Thesis advisor: Raquel Muniz / There is an abundance of research that both supports teachers’ developing the social and emotional competencies (SEC) of students and acknowledges that doing so positively impacts students’ academic and life success, as well as improving general well-being. As of 2020, Massachusetts required teachers to provide social emotional learning (SEL) opportunities for students, but district and school leaders have done little to develop teachers' own SEC.  Yet, the literature shows that teachers’ SEC matter, both to the successful implementation of SEL programs in classrooms and to teachers’ own ability to manage their emotions and handle stress. Teaching is stressful and high emotional stress can lower resilience and impact job performance. This qualitative case study examined the practices of school-based leaders in one Massachusetts public school district to determine which leadership practices developed and supported the resilience and well-being of school-based staff and how those practices promoted SEL opportunities for staff. Data was gathered from leaders and school-based staff through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and document review. Findings revealed that leaders developed and supported staff resilience and well-being when they provided opportunities for collaboration, recognized and provided feedback to staff, included staff in decisions related to their work, and supported work-life balance and self-care. Engaging in these leadership practices allowed leaders to promote SEL opportunities for staff and often modeled SEC for staff. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This dissertation explores children’s (6-8 years old) perspectives and experiences of well-being in two different cultural contexts: in a Tibetan day-school (India) and in a German day-school (Germany). Ethnographic research was conducted with participants of a second-grade class (mixed gender) for six months at each site, 3-4 days a week in 2012. Participant observation was complemented by interviews with the children as well as with the staff of the school, documented by fieldnotes and sound recordings. Data was collected in line with postmodern grounded theory methodology and preliminary analysis accompanied the process of the fieldwork. The thesis explores the children’s views and social practices related to well-being which prove to be different in both cultures: the Tibetan children emphasized being skilful as a basic condition for well-being, while friendship with peers was most important at the German school. At both sites, the children would establish these conditions for well-being through competitions. Furthermore, the children’s different views and the social practices are considered against the backdrop of two ‘transcultural’ indicators of well-being: self-confidence and resilience. These indicators were not selected randomly but chosen inductively during fieldwork, as the difference in self-confidence and resilience between the children’s groups at each site was noticeable. The thesis demonstrates how these differences in self-confidence and resilience are likely to have been related to a) the children’s particular views and social practices linked to well-being b) the manner in which childhood is constructed within the children’s societies and c) particular basic beliefs and worldviews prevalent within the children’s societies. The results emphasize the usefulness of researching well-being cross-culturally and suggest that (socio-culturally specific) self- and worldviews significantly influence children’s well-being.