Quality of life movement: Historical overview of the policies and challenges for the future of education

TY - JOUR

T1 - Quality of life movement

T2 - Historical overview of the policies and challenges for the future of education

AU - Francesconi, Denis

AU - Tarozzi, Massimiliano

AU - Bykachev, Kirsi

AU - Vaalimaki, Tarja V¨alim¨aki

AU - Turunen, Hannele

AU - Simovska, Venka

PY - 2023/11

Y1 - 2023/11

N2 - Since the early 1990s, there has been a paradigm shift in human development theory due to a slow but steady increase in the attention paid to the concepts of quality of life, wellbeing and happiness. Accordingly, some scientists have questioned the validity of Gross Domestic Product as a tool to explain the wealth and development of nations, and several institutions and scholars have started to provide new policies and indexes to measure both subjective and collective wellbeing. These include, among others, the so-called Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report, the OECD’s Better Life Initiative, the Quality of Life in Europe and the United Nations’ World Happiness Index. At the moment, a comprehensive and critical historical review of this trend is still missing, as well as its impact oneducation systems. In this paper, we first review the historical development of what has been called the ‘Quality of Life movement’ (QoL movement) and the major trends and indexes currently available for measuring the quality of life and wellbeing. We then present some education policy initiatives as examples of the attempt to implement QoL discourse into education systems. We conclude by outlining critical theoretical considerations of how the QoL movement could impact future education policies and systems.

AB - Since the early 1990s, there has been a paradigm shift in human development theory due to a slow but steady increase in the attention paid to the concepts of quality of life, wellbeing and happiness. Accordingly, some scientists have questioned the validity of Gross Domestic Product as a tool to explain the wealth and development of nations, and several institutions and scholars have started to provide new policies and indexes to measure both subjective and collective wellbeing. These include, among others, the so-called Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report, the OECD’s Better Life Initiative, the Quality of Life in Europe and the United Nations’ World Happiness Index. At the moment, a comprehensive and critical historical review of this trend is still missing, as well as its impact oneducation systems. In this paper, we first review the historical development of what has been called the ‘Quality of Life movement’ (QoL movement) and the major trends and indexes currently available for measuring the quality of life and wellbeing. We then present some education policy initiatives as examples of the attempt to implement QoL discourse into education systems. We conclude by outlining critical theoretical considerations of how the QoL movement could impact future education policies and systems.

KW - quality of life movement

KW - wellbeing education

KW - critical education

KW - education systems

KW - beyond Gross Domestic Product

KW - quality of life policies

KW - HAPPINESS

KW - POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

KW - Skolehistorie

KW - Uddannelsespolitik

U2 - 10.1177/14782103221105462

DO - 10.1177/14782103221105462

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1478-2103

VL - 21

SP - 868

EP - 885

JO - Policy Futures in Education

JF - Policy Futures in Education

IS - 8

ER -