The Subjective Side of Success: Children's Stories of a Good Life

This paper presents a case study conducted in one elementary school in Helsinki, Finland, during a four-week project that began on the UN day of children's rights in 2013. According to the 12th and 13th articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), children have the right to express their views freely in all matters affecting them, and furthermore they have the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds (UNICEF, 1989). The authors argue that children's voices are not sufficiently heard in the process of forming the educational policies related to success at school. The data was collected from the children in the form of stories. The paper, co-written by the researchers and the teacher, draws lessons from the students' stories about the good life of an imagined person named Sofia Tammi. The aim of analysing the stories was to identify and describe children's aspirations and experiences, and especially how they defined success through the theme of ‘good life'. Furthermore, the authors explore the meaning of inclusion and justice in the Nordic context.