Reformulating the institutionalised role of student teachers through playful approaches to learning: A design-based research study of student teachers’ embodied playful presence in learning situations

‘Imagine a learning lesson in higher education in which the mood and atmosphere are permeated with play. The educator is being playful, facilitating playful learning processes. Even the classroom itself is transformed into a play laboratory designed to invite, inspire and insist on playful approaches to learning. Imagine that the students are devoted and engaging in the learning activities with a playful attitude. Laughter and joy create academic drive. Imagine the students’ preoccupation of being in the playful learning process, which will grant them the knowledge, skills and competences that they need as teachers in their future careers at compulsory school’ (Händel, 2023 p. 83).

‘Now, imagine that you are a student in teacher education. You are on your way to attending a lesson. Throughout your educational practice, you have acquired specific institutional habits of being a student, that is, how the teaching method is conducted, how the interior of the classroom looks, the content of the subject, and so on. Thus, you know your own role and position in the learning environment. Both bodily and cognitive, you have been entangled in the current educational tradition and culture. Now imagine that all your prerequisites about being a student are being challenged’ (Händel, 2023 p. 83).