Seemingly Small Problems: Conflicting Logics and Practices When Developing Learning Environments

This chapter explores the development of learning environments in educational institutions, a collaborative process that often encounters tensions, conflicts, and obstacles despite strong commitment. The chapter analyses these organisational and interprofessional dynamics through the theoretical perspectives of institutional logics and sociomateriality. Educational institutions are described as complex arenas where actors with diverse goals, roles, and practices operate. To illustrate these challenges and based on a mixed method approach, two vignettes based on real events in educational institutions are outlined. The analysis of the vignettes, utilising an institutional logic and sociomaterial framework, highlights how “seemingly small problems” are indicators of deeper organisational challenges. Four dominant logics are identified: the pedagogical (focus on learning, flexibility), the managerial (resource efficiency, standardisation), the technical-infrastructural (system integration, sustainability), and the accounting (economic aspects, costs). The chapter demonstrates how these conflicting logics and sociomaterial practices—where social practices and material artefacts such as furniture, technology, and room labels are mutually constitutive—lead to misunderstandings, disagreements, and difficulties in decision-making. Problems are often resolved ad hoc, underscoring a lack of institutional flexibility and established mechanisms for conflict resolution. The chapter argues that translation work is needed to bridge disciplinary gaps and promote cross-functional coordination in the development of learning environments.