Realising Relational Education: Integrated Spaces to Promote Scholarly Pedagogic Enquiry

This chapter considers the importance of “The Third Space” (Whitchurch, Reconstructing Identities in Higher Education: The rise of third space professionals. Routledge, 2013) in promoting pedagogic practice and scholarly enquiry in higher education. It considers how promoting a culture of third space working can impact positively on scholarly enquiry and help to explore, reflect upon and champion the scholarship of education. Through challenging the traditional organising principles of scholarship and practice in the academy, the chapter promotes the importance of relationships and relational pedagogy by exploring in more detail the opportunities presented by integrated practice (McIntosh & Nutt, The impact of the integrated practitioner in higher education: Studies in third space professionalism, Routledge, 2022a; Student Success, 13(2), 1–9, 2022b). The chapter also builds on traditional Freirean philosophy of pedagogy and other models of relational and relationship rich education (Lyle, Fostering a relational pedagogy. Brill Sense, 2019; Bovill, Higher Education, 79, 1023–1037, 2020; Felten & Lambert, Relationship-rich education. John Hopkins University Press, 2020). It explores Boyer’s model of scholarship (1997), particularly the concept of integrated scholarship, and applies this thinking to the four dimensions of third space working in order to provide further insight into the opportunities of working in this way, considering (1) space(s), (2) relationships, (3) legitimacies and (4) knowledges (McIntosh & Nutt, 2022b).