Boredom and schooling: a cross‐disciplinary exploration

Abstract

This paper undertakes a wide‐ranging exploration of the concept of boredom from contrasting perspectives across different disciplines with a view to informing the pedagogy of schooling. It notes the rise of the concept in recent times, and juxtaposes diverse views on the perceived forms, causes, effects and responses to boredom, along the way referring to implications for schooling. Based on this examination, the paper puts forward the idea that boredom needs to be recognized as a legitimate human emotion that can be central to learning and creativity. At the same time, it also points out that there is room to reimagine a pedagogy that can engage in a more informed manner with the complexity of the experience and concludes with an exploration of some concepts—autonomy and control, struggle and flow—which can help in this endeavour.

Notes

1. Barbalet (1999) claims that boredom is an active discomfort or dissatisfaction with lack of interest, leading to restlessness or irritability while ennui is an acceptance of/resignation to indifference, a languid surrender to emptiness.

2. Summerhill was set up in 1921 as a school where discipline and direction were renounced in order to ‘allow children freedom to be themselves’ (Neill. 1962, p. 20).

3. http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/pages/school_policies_statement.html.