Ambivalent laughter:
Ambivalent laughter:

the key to preserving playtime

Summary/Abstract: Arguments over the future of school playtime continue back and forth. Opinions range from theinterval period envisaged as a waste of teaching and learning time to sentiments supporting achild’s right to free play. Neither view, however, addresses the principal issue. If all laughter isambivalent, which is the issue proposed here, then the central means by which pupilscommunicate on the primary school playground cannot be an indication of their contentmentalone. The double, contradictory nature of ambivalence means that pupils’ laughter can also bean indication of their unhappiness. Playtime’s substantially serious dimension, therefore,invalidates any claims that playtime is simply a frivolous occasion and therefore expendable.Mikhail Bakhtin’s work on the language of relationships and on ambivalent laughter providesthis qualitative study with the fresh insights that can make a positive contribution to the ongoingplaytime debate.

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