4. a risk or resource for students’
wellbeing (Samdal, 1999)
Anne G. Danielsen
5. Subjective wellbeing
Positive development in children and youth
Focus on
◦ Developing strengths
◦ Positive responses to adversity
◦ Strenghtening important institutions
Complements, does not replace, risk behaviour-
and disability-approaches
Main purpose: Identitfying supportive and
motivating factors that may relate to
wellbeing and learning of students
(Danielsen, 2010).
Anne G. Danielsen
6. (a) positive subjective experiences,
◦ like subjective wellbeing , self-determination, self-
efficacy and self-regulated learning (academic initiative)
(b) positive personality – a perspective on human
beings as self-organizing, self-directed, adaptive
entities,
◦ e.g. self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) and
social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997), and
(c) positive institutions
◦ e.g. schools, bringing out the best in positive character
and subjective experiences (Seligman &
Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
◦ School setting: the major extra-familial environment
Anne G. Danielsen
7. Belonging at school:
◦ economic or educational success as adults
◦ long-term health and wellbeing (OECD, 2004)
Success in education:
◦ individuals’ opportunities to live a successful life
(Ottawa Charter to Health Promotion, 1986; Masten
& Coatsworth, 1998; OECD, 2004).
Individuals’ wellbeing and learning
◦ prerequisite for societies to achieve sustainable
socio-economic and democratic development
(OECD, 2004)
Anne G. Danielsen
8. Chapter 9a. The pupils’ school environment
Section 9a-1. General requirements
All pupils attending primary and
secondary schools are entitled to a
good physical and psychosocial
environment conducive to health,
wellbeing and learning.
Anne G. Danielsen
9. Subjective Wellbeing
Quality of life or “happiness”
people’s own evaluations of their
lives, both affective and cognitive
Anne G. Danielsen
10. life satisfaction, as for school students in
Norway, and
school satisfaction, considering school as
one of the important life domains of
wellbeing
◦ such as work, family, friends, or community
(Huebner, Suldo, Smith, & McKnight, 2004a;
Huebner, Valois, Suldo, Smith, McKnight, Seligson
et al., 2004b).
Anne G. Danielsen
11. an important cognitive aspect of subjective
wellbeing
(Huebner, Valois, Paxton, & Drane, 2005)
views of life conditions and wellbeing
experienced and assessed by the
individuals themselves
(Huebner et al., 2004)
global, cognitive judgments of one’s life
(Pavot, Diener, Colvin, & Sandvik, 1991)
a person’s evaluation of various areas of his
or her life (such as the school context)
Anne G. Danielsen
12. A right to feel good about themselves and the
institutions in which they function (Verkuyten &
Thijs, 2002)
An important outcome of schooling in itself
An affective variable, students’ enjoyment and
evaluation of their school experiences (Huebner &
Gilman, 2006)
Social belonging and inclusion (PISA-studies;
educational policy documents)
Liking school: (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children-studies)
Disaffection with school may reflect
alienation or disconnection from school and
withdrawal from school activities
Anne G. Danielsen
13. Engagement in challenging, task oriented
behaviour (Larson, 2000)
Self-regulated learning; motivational processes
◦ Goal setting, effort, positive beliefs, valuing
learning (Schunk & Zimmerman, 1997)
Obtain better results (more likely)
Become lifelong learners (more likely)
Major new goal of education (OECD, 2004)
Contribution to creating a good life (Report
No. 16 [2006-2007] to the Norwegian Parliament)
Anne G. Danielsen
14. a critical developmental period in shaping
patterns of mental health (WHO, 2000) and
health enhancing-behaviors
(Larson, Wilson, Mortimer, 2002).
Both growth and problems are potential
outcomes of the adolescent period, depending
on the kind of care and opportunities that
adults and institutions afford
(Roeser, Eccles, Sameroff, 1998).
improving a student’s school initiative may
prevent student boredom, disaffection, and
drop-out from school (cf. Finn, 1989;
Fredricks et al.).Anne G. Danielsen
15. Apply a positive psychological perspective
School-related factors
Lower secondary schools, i.e. grade 8-10
relate positively to students’
Life satisfaction,
School satisfaction and Academic initiative
Anne G. Danielsen
16. Self-determination theory
(Deci & Ryan, 2000)
What are
supportive and motivating
environments in schools
according to self-determination
theory?
