Happiness is… Erasmus Project

Project Title

Happiness is…

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

According to The World Health Organization (WHO) depression is the principal cause of illness and disability in the world. The organisation has been issuing warnings over several years, as this disease affects over 300 million people all over the world and is characterized by a high risk of suicide (the second most common cause of death in those aged between 15 and 29). Studies on the child population have observed prevalence rates of, for example, 4% in Spain, 8% in Greece, 10% in Australia and up to 25% in Colombia. As the World Health Organization (WHO) has also stated, preventing depression is a key aspect of major importance and the organisation argues that school programs and interventions aimed at parents help reduce the prevalence of this disease. Depression prevention programs do exist, mainly targeted at adolescents and only a few at children that are younger.

As these numbers and first remarks show, issues of mental health are supposed to play an important role in contemporary education, be it in school or outside. However, they do largely play a marginal role in schools. Having said that, it has to be clearly stated that schools are not institutions that can cure diseases. But what we can do is to focus on prevention. For this the concept HAPPINESS plays a very important role.

Therefore, the main idea of this project is to deal with the different facets of HAPPINESS, declined in different perspectives: happiness can be experienced, following very different ways and paths and because of that also a intercultural approach of the European countries involved is valuable and benefitting. Besides that, respect of cultural differences will be a common goal, in order to make our pupils more sensitive to one of the main mottos of EU: United in diversity. Given that happiness is a basic human need, we want to open up opportunities to the pupils, so that they learn themselves to become happy.

This project answers a fundamental need in today’s Europe: it makes the pupils think about an existential aspect of their life, although they are not used to reflect on it and they usually take it for granted. For this reason, we see the urgent need for them to talk about these topics, to discover what could possibly make them happy, and to make use of that knowledge in their daily life.

At the beginning of the project, pupils will not be aware of the need to discuss the concept of happiness. These ideas include e.g. questions why happiness is such an important issue not only for an individual, but also on a social or even political level. Whereas in countries of the Western hemisphere political debate is still dominated by e.g. the gross domestic product, in Bhutan GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS is a major goal of governance of the country’s leaders there. Following a resolution “Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development” (UN General Assembly 2011), urging member nations to follow the example of Bhutan and measure happiness and well-being and calling happiness a “fundamental human goal, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network has published a World Happiness Report almost every year, making it clear that overall happiness of a population is influenced by a set of factors in every country. Similarly, the EU commission issues health reports every year and has called the physical and psychological health of the young generation an important aim. To deepen those philosophical and political ideas of happiness we, the European citizens, have to ask ourselves questions like: What kind of effect does the lack of happiness have (again: for an individual, for society)? What is the relationship between human concepts like HAPPINESS to others like FREEDOM?

Participation in this project will allow each participant to reflect on a person’s individual resources of happiness as well as on those that have its origins in society. One goal is to facilitate students from different countries to have a cross-cultural reflection on the achievement of happiness. Is it because we are people from Italy, Germany and France that we have different ways of achieving happiness? This is another question that will be raised during the project.

Pupils will be confonted with the concept “happiness” in a more THEORETICAL way throughout literature, languages, philosophy, art, theatre, sciences, social studies, as well as in a more PRACTICAL way with the exchange of experiences (in the fields mentioned before, but also by means of e.g. sports) and the encounter with other cultures.

The concrete results are:
– Final Common Product: a video documentary with the title “The Art of Happiness”
– Specific Products: Collège Henri Wallon will produce a theatre play. Liceo IESS will prepare a photo documentation of the project. Leonhard-Wagner-Gynnasium will host a panel discussion at the end of the workshops, reflecting on the results and findings of the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 82085 Eur

Project Coordinator

Leonhard-Wagner-Gymnasium & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Istituto Europeo Studi Superiori
• Collège Henri Wallon