Investigating the ways teachers and their students in their final year of primary school perceive their flexible learning environment

<p dir="ltr">Teachers and students are faced with increasing access to information and new ways of learning and participating within and beyond the classroom as innovative educational tools and practices bring the world to the classroom space (Brock, Exley & Rigney, 2023). Mulcahy and colleagues (2015) argue that schools continually strive for balance in providing new buildings to keep up with modern demands of education, spaces for learning and teaching that provide functionality, and a sense of being a part of the process. A gap in the literature exists in how schools can offer opportunities to develop teacher and student agency in learning space design. Examined in this thesis are the perspectives of students and their teachers in their current physical and virtual learning spaces and their ideas for learning space design change.</p><p dir="ltr">This qualitative study is underpinned by Lefebvre’s (1991) spatial triad of perceived, conceived and lived spaces. It discusses the importance of gaining multiple perspectives on how physical and virtual learning spaces are utilised, and how participants interact with them during teaching and learning processes. Important to this study is the concept that elements of learning space design are both within and beyond teachers and students’ control, and that nested and relational agency plays a role in opportunities and constraints of that design.</p><p dir="ltr">This study focuses on Year 6 students and their teachers in a kindergarten to Year 12 Australian school setting. Data were gathered in the form of observations, learning tours, written responses, student interviews about both physical and virtual spaces, and work samples as students engaged in a teacher co-created unit of work to gain an understanding of learning space perspectives. This study contributes to theory, methodology, practice and policy through examining the nature of teaching and the purpose of learning spaces with the focus on who really holds the agency in learning space design.</p><p dir="ltr">This study’s findings argue that there are many factors affecting the design of physical and virtual learning spaces. Schools needs to provide their teaching staff with rich professional learning opportunities that enable them to engage in professional dialogue and effective pedagogical practices to benefit learners in the spaces. Students require access to opportunities to be agentic within the spaces in ways that support their learning, through opportunities for design, action and reflection.</p>