Anne G. Danielsen
18. Relatedness; belonging and feeling connected to
others
Competence; to control outcomes and to
experience effectance, such as having a sense of
mastery over one’s capacity to act in the
environment
Autonomy; to be agentic, to feel like the “origin”
of one’s actions, and to have a voice, initiative,
input or choice in determining our own behavior
(Ryan & Deci, 2000; Deci & Ryan, 2000).
Anne G. Danielsen
19. Interpersonal involvement
Competence-involving structure
Autonomy-support
Reeve (2002); Reeve et al. (2008)
Anne G. Danielsen
Warmth
vs
Hostility
Structure
vs
Chaos
Autonomy-
Support vs
Coercion
20. Interpersonal involvement (Reeve, 2005)
The creation of social bonds
◦ a) the other person cares about my welfare
◦ b) the other person likes me (Baumeister & Leary, 1995)
Support for relatedness provided by teachers
◦ a sense of being close to students,
◦ a sense of warmth, affection, and acceptance of
students (Reeve, 2006; Reeve et al., 2008)
◦ pedagogical caring (Goldstein, 1999; Wentzel, 1997;
Noddings, 2005).
◦ can be important to students’ development of
secure relations to adults (Furrer & Skinner, 2003)
Anne G. Danielsen
Warmth
vs
Hostility
21. Competence-involving structure
Continued feed-back provided by teachers:
clear expectations, optimal challenges, and timely,
informative, consistent, sensitive, and responsive
feedback (in contrast to chaos or laissez-faire)
suggestions for how future performance
can be improved, may
◦ reduce perceptions of uncertainty
◦ help the student in developing a sense of
perceived control over possible stressful
circumstances (Rosenfeld et al., 2000, Hattie, 2009;
Hattie & Timperley, 2007; OECD, 2005; Reeve, 2002).
Anne G. Danielsen
Structure
vs
Chaos
22. Autonomy-supportive teachers
◦ help students develop a sense of congruence
between their classroom behavior and their inner
motivational resources
◦ provide students with high-quality interpersonal
relationships (Reeve, 2002).
Responsive, supportive, motivate through interest,
asking students what they want (Reeve; Reeve &
Jang, 2006).
◦ enhanced motivation, engagement, learning, and
psychological wellbeing (Reeve & Halusic, 2009)
Anne G. Danielsen
Autonomy-
Support vs
Coercion
23. two independent contextual variables
◦ can be complementary and mutually supportive
Teachers can
◦ provide little or much competence-involving
structure
Teachers can
◦ be controlling or autonomy-supportive
“A lack of structure yields not an
autonomy-supportive environment but
instead one that is permissive, indulgent, or
laissez-faire” (Reeve, 2006, p. 231).
Anne G. Danielsen
25. Most young adolescents report
relatively high levels of life satisfaction
(Currie, Gabhainn, Godeau, Roberts, Smith,
Currie et al., 2008).
11, 13 and 15-year-old school-students in
41 countries and regions across Europe and
North America.
social support from family, teachers, and
peers is associated with perceived life
satisfaction (Diener & Fujita, 1995).
Anne G. Danielsen
26. School may be one of the life domains with
the largest impact on students’ life
satisfaction (Huebner, Laughlin, Ash &
Gilman, 1998)
Literature in this area is scant (Suldo, Riley, &
Shaffer, 2006).
Knowledge about the impact of school
satisfaction on students’ life satisfaction:
important for understanding how school-
related resources influence (and change)
health and well-being.
Anne G. Danielsen
27. if the school context
provides social support for
relatedness,
competence and
autonomy (Baker et al., 2003).
Associated with increased school satisfaction
In accordance with self-determination theory
(Ryan & Deci, 2000)
Anne G. Danielsen
28. Large cross-country differences in the
prevalence of students reporting to like
school (Currie, et al., 2008).
Female students tend to report higher levels
of school satisfaction than males do, but
this gender gap narrows between ages 11
and 15.
