Approaches to the school space: an analysis of the building as a school life dispositif

Abstract

Within the framework of an investigation on "coexistence dispositifs” carried out in secondary schools, this article intends to study the role played by the school building and its location in the network of relationships that make up what is defined as "school coexistence". The strategy designed to address these intersections is described throughout the paper: aspects of the conceptual context constructed, the main methodological decisions and some lines of analysis. The focus is on showing the way in which the materiality of these buildings affects the production of the school order, at the same time that it is produced by it. The analysis is presented in three dimensions: The emergence of “the move” as a signifier of certain conflicts, the production of “safe” spaces in practices that articulate circuits and singular places of the school building; and the production of the “prestige” linked to the new building, as a producer of school borders.

The hypothesis underlying this work indicates that any approach to the school space implies showing how certain discursive matrices are updated in specific spatial practices.