A Foucaultian Approach to Academic Anxiety

Academic anxiety interferes with achievement and performance, as well as social and psychological development among children and adults. Although the writings of Michel Foucault do not address anxiety directly, his themes of knowledge and power have been applied to education and describe relationships that are likely to create anxiety among some participants. This article utilizes concepts from the work of Michel Foucault, as well as the experimental psychology and educational psychology literatures, to understand the causes and consequences of academic anxiety in school and learning environments. In addition to general anxiety that is associated with academic performance and achievement, extensive theoretical and empirical work has been done in two specific areas: test anxiety and mathematics anxiety. Consequently, relevant literature related to these two specific forms of academic anxiety will be incorporated when appropriate.