Making school meaningful: linking psychology of education to meaning in life

Abstract

There is little research about making instruction at school meaningful. This is surprising given that ample research suggests that many students do not find school a meaningful place, as documented by decline in interest during middle school, the frequency of boredom at school and decline in search for meaning among high school students. This article starts with an outline that considers both objective and subjective meaning in life. A review on different aspects of meaning in school, such as teaching meaning, purpose, identity, coherence, caring, aesthetics and agency, suggest that many ways to improve meaning in school have been underused and understudied. The inclusion of the philosophy of meaning in life extends the scope of research on interest by adding new components of objective meaning that may enrich school activities. This article will review both what has been done and what needs to be done. The article concludes that taking the perspective of meaning in life into account would open new avenues for empirical research in educational psychology.

Keywords:

• Educational psychology
• meaning in life
• purpose
• interest
• identity
• caring

Notes

1. This does not mean that making money or attaining a leadership position is always meaningless. Some meaningful life goals, such as helping others or producing goods that improve other people’s lives, may require that a person earns and invests money or attains a leadership position.

2. A search in PsycInfo (December 2016, week 2) that included 10 educational psychology journals (British Journal of Educational Psychology; Contemporary Educational Psychology; Educational Psychology; Educational Psychology Review; Educational Psychologist; Instructional Science; Journal of Educational Psychology; Journal of Experimental Education; Learning and Instruction; Review of Educational Research) did not yield a single article with the term “religious education” in the abstract within the last 10 years (2007–December 2016). Across all sources, there were 137 entries.

3. A search in PsycInfo for the same educational psychology journals as Footnote 1 yielded no article with the term “service learning” in the abstract within the last 10 years (there was one article in 1999). Across all sources, there were 1134 entries.

4. A search in PsycInfo for the same the educational psychology journals as Footnote 1 yielded nine articles with the term “peer-tutoring” in the abstract within the last 10 years. Across all sources, there were 126 entries.

5. A search in PsycInfo for the same educational psychology journals as Footnote 1 yielded no article with the terms “aesthetics” and “art education”, respectively, in the abstract within the last 10 years. Across all sources, there were 1751 entries for “aesthetics” and 218 entries for “art education”.