Planning for Happiness

14 April

Recently I was at the launch of 'Action for Happiness', a new movement to promote the simple idea that we should prioritise actions which increase happiness. NCB is a founding partner, building on our longstanding work on promoting well-being in children and young people.

The concept is easy to mock, and the launch was accompanied by the sound of lots of miserable cynics accusing the movement of being too wishy-washy, unrealistic in an age of austerity, and lacking in clarity about what we mean by happiness. But I am convinced that we should take it very seriously. Ever since the recession struck, I have been suggesting that we face not just a financial crisis, but a moral crisis; that we are reaping the impact of a national obsession with materialism and growth, in which our desire to live unsustainable lives has created a society in which very many people are unhappy. As incomes have risen, levels of happiness have not.

Research evidence increasingly supports the key propositions of the Action for Happiness movement. Doing things for others increases our own happiness. Well-being is enhanced through having strong relationships with people, living healthily, appreciating the world around us, and constantly learning new things. People are happier living in societies where inequalities are less, where people trust each other and where they know people in their locality.

Promoting happiness should never become the only target for schools; gaining skills will always be important, and indeed will contribute towards happiness. But in an age when children's careers in schools are measured and tested almost constantly, isn't it weird that we don't measure schools success at all using the measure which is most important to most parents - whether their children are happy?

Paul Ennals, NCB Chief Executive