Well-being, school and age, from the understandings of Chilean children

Abstract

SummaryThis research studies the relationships that promote well-being in the school setting from the perspective of Chilean children’s understandings and how these vary with age by comparing 10- to 11- and 14- to 15-year-old students using a sample of 21 children. The material was collected using semi-structured interviews followed by a thematic content analysis.Seven school categories were identified: performance-based relationships; relationships of support (or lack thereof) from the adult world; relationships with teachers who facilitate (or fail to) learning; supportive peer relationships, fun and friendship; contentious peer relationships; relationships with the school as a whole; and relationships with the material conditions and physical environment of the school.The children perceive their well-being as affected by: relationships between students and teachers, the exigencies of schoolwork, discipline and control, support and interpersonal communication, peer relationships, the availability of affective support, conflict resolution, and poor treatment (bullying). They also talk about the school as a whole and the entirety of interactions transpiring there, affective links with the adult world, and its socio-spatial, infrastructure and habitability conditions. The two studied age groups present common elements, although there are also distinctive, heterogeneous traits of each group that depict the diversity of the well-being experience related to age.