Exploring the trajectories of boredom: Revisiting overchallenged and underchallenged profiles in primary school mathematics.

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of academic emotions for learning, with boredom attracting significant attention due to its frequent occurrence in school life and the increasing evidence of its negative effects on academic results and motivation.

AIMS: Building on Schwartze et al. (2024), this study examined whether boredom-achievement profiles identified among secondary school students could be replicated among primary school pupils across four educational systems.

SAMPLE: Data included 3231 pupils from Finland, Norway, Portugal and Serbia who attended Year 4 in spring 2022 and were assessed again in spring 2023 while in Year 5.

METHODS

We tested models for Years 4 and 5 with one to seven latent classes based on standardized scores for homework-related boredom, in-class boredom and mathematics achievement. Latent transition analysis (LTA) examined the consistency of profiles over time and the influence of educational systems as covariates.

RESULTS

Five boredom-achievement profiles were identified across both waves, largely replicating patterns reported in the previous study (Well-off, Indifferent, Overchallenged and Underchallenged groups) while revealing one additional profile characterized by moderate boredom and lower achievement (mid-boredom overchallenged). LTA analysis confirmed overall profile stability from Year 4 to Year 5. Although profiles were largely stable across countries, transition probabilities varied across educational systems, particularly for pupils in the Well-off profile.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that boredom-achievement profiles are relatively stable during primary school, while cross-national differences highlight the role of learning conditions in shaping pupils' emotional trajectories in mathematics.