Boredom in Educational contexts: a critical review

Abstract

While developing the ambiguity of the concept of boredom, we discuss a psychological, neuroscientific and an educational-phenomenological approach to boredom in educational settings. Analysing these various perspectives with the help of a recently developed taxonomy of four different boredom types, we argue that the classification conflates antecedent and resultant states with actual boredom. Although such classifications may still be helpful for practical purposes, we argue that approaches that are mostly driven by an aim to control and avoid boredom do not allow for a critical questioning of the potential role that boredom plays in education, and that it does not cater for a critical self-reflection on traditional aspects of the educational provision.