Compared with other countries;
◦ Norwegian students tend to report very high
levels of liking school (Currie et al.) and also a
very high sense of belonging to their school (ILS,
2006).
Anne G. Danielsen
29. -such as
perceived teacher support
care, understanding, fairness, and
friendliness,
appear very influential on
students’ school satisfaction
(Rosenfeld et al., 2000; Reddy, Rhodes, &
Mulhall, 2003; Hamre & Pianta, 2006; Skinner
et al., 2008).
Anne G. Danielsen
30. Youth initiative
studied in different social contexts,
structured voluntary activities, but also in
school, family, and when students spend
time with peers in more unstructured ways
during schoolwork, students report low
intrinsic motivation.
(Larson, 2000; Hansen et al., 2003; Larson et al., 2005) .
academic initiative was not previously
examined
Anne G. Danielsen
33. 1. To what extent is support in the school
environment related to students’ perceived life
satisfaction, school satisfaction and academic
initiative?
2. To what extent do perceived teacher support,
perceived classmate support, and
perceived student autonomy relate to students’
self-reported academic initiative at the individual
and at the school class levels?
Anne G. Danielsen
34. 1: Danielsen, Samdal, Hetland, & Wold, 2009;
The Journal of Educational Research, 102,
303–318.
2: Danielsen, Wiium, Wilhelmsen, & Wold, 2010;
Journal of School Psychology, 48, 247-267.
3: Danielsen, Breivik, & Wold, in press;
Scandinavian Journal of Educational
Research.
Anne G. Danielsen
35. nationally representative samples of 13 and
15 year-olds,
the sixth and seventh World Health
Organization (WHO) survey of
Health Behavior in School-aged Children
(Currie et. al., 2004; Currie, et al., 2008).
rriet
Anne G. Danielsen
36. National ethical approval was obtained
from the Regional Committee for
Medical Research Ethics (REK).
Data collection
Teachers, or other specially trained
personnel, supervised the students’
self-completion of the questionnaires
in the school classrooms
Anne G. Danielsen
37. Descriptive analysis
Structural equation modeling (SEM)
Two-level modeling
Multiple-group analysis
Anne G. Danielsen
38. The sample sizes were large
The samples were nationally representative
(Currie et al., 2001).
The results can be generalized to the
Norwegian populations that were studied
Anne G. Danielsen
44. pedagogical caring and
perceived competence are related to
academic initiative and
life satisfaction
in 13- and 15-year old students.
Anne G. Danielsen
45. - in consistency with previous US studies
(Rosenfeld et al. 2000; Reddy, Rhodes, &
Mulhall, 2003; Hamre & Pianta, 2006)
This result is in accordance with
self-determination theory;
social contexts that support the needs of
relatedness, competence, and autonomy are
associated with psychological well-being
(Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Anne G. Danielsen
46. The students’ perceptions of
pedagogical caring and autonomy support
(PCAS)
from their teachers were
strongly related (.86) to self-reported
academic initiative at the class level.
Students’ perceptions of teacher support
varied considerably between school classes.
Some school classes provide more favourable
environments for the development of
academic initiative than do others.
Anne G. Danielsen
47. the findings furthermore support
the existence of a relational zone
(Goldstein, 1999), and the importance of
pedagogical caring (Wentzel, 1997;
Noddings, 2005),
relatedness (e.g. Furrer & Skinner, 2003;
Skinner, Furrer, Marchand, & Kinderman,
2008), and
emotional support (Malecki & Demaray,
2003) in the learning environment.
Anne G. Danielsen
48. crucial to human life, both to nurture a
global need to belong and to provide more
situational or task specific support (cf.
Baumeister & Leary, 1995).
Because relatedness is likely to facilitate
internalization of the value of schoolwork,
relatedness may facilitate students’
engagement with school and
have a positive influence on students’
initiative for those school tasks that initially
are not intrinsically motivated.
Anne G. Danielsen
50. By supporting students’ experiences of
relatedness, competence, and autonomy in
schools,
a developmental pathway to psychological
wellbeing and increasing learning may open.
Self-determination theory:
interpersonal involvement,
competence-involving structure, and
autonomy-support
are crucial and mutually supportive factors
Anne G. Danielsen
