Working Together in the Space-Between: Pedagogy, Learning Environment and Teacher Collaboration

Abstract

For teachers, the arrival of new generation learning environments (NGLEs) may offer the chance to do something that the predominant built infrastructure has discouraged - the opportunity to work together. Learning environment designs that deliberately group teachers, students and learning settings together signal a spatially inbuilt intentionality for teacher collaboration. However as Blackmore, Bateman, Loughlin, O'Mara, and Aranda (2011) noted, learning environment research has often focused on the design phase rather than on ongoing occupation. As a result there remains an aspirational tone that frequently runs through the design literature, often making the assumption that changes in teaching and learning will occur as a result of new spaces. Consequently researchers and evaluators have called for a better understanding of the way that teachers occupy space, their pedagogical approaches, and the resulting impact on learning. In essence, ‘what works?’ The same question also needs to be asked of collaborative teaching spaces. There is a need for a better understanding of the way teachers occupy space together, what pedagogical practices are used and with what impact? This space-between pedagogy, learning environments and teacher collaboration therefore forms the heart of this emerging theme. ‘What works’ together?