The making of school: a study of school arrangements and pedagogical considerations

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Testo originale dell'annuncio (in inglese)

How is a school made? Not only through policy, curricula, or professional development, but also through the concrete ways in which time, space, materials, rhythms, rules, gestures, language, care, and attention are organized. Schools consist of arrangements: classrooms, playgrounds, corridors, seating plans, daily schedules, rituals, agreements, materials, and pedagogical choices that together make a particular way of living and learning possible. This doctoral project (within the framework of a C2 research proposal) starts from the question of how such school arrangements take shape today, how they are pedagogically considered, and how they can be reimagined in light of contemporary challenges such as digitalization, diversity, sustainability, care, authority, and changing forms of living together. The project invites doctoral candidates to engage with this research question from a pedagogical, architectural, and design-oriented perspective. From a pedagogical perspective, the focus is on how schools articulate their pedagogical way of life: what conceptions of freedom, equality, education, attention, protection, community, or openness are embedded in their everyday practices? The school is not approached merely as a functional learning environment, but as a distinctive public and pedagogical form in which young people can encounter time, the world, and themselves. From the perspective of architecture and design, the question is how spatial, material, and design practices actively participate in the making of school. Design is understood here as an exploratory practice: a way of making possible futures imaginable. The research is situated at the intersection of the Education, Culture and Society (ECS) research unit and the Architecture and Design (A&O) research unit. This collaboration makes it possible to study schools not only as pedagogical institutions, nor merely as built environments, but as living constellations in which pedagogical, spatial, and material dimensions continuously interact. Three interconnected research strands structure the project: 1. Atlas of School Arrangement: This strand maps concrete school practices and makes visible how different schools shape their pedagogical lives spatially, materially, temporally, and organizationally. 2. Grammar of School Arrangements: This strand develops a language for articulating the underlying pedagogical considerations, tensions, and assumptions without reducing them to a single model or norm. 3. School Design Studio: This strand investigates how schools, together with researchers and designers, can study, reconsider, and potentially redesign their own arrangements. The project seeks researchers who are willing to venture into the unknown—not to produce quick solutions for schools, but to learn, together with schools, to look more slowly, precisely, and attentively at what makes a school a school today.Candidates are challenged to connect empirical, conceptual, and design-oriented research, thereby contributing to a pedagogical and architectural reconsideration of the school as a public form of living together, learning, and educational formation. During your four-year appointment, you will: Conduct research leading to the award of a doctoral degree, combining theoretical work with empirical research/fieldwork. Actively participate in the project team and in the activities of the involved research units. Publish articles in scientific journals. Contribute through your research to the societal impact goals pursued within the project (namely the development of an atlas, a grammar, and a design studio). Participate actively in national and international conferences and assist in organizing local study days, seminars, and conferences. Provide teaching assistance (approximately 10% of your time) in courses within Educational Sciences, Educational Studies, the Faculty of Architecture, or the Educational Master's programme (depending on your background). Requirements: You ho