From ambivalent spaces to spaces of reciprocal encountering: developing classroom culture in an intercultural story exchange

Abstract

This paper describes the process of developing classroom culture that promotes reciprocal intercultural encountering in the primary school. Storycrafting, an oral storytelling method used for democratic encounters between participants, was used to connect classes in Scotland, Finland and Belgium over three cycles of design-based research. Abductive analysis produced a theoretical framework of seven key dimensions that influence the learning space for reciprocal encounters: power, knowledge, relatedness, purpose, structure, continuity and meaningfulness. These dimensions were used to identify four kinds of learning spaces that occurred during the implementation of the story exchange: the ambivalent space, the space of information, the transitional space and the space of reciprocal encountering. The intervention created a platform for children’s encounters that reinforced mutuality and reciprocal interactions rather than Othering the exchange partners.