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. The third survey wave encompassed 36 classes from 14 schools (N = 585 students, N = 55 teachers). Unten sehen Sie die Ergebnisse zum Wohlbefinden der Schüler:innen und Lehrpersonen der Erhebungswellen 1 bis 3. Below you can see the results on the well-being of students and teachers for all three survey waves. Significant changes are marked with a * sign.

Well-being profiles

 
 

 

 

Profile analysis offers a way of recognizing patterns in complex statistical data. It is used to identify groups of people who are similar in their behavior or characteristics and thus helps to better understand certain phenomena.
Statistical well-being profiles were formed using the mean well-being values of all students from the total WESIR sample (N = 756). This means that students with similar characteristics on different well-being dimensions were assigned to the same profile.  
The figure below shows the mean values of the individual dimensions of school well-being from the students' perspective, in four identified well-being profiles: "disinterested", "socially stressed", "engaged" and "worried".

A total of N = 164 (22%) students were assigned to the "disinterested" profile. Compared to the students in the other profiles, they are characterized by a low positive attitude toward school and enjoyment in school. In addition, they have relatively high levels of worry about school, but these do not appear to be accompanied by physical complaints. Students in this profile are therefore less interested and still worry about school, but this does not manifest itself in physical stress symptoms. The reason for this could be the aforementioned lack of interest in school.

A total of N = 81 (11%) of the students were in the "socially stressed" profile. This is characterized by the high level of social problems in school, which are reflected in the two other negative dimensions of well-being, worries about school and physical complaints in school. Despite the relatively high mean values on all negative dimensions, these students have average values on the positive well-being dimensions. This illustrates that well-being at school is a multidimensional construct that simultaneously allows for positive emotions and cognitions as well as negative emotions and cognitions.

N = 389 (51%) pupils could be described as "engaged". They have a positive attitude toward school, enjoy school and have a high academic self-concept. At the same time, compared to the other profiles, they have the lowest mean values on the negative well-being dimensions. Slightly more than half of all students are committed to school; it can be said that they feel comfortable at school.

N = 122 (16%) of students were categorized in the "worried" profile. Students in this profile have a high level of worries in school, which, compared to the "disinterested" profile, are also associated with physical complaints. Nevertheless, these students have relatively high scores on all three positive dimensions of well-being. The high levels of worry in school among these students therefore do not appear to be due to a lack of interest in school or social problems in school. Other factors, such as a perceived high pressure to perform, could trigger the worries in school.

 
 

 

 

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.