Moving to an Innovative Learning Environment: Exploring Teachers’ Liminal Space

Within the milieu of educational change in the twenty-first century in Aotearoa New Zealand, teachers have been asked to traverse myriad and complex transitions in their pedagogical practice and their physical environments. During times of transition and change, teachers endeavour to maintain their focus on their professional practice and simultaneously traverse a space in which they can become suspended ‘betwixt and between’ (Cook-Sather in Anthropol Educ Q 37:110–127, 2006). Known as the liminal space, both positive and negative issues can occupy it during a time of significant change. Consequently, the liminal space can have an impact on the success of any change initiative as teachers individually and collectively navigate such processes. This chapter discusses the findings of a small scale study that explored the experiences of junior school primary teachers as they moved from their single cell classrooms into two newly constructed innovative learning environments. Responses to a survey comprising a variety of Likert-type and open-ended questions guided the subsequent semi-structured interviews with purposively selected teacher participants. Thematic analysis highlighted that the main occupiers of teachers’ liminal space as they navigated transition and change were the pedagogical practice implications; professional conversations; collegial relationships; and, vision for the innovative learning environment. We subsequently identified seven pragmatic preparations which could support teachers’ transition from single celled practices to practices associated with an innovative learning environment, by helping teachers prepare to make productive use of their liminal space. The study’s findings led to our contention that teachers should be supported to develop their knowledge and understanding of the liminal space as they anticipate moving to an innovative learning environment. Our belief is that when teachers are able to use the liminal space productively and creatively, they are more likely to embrace change and contribute positively to it.