Well-being and school results are inter-connected, but some children simply do not enjoy school. So what can we do to make school a happier experience for more children?

Professor Hermundur Sigmundsson works at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU’s) Department of Psychology and has spent many years conducting research on learning and schooling.

He and his colleagues are currently carrying out a project in Vestmannaeyjar in Iceland. Among other things, they have investigated whether more physical activity early in the day and a passion project class at the end of the school day affect how much the youngest children enjoy school.

The researchers therefore gave children in Years 1 to 3 at the primary school in Vestmannaeyjar more physical education and opportunities to choose activities at the end of the school day – something they called the ‘passion project class’.

“In Iceland, children in primary and lower secondary school normally have two hours of physical education and one hour of swimming per week. But the children in our study were given two additional hours of physical activity per week,” said Sigmundsson.

That corresponds to around 72 school hours over the course of a school year. The researchers believe that this will increase the children’s well-being.

Increasing physical activity is not the only measure the research group has implemented. Previously, they also introduced ‘passion project classes’.

“Physical education and the additional two hours of physical activity are scheduled at the beginning of the day. The pupils also have a passion project class at the end of every school day,” explained Sigmundsson.

In the passion project class, the pupils can choose among activities such as painting, music, crafts, sewing and knitting, and food and health. On Fridays, the passion project class ends with singing and dancing.

“Physical activity and the passion project class are the subjects the children both enjoy the most and feel they master the best,” said Sigmundsson.

The passion project class is the most popular and gives the greatest sense of mastery among all the school subjects.

This holistic approach, which includes both extra physical activity and the passion project class, seems to be working.

“Our pupils score significantly higher on the question ‘Do you enjoy school?’ than a control group of Norwegian children,” added Sigmundsson.

The programme is part of ‘Kveikjum neistann’ (Ignite the Spark) – an Icelandic educational research project with a holistic approach to schoolwork, developed by Sigmundsson. (See the fact box.)
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“This is the fifth year at Grunnskóli Vestmannaeyjar school and the third year at Lindaskóli school,” said Sigmundsson.

This study included 146 Icelandic pupils, and 1185 children were included in the Norwegian control group.

Increased well-being is by no means the only good result the researchers have achieved. The children have also become better at reading, which is a foundation for improved performance in many subjects. (See the fact box.)

“With focused training, good support and assessment, all the children in our project manage to crack the reading code by the end of their first year of school,” concluded Sigmundsson.

Norway’s Minister of Education Kari Nessa Nordtun has called for measures that can increase well-being in primary and lower secondary school, motivate pupils, and include more arts and crafts in the school day.

“This is exactly what we are working on in Ignite the Spark,” said Sigmundsson.

Three schools in Norway have now introduced additional physical activity and passion project classes every day, and two schools are implementing the ‘I CAN/We CAN’ intervention. In addition, the MOT (Show Courage) session implements the ‘I CAN’ programme for 16,000 Year 10 pupils each year. You can read more about it here.

Even though the project in Iceland still has five years left to run, the researchers have already identified several factors that can make the school day both more enjoyable and more effective for the children involved.