From Measuring to Meaning: Rethinking Teenagers’ Quality of Life in Peripheral Contexts

Abstract Book of the 10th World Conference on Teaching and Education

Year: 2026

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From Measuring to Meaning: Rethinking Teenagers’ Quality of Life in Peripheral Contexts

Hanna Kozakiewicz

ABSTRACT:

The concept of quality of life (QoL) has been widely explored across disciplines such as psychology, health sciences, economics, philosophy, and sociology. In many of these fields, QoL is operationalized through measurable indicators, standardized scales, and comparative indices. While such approaches provide valuable macro-level insights, they often rely on predefined categories that may overlook the contextual, relational, and future-oriented dimensions of lived experience, particularly among young people. The poster presents the theoretical foundations of an ongoing doctoral project that questions the adequacy of measurement-based models in researching the quality of life of teenagers attending primary schools in rural areas positioned outside dominant centres of opportunity. Drawing on an interdisciplinary review of QoL conceptualizations and the conceptualization within pedagogical frameworks, the study argues for a qualitative and interpretative approach. From a pedagogical perspective, quality of life cannot be reduced to current levels of satisfaction or material conditions; rather, it encompasses developmental opportunities, agency, identity formation, and the capacity to imagine and construct meaningful futures. The poster also engages with the concept of peripherality, understood not merely as geographical distance but as a structural and relational condition shaping access to educational, cultural, and social resources. Within such contexts, young people’s perceptions of their present circumstances and their imagined futures become central to understanding their quality of life. Instead of asking how much quality of life young people possess, the study will seek to reconstruct the ways in which they define, interpret, and narrate what a “good life” means to them. By positioning quality of life as a lived and interpreted experience rather than a measurable variable, the research aims to contribute to ongoing debates on youth studies, educational inequalities, and methodological pluralism in social research.

Keywords: Quality of Life (QoL); Qualitative Research; Youth in Rural Areas; Peripherality; Identity Formation