Human Flourishing: A conceptual and research challenge for Czech pedagogy

Abstract

The discussion paper introduces the topic of human flourishing and education oriented toward this aim by drawing attention to two texts from 2025. The conceptual framework and philosophical grounding of the topic are presented in Education for Human Flourishing: A Conceptual Framework, which does not seek a partial modification of school education but rather a radical transformation centred on the categories of meaning and purpose in education. Empirical support is then provided by an analysis of the comprehensive research report on The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. The Global Flourishing Study is a longitudinal panel study (with more than 200,000 participants from 22 countries) focusing on six domains: happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial and material stability. The findings reveal surprising insights into differences between countries, similar scores for men and women, a worrying decline among younger generations, and a negative correlation with GDP per capita. For Czech pedagogy, the finding highlighting spirituality as a common factor of human flourishing may be particularly stimulating. Both the conceptual and empirical analyses strongly point to a fundamental link with ethics and virtues, a topic that is being actively developed in the Czech context by the Centre for Character Development.