Relational Education Design: Three Case Studies and a Discussion for Aspirational Design and Education Futures

Abstract

Relational education design advocates for whole-person exchange between teachers, students, facilitators, and participants. In this essay, we discuss what an emphasis on the relational allows and provide suggestions for its conditions including, space, time, authenticity, trust, dialogic development, and institutional support. The co-authors demonstrate how relational education experiences are highly situational, and conclude by suggesting that a relational education design is capable of providing an orientation to education design suitable for our highly complex contemporary socio-political conditions, one that has the capacity to engage all parties in the educational space in dialogic, authentic, and, necessarily, relational experiences.