Appropriation of the school space by the pedagogical project: Escola da Ponte (Portugal)¹

Abstract

The present study values the pedagogical project as a frame of action for individuals in the school organization. Indeed, it is according to this perspective that interpretations of the school space by its users (teachers in particular) are analyzed in a very specific context – Escola da Ponte –.Within the scope of widespread failure of the open-plan school experience in Portugal, the aim of this study is to highlight how the successful experience of Escola da Ponte was born out of the innovative nature of the pedagogical project (questioning the “DNA” of the pedagogical organization of schools – the class). Our interpretation is based on the concept of space as a social construction. Above all, it sustains that it was the consistency of the pedagogical project and the interaction between actors and objects of action that determined how the space was organized rather than the induction process of an open-plan school building. The empirical collection served to ascertain how the space was appropriated by the pedagogical project. A survey was sent by e-mail to the teachers who taught at this school between the mid-1970s and 2012. The chronological gap is due to the lapse of time between the beginning of the pedagogical project and the transfer of facilities to a new building.

Escola da Ponte (Portugal); School space; Open-plan schools; Pedagogical innovation; Pedagogical project