Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Creating Spaces for Autonomy: The Architecture of Learning and Thinking in Danish Schools and Universities

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education

  • 2239 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the concept of space and its relationship to autonomy and perceptions of freedom in education. It includes a review of the literature that indicates the links between physical and metaphorical spaces and learning are still largely unexplored. Eriksen noted in 1973 that our understanding of educational space had not developed in tandem with new concepts of the learning process (Eriksen, 1973). Nonetheless, current research suggests that the environment in which learning takes place can have a significant impact on both the construction of meaning in education and the dynamic of learning (Montgomery, 2008).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ball, S. J. (2008). The education debate. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke, C. (2011). Creativity in school design. In J. Sefton-Green, P. Thomson, K. Jones, & L. Bresler (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of creative learning (pp. 417–427). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christie, P. (2013). Space, place, and social justice: Developing a rhythm analysis of education in South Africa. Qualitative Inquiry, 19, 775–785.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creme, P. (2008). A space for academic play: Student learning journals as transitional writing. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 7, 49–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1988). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eriksen, A. (1973). Space for learning. NASSP Bulletin, 57(374), 120–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fendler, R. (2013). Becoming-learner: Coordinates for mapping the space and subject of nomadic pedagogy. Qualitative Inquiry, 19(10), 786–793.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fielding, M. (2009). Public space and educational leadership: Reclaiming and renewing our radical traditions. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 37, 497–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flutter, J. (2006). “This place could help you learn”: Student participation in creating better school environments. Educational Review, 58, 183–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frelin, A., & Grannäs, J. (2014). Studying relational spaces in secondary school: Applying a spatial framework for the study of borderlands and relational work in school improvement processes. Improving Schools, 17, 135–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grosvenor, I., & Burke, C. (2008). School. London: Reaktion Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, S., Hall, E., Wall, K., Woolner, P., & McCaughey, C. (2005). The impact of school environments: A literature review. Newcastle, UK: University of Newcastle for the Design Council. Retrievable from http://www.ncl.ac.uk/cflat/news/DCReport.pdf.

  • Horton, J., & Kraftl, P. (2014). Cultural geographies: An introduction. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, A. Y. (2013). Spaces of power/knowledge: A Foucauldian methodology for qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 19, 839–847.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraftl, P., & Adey, P. (2008). Architecture/affect/inhabitation: Geographies of being-in buildings. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 98(1), 213–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lees, L. (2001). Towards a critical geography of architecture: The case of an Ersatz Colosseum. Ecumene 2001, 8(1), 51–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lefebvre, H. (1974). The production of space. Cambridge, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNess, E. (2004). Culture, context and the quality of education: Evidence from a small-scale extended case study in England and Denmark. Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education, 34, 315–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery, T. (2008). Space matters: Experiences of managing static formal learning spaces. Active Learning in Higher Education, 9, 122–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savin-Baden, M. (2008). Learning Spaces: Creating opportunities for knowledge creation in academic life. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmid, C. (2008). Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space: Towards a three-dimensional dialectic. In K. Goonewardena, S. Kipfer, R. Milgrom, & C. Schmid (Eds.), Space, difference and everyday life: Reading Henri Lefebvre (pp. 27–45). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sølvberg, A. M., & Rismark, M. (2012). Learning spaces in mobile learning environments. Active Learning in Higher Education, 13, 23–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stefanou, C., Stolk, J. D., Prince, M., Chen, J. C., & Lord, S. M. (2013). Self-regulation and autonomy in problem- and project-based learning environments. Active Learning in Higher Education, 2, 109–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanner, C. K. (2008). Explaining relationships among student outcomes and the school’s physical environment. Journal of Advanced Academics, 19, 444–471.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, L. (2013). The case as space: Implications of relational thinking for methodology and method. Qualitative Inquiry, 19, 807–817.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torbert, W. R. (1978). Educating toward shared purpose, self-direction and quality work: The theory and practice of liberating structure. The Journal of Higher Education, 49, 109–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vince, R. (2011). The spatial psychodynamics of management learning. Management Learning, 42, 333–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walkerdine, V. (2013). Using the work of Felix Guattari to understand space, place, social justice, and education. Qualitative Inquiry, 19, 756–764.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J. (2014). Teacher educator professional learning in the Third Space: Implications for identity and practice. Journal of Teacher Education, 65, 315–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woods, P. A. (2005). Democratic leadership in education. London: SAGE Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolner, P., Clark, J., Laing, K., Thomas, U., & Tiplady, L. (2014). A school tries to change: How leaders and teachers understand changes to space and practices in a UK secondary school. Improving Schools, 17, 148–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woolner, P., McCarter, S., Wall, K., & Higgins, S. (2012). Changed learning through changed space: When can a participatory approach to the learning environment challenge preconceptions and alter practice? Improving Schools, 15, 45–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Studies, Hull University, Hull, UK

    Max A. Hope & Catherine Montgomery

Authors
  1. Max A. Hope
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Catherine Montgomery
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Max A. Hope .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Newman University, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Helen E. Lees

  2. Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Nel Noddings

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hope, M.A., Montgomery, C. (2016). Creating Spaces for Autonomy: The Architecture of Learning and Thinking in Danish Schools and Universities. In: Lees, H., Noddings, N. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41291-1_20

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41291-1_20

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-41290-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-41291-1

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation