How dare you have fun!

I used to sell paper. Before I retrained to be a teacher and went on the adventure I still find myself on today, I sold bits of A4 paper to companies to use for their letters, brochures and photocopiers. Day in, day out, I travelled Europe selling bits of paper to people who needed...paper.

I cannot really tell you that I can remember a moment when I thought to myself "this is fun, selling paper really makes me happy". I remember thinking I liked the company car, the healthcare and the salary and indeed I did enjoy the travelling, but actually selling paper, probably not.

I learnt that not everything in life is "fun". Sometimes we do things without any sense of enjoyment because they have to be done. They are a means to an ends so to speak. I will do this activity or task because it will lead to something that will be fun, even though its not fun itself.

Now I teach children to throw, catch, jump, hop, skip and run. They laugh, they shout, they get excited and squirm with enthusiasm and regularly I reflect on what the value on their learning is of the fun they are having. Should my lessons be fun? Are they still learning and developing if they are having fun? How important is "Fun"...

Now I bet (if you've read this far) that you are sitting there thinking

"Of course they need to be fun. Learning should be fun. Pupils learn better when they are enjoying their learning" and I wouldn't disagree with you, but how sure are you that this is actually true, or whether this is something we have evolved as educators to believe, because deep down we want our pupils to seem to us to be enjoying the subject we are teaching them.

Jerabek and Muoio (2019) studied this inherent need be liked and in amongst the research they conducted they discovered a deep seated need to be popular and seen as a fun person. This is absolutely the case in many teachers. We believe, rightly or wrongly that pupils will respond better to us, work harder for us, respect us more and if we are totally honest, talk about us, in a much more positive way if our lessons are enjoyed and enjoyable.

So is the belief that "fun" leads to "learning" based on teachers and educational researchers perception of "likeability" or is it actually a proven teaching strategy. Does having fun, lead to better learning outcomes. If it does, then shouldn't we all be doing it?

Now "fun" is a subjective term. What I find fun (xbox, running and 80's rock) will be completely different to what you think is fun.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fun as "someone or something that is amusing or enjoyable : an enjoyable experience or person". In other words things we enjoy doing. To many pupils across the world this will be learning. Learning is fun, discovering new knowledge is fun, growing is fun. there are (as we know) many pupils in our classes for whom learning in itself is not fun however. The process of learning can be challenging, difficult and unpleasant and as one pupil in my school put it to me "How can it be fun when I don't feel like I'm understanding it and I'm worried the teacher will realise." For that pupil, the lesson needs something more than just an opportunity to learn, that pupil perhaps needs engagement, social opportunities, excitement, laughter, technology or something else to inspire a sense of enjoyment in them.

Could it be suggested that just like differentiation or adaptive teaching for ability, we teachers should be adapting our teaching for different perceptions of enjoyment and fun?

In 2020 the website www.growthengineering.co.uk published an article on "Why fun in learning works better than dull learning" and in that article it references the following research findings into "Fun in Education"

• A study in the journal, College Teaching, found that students could recall a statistics lecture more easily when the lecturer added jokes about relevant topics.
• In her book, Neurologist, Judy Willis showed how fun experiences increase levels of dopamine, endorphins, and oxygen – all things that promote learning.
• In a study for the Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Michael Tews found that employees are more likely to try new things if their work environment is fun.
• Dr Laura Kubansky has undertaken research which demonstrates that fun is good for your health.
• Many influential researchers (Dulay & Burt, 1977; Krashen, 1982) have found evidence that people learn better when they’re feeling strong positive emotions.

and makes the statement "The science proves it, learning is fun. So take the hint and make your teaching exciting!"

I think I'd find it hard to argue with any of that.

So how can we consider including we consider "fun" within our lesson structure? How can we provide the adaptation of provision to ensure enjoyment for all? How do we consider different pupils perceptions of "fun" rather than our own?

• Ask your pupils - There is huge focus on "pupil voice" in education currently. Can we ask our pupils what bits of their lessons they find the most/least fun? Are there activities they really enjoy and can you evidence increased engagement and attainment in those sections? Can you do your own research into your classes and what works for them?
• Ask yourself - What is your perception of "fun" in your lessons? Does this translate into a more engaged delivery? If you are having fun with a topic or delivery style are you more animated and does this reflect in the animation, motivation and engagement of your students?
• Ask How - How can we make our lessons more "relatable" to pupils? We are adults and grew up in a different world. Children today love technology, youtube, google. They understand how to discover information for themselves and how to answer their own questions. They enjoy discovery but in a different way. Can we adopt this approach into our teaching?
• Reflection - Can you see the things that work and transfer those into other lessons? Can you observe enjoyment and identify what it was that really felt "fun" and then replicate that across other classes, year groups or cohorts? Does it work? How can you adapt it?

"Fun" is just a word. Its just another thing we want to build into our teaching styles, our lesson planning and our programme of study. For many of us, "our zeal to raise test scores, means we wrongly assume that students who are laughing, interacting in groups, or being creative with art, music, or dance are not doing real academic work" (Willis 2007), but the science doesn't support this. The science suggests "When students are engaged and motivated and feel minimal stress, information flows freely through the affective filter in the amygdala and they achieve higher levels of cognition, make connections, and experience “aha” moments. Such learning comes not from quiet classrooms and directed lectures, but from classrooms with an atmosphere of exuberant discovery" (Kohn, 2004). and that "stress, boredom, confusion, low motivation, and anxiety can individually, and more profoundly in combination, interfere with learning"(Christianson, 1992).

Fun doesn't mean chaos. Fun doesn't mean loss of learning, fun allows us to engage more pupils in different ways. We like to have fun so why wouldn't they? Fun doesn't stop learning it enhances it. What fun is, is the key point here. Find out what fun means to your pupils, in your classroom and build a more positive, vibrant and cohesive learning environment as a result. I dare you.