Teaching in a third space during national COVID-19 lockdowns: in loco magister?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about rapid change in the way education was delivered in terms of online teaching and how this was managed by families in their homes. This study looks at the relationship between home (first space) and school (second space) and uses the concept of the ‘third space’ (Bhabha, H. [1994]. The Location of Culture, London: Routledge) to explore home-school links. Nine participants working in six local authorities in Scotland were questioned during the first lockdown in 2020 and then interviewed during the second national lockdown in 2021. Their responses were analysed in terms of the awareness they had of home funds of knowledge and the influence this had on their pedagogy online. The researchers investigated whether a third space had emerged and, if so, what the features of this hybrid space were. A key finding relates to the role of parents in the third space, in loco magister. In the first lockdown, glimpses of third space learning were visible in children’s achievements online. In the second lockdown, however, parental concerns to preserve some semblance of orderly family life led to the colonisation of the spatio-temporal dimensions of online teaching, seeing the return to more transmissive teacher approaches and missed opportunities for children’s learning.

Keywords:

• Third space theory
• pandemic pedagogies
• home-school links
• parental roles in children’s learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David H. Johnston

David H. Johnston is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Aberdeen. Prior to this, he was a secondary English teacher with 17 years' experience. He has published work on student teachers' experiences on school placement and is interested in the implications of taking an ecological stance on practicum. His current research explores learning at the boundaries of systems, learning at the edges – particularly in relation to the experiences of student teachers on placement.

Katrina Foy

Katrina Foy is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Aberdeen. She is Depute Programme Director of the MA in Education. Katrina was a research archaeologist before training to be a primary school teacher. She worked as a primary school teacher and then as a depute headteacher before moving into teacher education. Her research interests include Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL), video commentary and capture and Design Based Research (DBR). Twitter: @Katfoy1

Aloyise Mulligan

Aloyise Mulligan is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Aberdeen. She has been a primary school teacher, an Additional Support Needs teacher and a depute head teacher. Her research interests include student teachers' use of technology to support their learning and how this might influence their use of technology in the classroom. She is also interested in the use of technology to support learning and teaching within the university sector. Twitter: @Ally_3

Rachel Shanks

Rachel Shanks is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Aberdeen. She was a law lecturer and then worked for the TUC on its Bargaining for Skills project. She has been a community education tutor and worked in the voluntary sector as an employment rights adviser. Her research interests fall into three main categories: mentoring; children's rights in education; and school uniform/dress code policies. Twitter: @rshanks