Proposing a conceptual framework for relational pedagogy: pedagogical informality, interface, exchange and enactment

Abstract

This paper outlines a conceptual framework for enacting relational pedagogy. Commencing with a description of a relational ontology that can work to provide the foundation for engaged and participatory enactments of teaching and learning, the paper moves to consider the dynamics that support inclusive modes of education and the dimensions of relational pedagogical encounters. In particular, the pedagogical encounter is examined with a view to illuminating how the ontological and epistemological dynamics and dimensions of relational pedagogy open opportunities for inclusive and participatory modes of teaching and learning. In addition, the practical implications of pedagogical informality are considered, including the in-the-moment immediacy inherent to the relational encounter and concomitant enactments of the pedagogical exchange. In doing so, we argue for a relational pedagogy that widens the possibility for meaningful engagement with young people through pedagogical enactments that build upon the inter-relationality of teachers and students.