EQoL - Teaching the Good Life. Theory, Policy and Practice in Education to Promote Quality of Life in the 21st Century

In recent decades, and particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a growing focus on subjects like quality of life, wellbeing, and happiness. Examples include top-down macro policies such as the OECD Better Life Initiative, the EU Quality of Life in Europe, and the UN World Happiness Report and Sustainable Development Goals; bottom-up social movements like FridaysForFuture; and local initiatives such as the "Smart City Vienna Framework Strategy 2019-2050: Vienna’s Strategy for Sustainable Development" (SCWR, 2019), fostering collaborations between local learning neighborhoods (Bildungsgrätzl) to promote an equitable and sustainable quality of life in Vienna.

The central question of this research project is: What is the impact of this significant trend on education, and what role can education play in it?

The project has four main goals:

  1. Theory: Systematizing the main theories of quality of life in educational sciences, particularly the connection between education and the good life (Paideia-Eudaimonia).
  2. Systemic and Policy Analysis: Mapping and analyzing the "Smart City Vienna Strategy" and "Vienna’s Bildungsgrätzl" to understand their approach and organization in promoting sustainable quality of life in Vienna.
  3. Teachers’ Perspective: Understanding what in-service and future teachers know and think about teaching the topic of the good life in school.
  4. EQoL Model: Co-developing a pedagogical model with in-service and future teachers for teaching quality of life in school. This model will also serve to guide and support future educational policies in Vienna and Austria.
Project duration12/2023 – 11/2026
FundingFWF
Websitehttps://eqol.univie.ac.at

 Further Information

 Media contributions

 Publications

  • Langer, S., Agostini, E., Francesconi, D., & Zambaldi, N. (Eds.) (In press). PEA - Pedagogy, Ecology and the Arts: polis. Franco Angeli.
  • Francesconi, D., Öztürk, N., & Agostini, E. (2024). Quality of life and learning networks in Vienna. An innovative and sustainable approach to living a good life. In C. C. Walther (Ed.), Handbook of Quality of Life and Social Change (pp. 263-271). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
  • Francesconi, D. (2024). Per una cultura del benessere. Due vie per l’università del futuro (For a culture of wellbeing. Two paths for the university of the future). Pedagogia Oggi, 22(1), 89-94. https://doi.org/10.7346/PO-012024-12
  • Francesconi, D. (2024). Onlife activism and collective networks in FridaysForFuture. In B. Maurer, M. Rieckmann, J. R. Schluchter (Eds.), Media – Education – Sustainable Development. Inter- and transdisciplinary discourses. Beltz-Juventa.
  • Montanari, S., Agostini, E., & Francesconi, D. (2024). Oltre le competenze di sostenibilità. Nuove direzioni. In I care – we care: Rispetto e Responsabilità per l’essere del Pianeta. Zeroseiup. (Educazione Territori Natura, Vol. 27).
  • Öztürk, N., Francesconi, D., & Agostini, E. (2023). Pädagogik(en) des guten Lebens im Zeichen der Zeit. Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.22613/zfpp/10.1.

 Presentations

  • Nazime Öztürk & Evi Agostini. „Teaching the Good Life”: Idee und Umsetzung lokaler Partizipationsmöglichkeiten an Schule und Gesellschaft am Beispiel des Wiener Bildungsgrätzls, "Citizen self-formation: Politische Bildung von unten. Vienna Conference on Citizenship Education", University of Vienna, Austria (2024, November 8)
  • Denis Francesconi. The Implications of the Quality-of-Life Movement for Education and the Case of the OECD PISA Wellbeing Framework. "Presentation in University of Cambridge’s Wellbeing and Inclusion Group", online (2024, November 6)
  • Evi Agostini, Denis Francesconi, Nazime Öztürk, Irma Eloff, Kgadi Mathabathe & Ann-Kathrin Dittrich. Die Frage nach der Nachhaltigkeit: Differente Perspektiven auf Entwicklung, Bildung und Diversität am Beispiel der zwei Projekte „Teach4Reach“ und „EQoL“. "ÖFEB 2024: DIVERSITÄT DISKURSIV", PH Wien, Austria (2024, September 26)
  • Denis Francesconi & Evi Agostini. Teaching the Good Life: Insights for Norwegian School Leaders; "Besuch von norwegischen Schulleitungen", Zentrum für Lehrer*innenbildung, Universität Wien, Austria (2024, September 26)
  • Denis Francesconi, Nazime Öztürk & Evi Agostini. The implications of the Quality-of-Life Movement for education and the exemplary case of the OECD PISA Wellbeing Framework. "BERA Conference and WERA Focus Meeting 2024", University of Manchester, United Kingdom (2024, September 10)
  • Tamara Peer, Sandra Matschnigg-Peer & Nazime Öztürk. Peace Education in the Context of the Bildungsrätzl-Initiative in Vienna. "Pedagogy, Ecology and the Arts Conference: Peace (PEA Conference 2024)", Merano, Italy (2024, September 5)
  • Denis Francesconi, Nazime Öztürk & Evi Agostini. Teaching the Good Life. Insights in a new FWF-funded research project. "Vienna-Bressanone Winterschool 2024" University of Vienna, Austria (2024, February 14)