Assessing Educating for Gross National Happiness in Bhutanese Schools: A New Direction

Gross National Happiness (GNH), a concept that is rooted in Buddhist philosophies, underpins a range of educational policies in Bhutan. The Educating for GNH (EGNH) initiative was launched a decade ago to promote GNH values throughout the school system. However, whether EGNH has been a success is still contested with evidence lacking to support either view. Several issues arising from the implementation and evaluation of this initiative remain unaddressed. The five pathways to the EGNH have not been effectively institutionalized. Principals and teachers still lack the motivation and competency to infuse and integrate GNH values. More importantly, the Performance Management System (PMS) is questioned as a valid framework to monitor the primary purpose of providing adequate feedback and trustworthy recommendations for promoting and improving GNH practices. Based on the review of literature and some anecdotal evidence, the authors present the Theory of Practice Architectures as a new direction for investigating EGNH practices in the Bhutanese schools as it provides the theoretical framing for interrogating and potentially transforming educational practices.