Well-being in schools: Chinese and New Zealand approaches

Educational authorities across countries are concerned to promote the well-being of their children. We discuss the approach that two systems, China and New Zealand, have adopted to support the development of well-being. The Chinese system has roots in the Confucian education tradition, Westernization Movement, and Soviet education lessons. It is characterised by a specialist role, the Banzhuren. The contemporary New Zealand system includes the explicit identification of values and competencies for well-being in curricula and system data about development during the school years. Both systems for promoting have weaknesses and strengths and we argue can learn from each other.