The authors argue that a script perspective can lead to a better understanding of learning in new learning spaces. Scripts can be understood as flexible, individual memory structures guiding our understanding and actions, but also as instructional interventions that help students use the affordances offered in new learning spaces. In study 1 (N =…

In this essay Michael Glassman and Jonathan Burbidge explore the idea of a dialectical relationship between the traditional place(s) of teaching/learning settings and the challenges to our perceptions created by the new spaces of the Internet. The authors examine this topic in the context of a three-stage evolution of humans' relationship…

This article introduces a theoretical framework for studying school improvement processes such as making school environments safer. Using concepts from spatial theory, in which distinctions between mental, social and physical space are applied makes for a multidimensional analysis of processes of change. In a multilevel case study, these were…

This article considers a school community initiating change in pedagogical practices to complement new-build premises in the context of demands for school improvement, but constraints on autonomy. We investigate how school leaders planned the change towards enquiry-based learning in flexible spaces, and how teaching staff prepared for the coming…

This article examines the significance of place and space from a Performance Studies and Social Studies perspective. In terms of the social sciences, I draw upon the formal, symbolic and marginal articulation of place. Hetherington suggests that certain places act as focal point for the establishment of social identities, citing city-centre…

This paper reports on the significance of social capital in relation to education, exploring its relevance to teachers and other professionals as well as among young people. It draws on aspects of five case studies undertaken by the Schools and Social Capital Network, within the Applied Educational Research Scheme in Scotland. These case studies…

In the ongoing effort to conceptualize meaningful civics curriculum, the author looks beyond the intended curriculum to consider the civics lessons embedded in spatial interaction and engagement. She examines how young people negotiate school, a space she contends can be conceived of as a public space. Their negotiations rely upon tactics of…

This article argues that specific spatial imaginaries are embedded in current debates about school ethos and research methods. It takes the reader on a journey around an English multicultural primary school supported by the creative learning program Creative Partnerships, exploring how creative arts practices (re)configured sociospatial relations…

When architects discuss the educational facilities of the next century and beyond, the conversation turns to collaborative spaces. They envision flexible and fluid spaces that will encourage creative and critical thinking, and free students to communicate clearly about the task at hand. While these are admirable ideals, there are some fundamental…

Philosopher Gilles Deleuze and psychoanalyst Felix Guattari's figuration of the rhizome describes structures that are non-hierarchical and open-ended. Rhizomatic analyses are increasingly being adopted in educational research to challenge traditional power structures, give voice to those previously unheard and open issues in messy but…

The Sarasota County School Building Program 1955-1960 is revisited through a detailed examination of how architects and educators collaborated to design an innovative group of public schools that provided opportunities for the transformation of learning space. This multi-dimensioned examination is grounded in an historical contextualization of the…

The language of intellectual disability is rife with spatial terms. Students labeled with intellectual disability are "placed in" special education where they may be "self-contained," "segregated," "excluded," or "included." Conversations ensue about where to seat them, "next" to whom, and at what distance "from" the teacher and other students. In…

In 2011, the Group of Eight (Go8) conducted a survey on the state of its buildings and infrastructure. The survey is the third Go8 Infrastructure survey, with previous surveys being conducted in 2007 and 2009. The current survey updated some of the information collected in the previous surveys. It also collated data related to aspects of the…

Concerns exist about the quality of counseling within community colleges. Some counselors lower student aspirations and are inaccessible, uninformed, or discouraging. Evidence also suggests that ineffective counseling might be explained by role conflict. Although role conflict should not be used as an excuse to justify poor performance, it may…

This book is about the classroom, the most important meeting place for teachers and pupils in an education building. Individuals' knowledge, however, about what happens inside this space is limited. In many respects the classroom is still the black box of the educational system. To open up this box, this volume brings together scholars from the…