Freja Mygind Poulsen & Silje Maria Bolette Torp: Trivselsdiskursen i Den Nationale Trivselsmåling [The wellbeing discourse in the Danish National Wellbeing Survey]

In 2014, the Danish Public-School Reform (Folkeskolereformen) was implemented with the purpose of improving academic achievements among students. As a part of the reform, promoting wellbeing became a national goal, and the National Wellbeing Measurement was introduced.

Wellbeing is a term that can have many interpretations, and research finds that political interests often influence how school curriculum and initiatives are created. We therefore want to examine the wellbeing discourses in the National Wellbeing Measurement and related policy documents and uncover how the discourses provide opportunities for subjectification to the students in public school. We apply a poststructuralist and critical theory perspective, and we draw on Michel Foucault and Gert Biesta’s theoretical frameworks. Our methodological approach is Foucault’s discourse (2005b) and apparatus (1980) analysis, and as a supplement we will use Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s (2005) rhizomatic thinking to compare the discourses across different contexts. The thesis is based on five empirical documents, including the National Wellbeing Survey, the political agreement document, the executive order (Bekendtgørelse), the guidelines for the school staff and an official letter to the parents of the children in public school.

The analyses showed that there is a strong discourse regarding wellbeing connected to academic achievements and wellbeing is viewed as a means to improve educational achievement. Furthermore, we find through the rhizomatic analysis that there are conflicting discourses regarding what the purpose of the wellbeing measurement is and who it benefits. In some documents it is discursively framed as concerning the students’ interests, while in others it is framed as serving society’s interests in order to create internationally competitive students. The Danish Ministry of Children and Education “creates” the categorial position “a student in the state of wellbeing” which becomes the ideal position for a student to achieve. We argue that the wellbeing discourses influence the way the students perceive themselves. Students are given an instrumental position in which it is not possible to reflect upon the dominant norms. With this thesis, we want to illuminate the possible consequences of wellbeing becoming a political matter, and we argue that it is necessary to specify the purpose and the definition of wellbeing in the National Wellbeing Survey. Furthermore, we want to raise the question whether wellbeing is supposed to be measured in a quantitative way where results are calculated into a statistical average, as this measure poses a possible risk of overlooking individual student’s experiences and feelings.