Institute of Educational Science

Projects

WESIR

Well-being in School in Switzerland (WESIR)

Relevance of well-being in school

Not only objective school performance, but also the well-being of students and teachers are important for a functioning school system. Well-being in school has become an important component of education policy in many countries.

Why is well-being in school so important?

  • Age-related changes during adolescence and the demands of today's society can lead to increased stress and low well-being in students and teachers
  • Promoting student well-being contributes to school engagement, improves classroom learning and can support academic achievement
  • Schools that adopt a culture of well-being can positively impact the whole school life, including social relationships, teaching and learning approaches, and overall school climate

As research in this regard is still limited, more evidence-based knowledge should be gathered on the development of student and teacher well-being and ways to promote it. The WESIR project aims to examine in depth the development of student and teacher well-being and identify ways to promote it.

Goals

In our project, we are guided by three goals:

  1. To examine the impact of the school environment on the well-being of secondary school students and their teachers and to identify factors at different ecological levels that might influence the development of student well-being
  2. To analyze the impact of a school-based well-being intervention program on the short- and long-term well-being of students
  3. To generate scientifically as well as practically relevant knowledge about student and teacher well-being and to make it available to researchers, schools, and the public

Research questions

Applying a mixed-methods design, which includes quantitative, qualitative, and intervention data, we will explore a variety of research questions. Among others, we will explore the following questions:

  1. How does student well-being develop between Grades 9–11 (HarmoS) in Switzerland?

  2. What are the main factors influencing student and teacher well-being in Switzerland?

  3. How does the student well-being-increasing intervention program influence student well-being and other outcomes?

Research design

Grafik Forschungsdesign
  • Pilot study
    • Between November 2021 and January 2022, the pilot study was conducted to test the questionnaires for students and teachers as well as the interview and group discussion guidelines using a small sample. Approximately 100 students from 5 classes in the 7th grade (9th school year HarmoS) in Switzerland and their teachers (N≈20) participated.

  • Quantitative study
    • Between 2022 and 2024, approximately 800 Swiss lower secondary school students (9th to 11th grade HarmoS) fill out an online questionnaire once per school year (three times in total). In addition, about 100 teachers also complete an online questionnaire each year.

  • Qualitative study
    • 30 students and 30 teachers were selected to participate in interviews once per school year after they completed an online survey. The students are interviewed individually for about 30 minutes, the teachers participate in group discussions for about an hour.

  • Intervention
    • In the 8th grade (10th grade HarmoS), students and their teachers participated in the 10-week "Well-Being-Boost" Training where they were introduced to specific well-being-increasing strategies that can be easily integrated into everyday school life. With the support of the researchers, teachers integrated specific well-being strategies into their lessons. The participants were divided into four groups that used different strategies.

Results

Well-being in school

During the first wave of data collection, we collected data in 44 classes from 17 schools (N = 757 students, N = 95 teachers) in the cantons of Bern, Aargau, and Solothurn. 42 classes from 15 schools (N = 738 students, N = 84 teachers) participated in the second survey wave. Below you can see the results on the well-being of students and teachers.

Student-teacher relationship

In the first survey wave, data on the relationship between students and teachers was collected. Both students and teachers were asked how they perceive their relationship with each other. The results of the comparison are graphically displayed below.