Usage of the Happiness Curriculum and its Perception in Online Training by Teachers for the Development of Cognitive Skills, Social and Emotional Needs of School Students

Abstract

Building cognitive skills among school students alongside their literary and numerical skills is of intense importance, as it allows the collaboration of theoretical studies with everyday experiences. On the other hand, meeting the social and emotional needs of the school students also proves to be necessary for the improvement of problem-solving abilities and a greater regulation of self-performance by them. Once the teachers have a greater grasp over the Happiness Curriculum through the online mode of training, the communication with the students can also been achieved by them. The aim of the study was to draw an extensive assessment of the efficiency of the procedure of the Happiness Curriculum, alongside its perception by the school teachers, as a part of online training. In light of this, the present study sought to study the perception of the school teachers and mentors towards the online training of the newly introduced Happiness Curriculum. The data was gathered through a Google questionnaire from a sample of Three hundred seventy happiness teacher coordinators who underwent an online Master Training Programme of the Happiness Curriculum. The findings provide that many happiness teacher coordinators perceived online training as quite effective as it allows the participants to learn from the comfort of their homes, saving cost and time and facilitating peer learning.

Furthermore, the findings related to understanding the content affirm that participants could understand the concept well, but
organisational support, an essential for an effective online training programme, needed to be included. Participants identified major challenges, including internet connectivity, assessment, e-content, feedback and inappropriate online platform design. Also, the participants suggested that smaller batches should be considered for online training as lack of one-to-one interaction inhibits individualised learning; shorter time-bound training sessions to ensure work-life balance; better internet connectivity and availability of a hard copy of training material, content clarity, sufficient time for completing the modules and use of appropriate educational tools for delivery of training of the Happiness Curriculum. The implications for the introduction of such a course for meeting the social, cognitive and the emotional needs of the school students, as perceived by the school teachers have also been discussed in the study.