Abstract:

Work-life balance (WLB) and happiness in the classroom are two crucial topics challenging institutions in Higher Education, because of many students at universities are facing high levels of stress, in line of work demands. Moreover, the growth of the virtual learning at universities over the past decades is one of the most widely used examples to understand how the recent evolution of technology in all manner of devices has caused the implementation of the Positive Psychology in the classroom, which in turn demands changes in teaching practice and theory.

For this reason, the effectiveness of didactic strategies and methodologies requires the ability to analyze and measure the most relevant attributes in teaching environments in order to improve the happiness and satisfaction of the students in the classroom. This research is focused to appreciate the implications of satisfaction and happiness in the classroom as two important tools for improving educational processes at universities, designing the academic and professional curriculum of the pupils and of course it can be of relevance to leaders of educational institutions and teachers for the improvement of their own pedagogical performance.

The primary purpose of this study was to highlight the current state of the art on WLB, satisfaction and happiness in the classroom in Higher Education by conducting a bibliographic review of published research and papers in the last two decades. In this research, the findings reveal a significant growth in publications on those topics, defining some prominent niches for future research purposes. For this reason, this paper contributes to the current literature by providing a comprehensive approach in education, which helps to define the most relevant topics and used terms in this field of knowledge.

The description of this paper is the following. The first section includes the introduction and motivations to base this research. Second, we reviewed the literature on strategies and approaches to happiness, satisfaction and student perceptions in the classroom, in particular on leadership styles in teaching and happiness and satisfaction in virtual contexts. Third, a parsimonious and systematic process to evaluate happiness and satisfaction in the classroom is described in this research: in this context, we elaborate a simple methodology to collect and analyze our data. Fourth, an integrative analysis and discussion of the results –in terms of perceptions of students– is carried out. Finally, the last section is focused to the conclusions, management implications in the classroom and future research.

Keywords:

Teaching style, learning, happiness, word-life balance, Higher Education.