On the Importance of the School Context for Well-Being. Comparative Analysis of the Perspectives of Children Under 6 and over 8 Years of Age

In Switzerland, school-related well-being has become particularly relevant since the pandemic, or rather since the publication of research showing not only the intensification of social inequalities but also the increased loneliness and rise in suicide attempts among children and adolescents during and after school closures (see Stocker et al. 2020).

In the paper, we draw on two projects that focused on the subjective well-being of children and asked children aged 2–6 and 8–14 years about what is important to them and what they value. The study in the area of early childhood was conducted during the pandemic, while the one with older children followed after the pandemic. Even though neither the pandemic nor school were the subject of the research, they served as relevant contexts for the interviews. It was the children themselves who, in their narratives, made the (shortcomings of) school relevant – without being asked.

The article is based on comparative analyses of the way the two age groups talk about their kindergarten, which is part of the school system in Switzerland, and about school. What role does school play from the children's point of view? From the earliest years, how important do children consider school contexts to be for their well-being?

While, for example, system-theoretical perspectives ascribe the functions of selection and socialisation to schools and inequality-theoretical and praxeological perspectives demonstrate how schools themselves reproduce social inequality, the children's narratives show what they miss when they cannot go to school. This perspective on the aspects that are relevant and even missing, that represent a deficiency, provides ex negativo information about the psycho-social and emotional relevance of the school context for the well-being of the children. We are pursuing these aspects systematically and comparatively with regard to the age groups under 6 and over 8 years of age.