Busy work

Busy work (also referred to as make-work and busywork) can refer to activity that is undertaken to pass time and stay busy but in and of itself has no actual value. Busy work also occurs in business, military and other settings, in situations where people may be required to be present but may lack the opportunities, skills or need to do something more productive. People may engage in busy work to maintain an appearance of activity, in order to avoid criticism of being inactive or idle.

In the context of education, busy work allows students to work independently, to test their own knowledge and skills, and to practice using new skills learned in the educational setting. It can consist of various types of schoolwork assigned by a teacher to keep students occupied with activities involving learning and cognition while the teacher focuses upon another group of students. The functionality of busy work is associated with levels of interest students have with the content of the work, levels of enjoyment students have in performing the work, how purposeful the work is, and how accomplishment of the work is perceived by students. The perceived results of the work by students is significant: when students feel that they've succeeded in accomplishing a functional task, it's congruent with learning and the attainment of new skills.

Busy work can also be used to keep the students occupied with educational tasks during idle times, such as instances when time in school remains but the day's curriculum has already concluded. This application of busy work to consume idle time was common in primary education, but the need for work to have educational content, rather than existing just to consume time, is now preferred.

Busy work has historical precedent in primary education. Entire books have been published that document various busy work activities and curricula per student grade levels, types of activities and how the work is associated with various types and stages of learning. Examples include Plans for Busy Work (published in 1901) and Education by Doing: Occupations and Busy Work for Primary Classes (published in 1909).

Conditioning students to believe that busy work carries the same value as progressive work can lead to students maintaining this belief later in life, carrying it through to the workplace.

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