University Students' Constructions of 'Flourishing' in British Higher Education: An Inductive Content Analysis
Keywords:
flourishing, higher education, wellbeing, university students, content analysisAbstract
The potential to flourish as a student has emerged as a topic of debate amid the current period of economic transition in British Higher Education (HE). The present study sought to explore the concept of ‘flourishing’ as it is constructed by students in British HE. An open-ended questionnaire was distributed to N=222 students across two post-1992 British HE institutions to elicit written qualitative data on their understandings of ‘flourishing’ and ‘flourishing at university’, and of their characterisations of ‘flourishing’ and ‘non-flourishing’ students. Data was content analysed using an inductive approach. Prominent categories emerging from the data sets constructed ‘flourishing’ primarily as self-actualisation (personal growth, potential realisation) and success. However, engagement (both academic and social) emerged as a significant facet of ‘flourishing at university’. The ‘flourishing student’ was characterised as academically and socially engaged, committed to learning, and oriented towards personal growth. Conversely, the ‘non-flourishing’ student emerged as having a general sense of lacking, a disengaged attitude towards academic work, and a lazy/withdrawn outlook. Results provide inductively derived support for Wellbeing Theory (Seligman, 2011) and allow generic understandings of ‘flourishing’ to be contextualised within a HE setting. Further implications of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed with regard to the findings.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. The license prevents others from using the work for profit without the express consent of the author(s). The license also prevents the creation of derivative works without the express consent of the author(s). Note that derivative works are very similar in nature to the original. Merely quoting (and appropriately referencing) a passage of a work is not making a derivative of it.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).