Zones of In-Between as Creative Spaces in Pupils' Interactions at School

Zones of in-between (Saltofte 2013b, 2018) are organizational, social and physical spaces at school that have the potential to allow for something else than their ostensible purpose in school teaching and teacher-pupil relations. Different types of presence, interactions and expressions occur and are being formed when pupils have a pause from teaching and interact with other pupils. Pupils form the zone and its expressive acts by themselves in order to be and act differently than in the ordinary teacher-structured setting. Zones of in-between moments and situations can lead to new kinds of social interactions, improvisations, and creative expressions. This kind of creativity is formed by and takes place in sociocultural margins and peripheries of the school. The “dwelling” and “building” (Ingold 2011) of and in these communities differs from zones of teaching. The way the pupils inhabit spaces and practice relations is based on and forms relations and shared interests in youth culture. The improvisations and creative expressions are inspired by and take form from both practices at the school and particular pupil communities. The ‘communities of practice’ (Wenger 1998) are both formed and performed by improvisation. They become recognized through the social and creative interrogations that take place at the margins of the school, sometimes even experimenting with oppositional positions.