This paper takes the position that relational ethics are at the heart of pedagogic practice. I propose to link Arendt’s (1958) concept of the ‘space of appearance’ with Aristotle’s (1953) concept of phronesis (practical wisdom) as the basis for a re-conceptualisation of student-lecturer interactions in teaching and learning contexts in higher education. I argue that envisaging the classroom as a ‘space of appearance’ enables us to see with greater clarity that teaching and learning spaces are thoroughly material, political and collaborative spaces. Using illustrative examples, I describe how the classroom as a shared space of appearance is reliant on negotiations, relations and practices, and that this shared space creates the conditions for the relational emergence of particular identities and their attendant narratives. I propose that engaging students in learning requires an entangled ethical practice attuned to the contextual, particular and distinctive in educational space.