Threshold concepts in teaching Leisure Studies

Abstract

Recent debates about the decline of Leisure Studies have turned to considerations of pedagogy as a means to attract more recruits. However, the curriculum is also important according to recent work on ‘powerful knowledge’. Work on ‘threshold concepts’ provides a way to identify powerful and valuable knowledge. This work also predicts disorientation and liminality for some students. The political and ethical issues involved are considered via Boler and Zembylas on ‘discomforting pedagogy’. Personal reflections on teaching Leisure Studies were stimulated by some research on these topics and problems, and these are critically assessed. A case is made for using journal articles in pedagogy and assessment to provide threshold experiences, and some emergent paradoxes are discussed. The reactions of Leisure Studies students can be interpreted as showing particular emotional resilience and effective coping strategies to deal with challenging, liminal and disorienting experiences. Coping strategies can transfer from experience back to academic argument particularly well in this field, as well as the other way around. Leisure Studies can thus stake a claim for particular relevance in attempts to teach powerful knowledge with minimal disorientation.