedded in the school context.