Authors Lauren White and Will Mason, from the School of Education, Vicky Grant (The University Library), Alison Romaine, Grace Cleary and Shona Tulloch (previously held roles in the Students Union), instead are calling for a shift toward a ‘pedagogy of joy.’ While many scholars focus on the neoliberal marketisation of universities, the authors focus on the emotional and embodied cost of this system on students and staff alike.
Drawing on co-produced research conducted at the University of Sheffield, the authors suggest that the current obsession with educational achievement, measured through rigid grades, assessments, and what's next career readiness, has effectively squashed the natural joy of discovery.
"To move towards joy is not a frivolous act," the researchers state. "It is a political and pedagogical choice to sit with the discomfort of our current systems and intentionally create spaces where learning is a process of collaboration, rather than just a predetermined output."
The paper is the culmination of the ‘Joyful Learning’ project, which utilised creative and participatory methods to explore how students actually experience their time on campus. Through workshops involving joy batteries, artistic artefacts, and picture jolts, the team found that joy is rarely found in the formal curriculum. Instead, it exists in pockets of community and friendships that ease the burden of the educational grind.
The authors lean heavily on the philosophy of bell hooks, urging educators to ‘look, live, find, and create spaces of joy’ within institutional walls. They argue that this isn't about ignoring structural injustices or the very real pressures of student debt, but rather about providing the safety and security to fail which is essential for true intellectual growth.
The study concludes that for higher education to remain sustainable and inclusive, it must move away from the individualised, goal-driven model. By centring joy, the authors suggest, universities can foster a sense of belonging that supports mental well-being and genuine curiosity.
"We need to take up time and space," the authors conclude. "Joy is where the light comes in."
The authors list a number of ‘Takeaway Tangibles’ for Educators to move us towards a more joyful education. These include:
- Facilitate opportunities for engaged learning, where students have the opportunity to decide what they are studying and make connections with what matters to them.
- Create communities of learning such as communal learning at the start of teaching.
- Recognise students as experts with their own knowledge and experience.
- Acknowledge that none of us know everything and we all need support with something.
- Build care into programme design by actively listening and responding in ways that are productive and supportive.
- Let learners co-create and value each other’s contributions
- Support learners in developing collaborative skills, with an appreciation of team work contributions.
- Make it safe to ‘fail’ and not know. Remind students that it is ok to share scribbles, ideas and current thinking.
- Embed rest and slowness. Remind ourselves and each other that in order to enjoy learning, we need to have time to rest, reflect and recuperate.
Read the full paper in the British Journal of Sociology of Education: Towards a pedagogy of joy.
