The final paper of this symposium presents a preliminary synthesis of the analyses undertaken in the substudies of the project. A core aim of the project Nordic Basic Schools is the integration of the substudies, related disciplines and the four Nordic research sites for furthering both national, Nordic and international understanding of the possibilities and constraints for basic education in providing the foundation for diverse and inclusive societies of the future.To better understand the ongoing changes in the Nordic education systems, phenomena such as digitalisation need to be related not only to a contemporary context but also to the school's spatial physical history, the changes in the space-times of schooling and the effects of digital media on classroom pedagogies (Dussel, 2018). In this presentation, we merge data from the three substudies to analyze the spatial and temporal construction of the Nordic basic schools as meeting places in a timespan of 50 years. The analyzed data include policy and planning documents, interviews with former and present pupils, ethnographic data and data produced by participatory methods. Informed by Henry Lefebvre’s theorization (1991, see also Larsson & Rönnlund 2021), we analyze space as socially constructed and three-dimensional, consisting of ideological and institutional space (conceptual space), everyday spatial practices (perceptual space) and the space experienced and negotiated by its users (lived space). Aligned with Doreen Massey (2005), we conceptualize places as spatio-temporal events, where a multitude of human and non-human trajectories come together. Utilizing this analytical framework, we aim to reach a preliminary analysis on how the different dimensions of space have been and continue to be co-constructed in the everyday lives of the schools. For instance, we expect to learn more about the role of spatial conceptualisations, i.e. ideas, policies and plans of school space of the 1970’s influencing the organized use of space and pupils’ agency today and gain a deeper understanding of the role of digitality in altering these dimensions of space. Moreover, we are interested in the meanings given to particular places in the school buildings and how they have contributed to students’ understanding of inclusion or exclusion in the past and today. The analysis will gain relevance not only in the context of Nordic basic schools but also in understanding the spatial and temporal change in European spaces of education from the perspective of social inclusion.

Dussel, I. (2018) The Digital Classroom: A Historical Consideration on the Redesigning of the Contexts of Learning. In: Grosvenor, I. & Rosén Rasmussen. L. (Eds.). Making education: Material school design and educational governance. ProQuest Ebook Central. Larsson, A. & Rönnlund, M. (2021) The spatial practice of the schoolyard. A comparison between Swedish and French teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of educational outdoor spaces, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 21:2, 139-150, DOI: 10.1080/14729679.2020.1755704 Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Blackwell. Massey, D. (2005). For Space. Sage.