Session Information
26 SES 04 A, Resourceful Settings for Leading and Learning
Symposium
Contribution
In this paper we will discuss the impact of the phenomenon space on educational and learning processes, and its relevance for educational leadership in terms of influence, vision and values. Students (and learners in general) need time and space, either physical as mental, to learn and grow. The relationship between learning processes and space draws attention of scholars from different disciplines and is being generated by new trends in space design, within social science and humanities. Emotional space, mental space and physical space are all essential for balance and well-being and therefor vital for educational and learning processes. The act of creating space can be quite a challenge educational leaders have to deal with. Understanding learning from a phenomenological perspective means that experiences are learning experiences (Meyer-Drawe 2012; Meyer-Drawe 2010). In the presented project we ask the question how educational leaders can create or use spaces in which students can develop as much as possible? Parker Palmer calls this "creating the space where the community of truth is practiced," where participants have opportunities to learn about themselves and to build relationships with others (Genet 2001) The presented project is part of a research project in excellent schools distinguished with the German School Award. A triangulated research design was conducted in each school in form of semi-structured interviews with principals, teachers and students. Furthermore, observation and document analysis were part of the school visits. The results of the observations are captured in vignettes (protocols of lived experiences) and anecdotes (protocols of told experience), which are dense narratives of poignant experiential moments (Schratz et al. 2012). The analysis of the semi-structured interviews is based on grounded theory (Strauss 1991). Therefor the first part of this paper presents insight into the German School Award, a system-wide school improvement program launched by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Heidehof Foundation in 2006. In the second part of the paper, first results of our qualitative research project will be presented. By using vignettes and anecdotes, moments of how school leaders practice leadership are captured. They will be discussed and presented under the focus of giving and taking space.
References
Genet, S. (2001). Space to learn: Educational Leadership, September 2001, Volume 59, Number 1 Pages 66-69 Meyer-Drawe, K. (2012). Diskurse des Lernens. 2. Aufl. München: Wilhelm Fink. Meyer–Drawe, K. (2010). Zur Erfahrung des Lernens. Eine phänomenologische Skizze. Filosfija 18 (3):6-17. Schratz, M.; Schwarz, J. F. & Westfall-Greiter, T. (2012). Lernen als bildende Erfahrung. Studienverlag: Innsbruck. Strauss, Anselm, L. (1991). Grundlagen qualitativer Sozialforschung, Datenanalyse und Theoriebildung in der empirischen soziologischen Forschung, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München.
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