The practice of relationality in classrooms: beyond relational pedagogy as empty signifier

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper draws on findings from a wider project examining ‘relational pedagogies’ within Australian secondary schools. The paper considers the growing use of the ‘relationships’ concept as a descriptor of specific teaching practices. Normative descriptions of ‘relationships’ (and concordant descriptions of relational pedagogies) can be at odds with the empirical realities inherent to classroom practice. This paper suggests that accounts of the relational should consider the ‘context’ and the ‘immediacy’ of the relationships made possible in classroom settings. Arguing that designations of relational pedagogy require (i) consideration of the ‘empirical realities’ that contextualise pedagogical encounters and (ii) reflexive appraisals of teacher and student positionality, this paper draws on descriptions of relational pedagogy offered by a group of teacher–participants to illustrate the various ways that the ‘relationships’ concept gains form. The analysis outlined in this paper demonstrates that teachers define and enact relational pedagogies in idiosyncratic ways within their classrooms, rendering normative a priori conceptualisations of the ‘relationships’ concept incomplete and prone to irrelevance.