Teaching with the Virus: Sociomaterial Assemblages and the Production of Schooling During COVID-19

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55016/ojs/ajer.v69i4.73625

Abstract

Using new materiality theory, we analyzed teachers’ and administrators’ descriptions of educational practices and everyday life in schools during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, the virus and the Provincial Health Authority were agential parts of classrooms that both restricted pedagogical possibilities, as well as created openings for something new to occur. As educators taught “with the virus,” pedagogy and curriculum unfolded rhizomatically shooting off in different and often unexpected directions. Our research makes visible how teaching is always a co-creative act of participating with the material, affective, and relational landscapes of practice.

Keywords: pedagogy; COVID-19; sociomaterial assemblages; new materiality; K–12 schooling

En utilisant la théorie de la nouvelle matérialité, nous avons analysé les descriptions faites par les enseignants et les administrateurs des pratiques éducatives et de la vie quotidienne dans les écoles au cours de la première année de la pandémie de COVID-19. Pendant cette période, le virus et l'autorité provinciale de santé ont fait partie intégrante des salles de classe, restreignant les possibilités pédagogiques tout en créant des ouvertures pour l’émergence de quelque chose de nouveau. Alors que les éducateurs enseignaient "avec le virus", la pédagogie et le programme scolaire se sont développés comme des rhizomes en prenant des directions différentes et souvent inattendues. Notre recherche met en évidence le fait que l'enseignement est toujours un acte cocréatif de participation avec les paysages matériels, affectifs et relationnels de la pratique.

Mots clés : pédagogie ; COVID-19 ; assemblages sociomatériels ; nouvelle matérialité ; scolarité M-12

Author Biographies

Cher Hill, Simon Fraser University

Cher Hill is an Assistant Professor and a teacher educator in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Her current scholarship engages new materialist theories to explore the complex entanglements between humans and more-than-humans within educational contexts. She is deeply invested in researching educative experiences that advance more connected, thriving, and just communities.

Margaret MacDonald, Simon Fraser University

Margaret MacDonald is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Her research focuses on Pedagogical Documentation and responsive, generative curriculum practices in early childhood and teacher education.

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Published

2023-12-12

How to Cite

Hill, C., & MacDonald, M. (2023). Teaching with the Virus: Sociomaterial Assemblages and the Production of Schooling During COVID-19. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 69(4), 473–491. https://doi.org/10.55016/ojs/ajer.v69i4.73625

Issue

Vol. 69 No. 4 (2023): Winter

Section

ARTICLES

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