Finding Happiness in the Early Childhood curriculum

So, what do we mean exactly when we talk about happiness?

I thought I would start with looking at Te Whaariki, our national early childhood curriculum, and what it says about happiness.

Having searched for the words ‘happy’ or ‘happiness’ in Te Whaariki, I have found that neither of these words can be found in our Early childhood curriculum.

This is interesting to me, because for many of our parents and whānau who choose our services, one of their most common and most essential aspirations for their tamariki is that they are happy.

In The Dalai Lama’s “the Art of Happiness” he states “the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness”. He goes on to say that “whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we are all seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness”.

Nic Marks, who created the Happiness Index says that happiness drives creativity, creativity drives innovation and innovation leads to success. 

Furthermore, in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the pursuit of happiness is protected as a fundamental human right, up there with life and liberty.

Why then, is such an essential element of the human experience, that is, the notion of happiness, not present in our early childhood curriculum?

I find another quote in the book which touches on this:

“The concept of achieving true happiness has, in the west, always seemed ill defined, elusive, ungraspable. Even the word ‘happy’ is derived from the Icelandic word happ, meaning luck or chance. Most of us, it seems, share this view of the mysterious nature of happiness”.

So perhaps we are reluctant to include the word happy in our curriculum because it can be just that - ill defined, elusive and ungraspable.

The book goes on to describe how a western view of happiness is often a moment of joy that comes out of the blue, whereas for the Dalai Lama, happiness is more of an inner discipline that requires specialised ‘training of the mind’,  where you identify factors that lead to happiness and you work steadfastly towards incorporating them in your every day life.

 It is interesting to note that Studies show that 50% of individual differences in happiness are determined by genes, 10% by life circumstances, and 40% by our intentional activities.

So there is a 40% window so to speak that we can work within in order to create shifts towards increasing happiness levels.

And if we come to view happiness as a skill,  a learning disposition to be fostered through ‘training of the mind’, that we can nurture, then perhaps happiness can be more readily recognised as a key component of any early childhood learning environment.

Then I re-visit our curriculum’s over arching aspirational statement for children to be:

“Competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society”.

Is this in itself a definition of ‘happiness’? And then for me, it sets up a ‘what came first the chicken or the egg’ scenario; do children need to be ‘happy’ first before this aspiration can be met? Or is it through the journey of ‘training the mind’ in order to meet these aspirations that a state of happiness can be achieved?”.

Or, am I thinking too much!

Exploration of some of the factors that contribute to ‘happiness' has enabled me to identify how some of these factors are very much embedded implicitly in our Early childhood curriculum.

Some of these factors include:

• Connection. The importance of rich family/social connections. And its about quality rather than quantity. Through the principles of Family and Community, and of course Relationships, and indeed woven throughout Te Whaariki is the fundamental importance of connection.
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• Physical health and activity. Physical wellbeing is directly referred to within the Whare Tapawha model of health and wellbeing, also where “They gain confidence in and control of their bodies”.

• Mindfulness - Mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn , 1994). Mindfulness practices are embedded in Te Whaariki for example, “Children’s curiosity is fostered and their capacity for sustained interests is extended” and “Capacity for self-regulation and resilience in the face of challenges”. It is common for many services to offer yoga sessions, quiet reflective spaces, as well as opportunities to be immersed in natural environments which can be considered mindfulness practices.

• Flow. This is the mental state of operating in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterised by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one's sense of space and time. Flow is nurtured through child led, uninterrupted play. For example: "Children experience an environment where their play is valued as meaningful learning and the importance of spontaneous play is recognised".

• Nic Marks measures Ecological footprint as part of his happiness index. Being able to live in harmony with our environment, and recognising the interconnectedness we share with the natural world is another contributing factor. In Te whaariki it states that “Children know they belong and have a sense of connection to others and the environment” and that “Children’s relationship to Papatūānuku is based on whakapapa, respect and aroha”. In this way fostering sustainable environmental practices is mandated in our curriculum and can be seen as a method for fostering happiness. 

• Resilience: Knowing that we can overcome challenges. This is acknowledged in Te Whaariki where it states that “A positive learner identity and a realistic perception of themselves as being able to acquire new interests and capabilities”. This could also link to developing a healthy sense of optimism, another essential element of ‘happiness’.

• Generosity - Giving to others has been scientifically proven to raise happiness and wellbeing levels. This is found in Te Whaariki, embedded in the notion of Manaakitanga, the process of showing respect, generosity, hospitality and care for others.

One factor that is consistently identified amongst research as leading to happiness that is not explicitly referred to in Te Whaariki is fostering a sense of gratitude - how do we go about doing this in our settings?

There is also mention of the idea of ‘savouring life’s moments’ that contributes to overall well-being. In what ways are we truely celebrating the extraordinary within the ordinary in our practice with young children?

Living a more ‘simple’ life is also mentioned in the research.  We see currently a movement towards  minimalism as a way of life, where minimalism is defined as INTENTIONALITY.

It is marked by clarity, purpose, and intentionality. At its core, minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it.

Are our learning environments too cluttered or too busy? And is teacher workload a distraction from that which is most important?

So to summarise, whilst the words happy and happiness are not mentioned in our early childhood curriculum, there are still key elements embedded within the underpinning vision, principles and strands of Te Whaariki that, with specialised knowledge and application of these principles, support the development of happiness as a learning disposition.

When we come to view the notion of happiness not as a moment of joy that comes out of the blue, but rather as a powerful disposition that can be nurtured, then happiness becomes something less mysterious, and more attainable.

Furthermore, in a world where New Zealand has one of the highest youth suicide rates, where Maori and Pacific peoples in particular have disproportionately higher rates, we need to equip ourselves with as many tools as we can to address this, and happiness as a learning disposition could be one such tool.