The mathematics classroom as junkspace: a conceptual critique of educational spatiality

Abstract

In this perspective paper, I introduce junkspace–a concept from architectural theory proposed by Rem Koolhaas–as a metaphor and a critical lens for analysing the contemporary mathematics classroom. I argue that many mathematics classrooms around the world, particularly in the Norwegian context, increasingly resemble junkspace: fragmented, placeless and homogenized, reliant on artificial systems, shaped by additive reforms, and marked by diminished teacher and student agency. Through four fictionalized but research-informed vignettes, I illustrate how policy and institutional logics materialize in everyday pedagogical routines, often at the expense of coherence, cultural relevance, and intellectual depth. Rather than criticizing individuals, I highlight systemic conditions that render mathematics education generic, managerial, and disengaged. Within such conditions, moments of resistance do emerge, challenging dominant patterns and pointing towards alternative possibilities. I propose junkspace as a generative concept for curriculum studies, encouraging us to rethink the classroom not as a neutral container for instruction but as a space that is socially produced, culturally situated, and pedagogically contested. This framing opens space for imagining educational environments that are coherent, humanizing, and intellectually vibrant.