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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Educ.
Sec. Leadership in Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1541533

Happiness in School Organizations: The Role of Leadership (a scoping review)

Provisionally accepted
Andreia Vale Andreia Vale *Luísa Mota Ribeiro Luísa Mota Ribeiro *José Matias Alves José Matias Alves *
  • Catholic University of Porto, Porto, Porto, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Educational organizations are increasingly concerned with students` well-being and happiness in order to improve the quality of learning and promote the sustainability of teaching. Literature has shown that teacher happiness is related to students` happiness and contributes to better academic performance, greater motivation and psychological well-being.In an increasingly uncertain, unpredictable and competitive school organizational reality, it is important that top and middle leaders recognize the significant power they have to influence the members of their organization, whether positively or negatively. The practice of successful leadership in a school context is essential to promote positive environments and inspire confidence in teachers, technicians, educational assistants and students.Objectives: Map the existing literature to understand the role of leadership in promoting student and teacher happiness in school environments.Methodology: A Scoping Review was carried out, following the guidelines proposed by PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews), to ensure methodological validity and reliability. The research was carried out in five scientific databases, considering the defined eligibility criteria.A total of 17 articles were analyzed, as they met the established inclusion criteria. It was found that school happiness is promoted by factors such as a sense of belonging, interpersonal relationships, academic self-efficacy and teachers` personal and pedagogical skills. Regarding the analysis of the role of leadership, it was possible to perceive that there are several styles that are related to happiness in the school environment.This review showed that the combination of leadership styles is fundamental, since there is no single leadership style that is considered effective for all contexts and situations, and it may vary depending on the school environment and circumstances.

    Keywords: School, happiness, Leadership, Students, teachers

    Received: 08 Dec 2024; Accepted: 07 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Vale, Ribeiro and Matias Alves. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Andreia Vale, Catholic University of Porto, Porto, 4169-005, Porto, Portugal
    Luísa Mota Ribeiro, Catholic University of Porto, Porto, 4169-005, Porto, Portugal
    José Matias Alves, Catholic University of Porto, Porto, 4169-005, Porto, Portugal

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.