Teachers’ awareness of happy schools with UNESCO items: a case study of a primary school in Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

This article provides the practice of primary teachers’ awareness of happy schools through a survey questionnaire based on 22 items from the UNESCO criteria on happy schools. Their opinions were shared after a number of workshop activities that teach the practice of happy schools in Quan Hoa primary school, Cau Giay district, Hanoi. To add more research detail, the authors performed an in-depth interview with the vice principal. The research results showed that primary teachers’ awareness was at a good level (100% agreed). Twenty-seven teachers in this workshop gave a detailed and reflective explanation of happy schools. Then, the authors provided a number of suggestions to spread the idea of happy schools in practice, within primary schools in particular, and for all schools in general, according to the UNESCO items, which are on the move in regulations and curricula at the Bureau of Education and Training of Hanoi these days, especially in the context of the 2018 National Education Curriculum implemented since the 2020-2021 school year.