Evaluating Spaces of Pedagogic Affect

Abstract

I have a teenaged son. A few months ago he came home announcing that he wanted to go to a different school. Then, after a school tour he back-flipped saying: “Mum, I can’t go to that school.” When I inquired why, he said, “I don’t like the feel of it”. And I got it. Truth be known, I didn’t like the feel of it either. So what was it about that school’s environment that affected my son in such a way? Was it the cold? The smell? The green lino? The serious demeanor of the students? The old style classrooms? The greasy humidity of the canteen? The institutional grey of the music block? The clanging school bell that made us all jump? Most likely it was the complex interplay (or intra-play) of al..