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Gramaxo, P., Dias, Á., Abelha, M., Dutschke, G. & Seabra, F. (2026). What makes school a happy place? Development and validation of a measurement scale for students. Frontiers in Education. 11

P. Gramaxo et al.,  "What makes school a happy place? Development and validation of a measurement scale for students", in Frontiers in Education, vol. 11, 2026

@article{gramaxo2026_1782457443280,
	author = "Gramaxo, P. and Dias, Á. and Abelha, M. and Dutschke, G. and Seabra, F.",
	title = "What makes school a happy place? Development and validation of a measurement scale for students",
	journal = "Frontiers in Education",
	year = "2026",
	volume = "11",
	number = "",
	doi = "10.3389/feduc.2026.1816069",
	url = "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education"
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - What makes school a happy place? Development and validation of a measurement scale for students
T2  - Frontiers in Education
VL  - 11
AU  - Gramaxo, P.
AU  - Dias, Á.
AU  - Abelha, M.
AU  - Dutschke, G.
AU  - Seabra, F.
PY  - 2026
SN  - 2504-284X
DO  - 10.3389/feduc.2026.1816069
UR  - https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education
AB  - Introduction:
In addition to academic results, schools are increasingly mandated with promoting student happiness, contributing to their well-being, instilling a sense of belonging, and fostering the development of social and emotional skills. Thus, it is essential to have validated instruments to assess the overall happiness of schools. This article proposes a scale that assesses school happiness, as perceived by students.
Methods:
Data was obtained through questionnaires administered to 2,452 students (for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), data were collected from 1,242 respondents, while a separate sample of 1,210 participated in the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The model was tested using structural equation modeling techniques.
Results:
The results made it possible to identify three main components: Supportive Relationships and School Climate (People), Learning Processes and School Experience (Process), Learning Environments and Inclusion (Place).
Discussion:
The article discusses the development and validation of an instrument that can be applied to students as one of the means of assessing a school's general happiness level and identifying key aspects to improve to increase a school's level of happiness. Implications for future research on happy school evaluation are discussed, since schools will now have at their disposal tools that enable them to assess a happy school from the perspective of teachers, parents, and pupils.
ER  -