3.2. Pedagogical actions that promote disruptive dynamics and who they influence

Most of the pedagogical actions that are implemented in secondary schools and that are approached from a disruptive perspective arise as a response to tensions related to the curriculum and to structural, social, organisational, cultural, and neighbourhood issues, generally associated with depressed social contexts and vulnerable groups. The review shows a significant number of these pedagogical actions developed by teachers and which, at a methodological and strategic level, are presented under the umbrella of participatory action research (Hammer, 2023; Luguetti et al., 2023; Ramos-Ramos et al., 2022). These actions are as follows.

Alfandari and Tsoubaris (2021) and Hammer (2023) develop actions with interaction and role-playing dynamics in which students position themselves in different situations, assuming roles in a more empathetic and critical way towards different social situations. Alfandari and Tsoubaris (2021) propose a project with teachers at the Milestone Academy (United Kingdom) with the aim of seeking a scientific-critical education in various subjects, over ten classes lasting one hour each. The research used creative methodologies offering “alternative ground rules for communication”. They introduced body expression techniques, creative exchanges and body re-enactments based on the principles of the Theatre of the Oppressed and developed creative workshops to reflect on the project and its impact from the students’ experience. Hammer’s (2023) experience was also based on an action research project in a secondary school in Oslo (Norway). They used the basis of the Theatre of the Oppressed to work on concepts related to power, oppression, and empowerment in order to raise students’ awareness of social justice issues and the development of responsible and committed citizenship.

The research carried out by Cortés et al. (2020) presents the modifications to the curriculum by addressing structural and political issues of the school and how this has an impact on methodological and organisational dimensions. This study shows positive results of the implementation of a service-learning methodology in schools and how it generates spaces and times that favour collaborative work and the opening of the school to the community, giving rise to new relationships between social, educational, community, and business services.

The work of Luguetti et al. (2023) analyses how curricular transformation influences students’ future projections after completing secondary education and shows a programme designed collaboratively between students and teachers to improve the process of transition to post-secondary studies. This programme was designed under the theoretical premises of bell hooks’ engaged pedagogy (1994, 2003) and with the purpose of actively involving young people in developing strategies that would allow them to negotiate their future (life choices, studies, employment, etc.). The implementation of the programme allowed for an evaluation of the (co-)design and recommendations for the future. The process was recorded through recordings of group interviews and photographic records.

The introduction of critical pedagogy into the curriculum has also become commonplace within these disruptive practices. In this sense, teachers who adopt these references encounter barriers, resistance, and structural tensions when it comes to implementing these disruptive innovation projects. In this line, we highlight two projects developed in Zimbabwe; the first shows the effectiveness of enacting critical pedagogy within the curriculum of a Secondary School -Budirirai- in the Mwenezi district and in the subject of History during a regular academic year (Machingo, 2021). This project brought together six groups of learners (49 learners - 20 boys and 29 girls) from different villages (Musvoti, Zvihwa, Marufu, Sitera, Timire and Mangezi) with the aim of collaboratively showcasing the research that learners were doing by seeking and using primary sources for their learning and encouraging them to “feel comfortable critiquing their teacher and even textbooks” (Machingo, 2021, p. 6). As part of the research activities, students were encouraged to visit elders in the villages to obtain primary evidence and share their findings with their peers. This allowed them to critique the sources of the story and have meaningful interactions based on the reports of their peers. The second project presents a study conducted in the city of Lesotho (Ansell, 2002) and organised around two student focus groups. In these groups, opinions were raised and expressed and decisions were made on issues relating to rural secondary schools in Lesotho. These issues focused on the construction of gender identities among rural girls in the school context. The areas, with a highly gendered component, dealt with three axes that broke with the tradition of these towns: job prospects and paid work, domestic and reproductive work, and decision-making within the household.

Other research that addresses curriculum transformations are those carried out by Alfrey and O’Connor (2020), Warne et al. (2013), and Di Stefano et al. (2021), using the subject of Spanish language teaching. The research by Di Stefano et al. (2021) presents the implementation of certain activities in the classroom, such as: readings, multimedia texts, research journals, lecture or workshop materials, etc. The results suggest that such activities promote inclusion, cultural respect, equity, social justice, identification, and the challenge of eliminating stereotypes related to gender, race, language, immigration, and nationality in Spanish classrooms in the United States.

The case study presented by Alfrey and O’Connor (2020) shows a curriculum transformation project carried out in the Physical Education and Health department in an Australian high school in suburban Melbourne. The project uses an action research methodology, implemented each year in a different year group. Meetings were held with students and teachers involved in the subject and with other teachers who were not involved in the subject. At the end of each year, and with the feedback from a shared evaluation and feedback process, proposals for improvement were implemented in the following year.

The study presented by Warne et al. (2013) was conducted with a group of 35 students from an upper secondary school in the municipality of Östersund in northern Sweden. Students were selected according to their social position and the identification of young people at risk, and 5 teachers were selected too. All selected persons participated in 3 photovoice workshops with a duration of 120 minutes each. This methodology aims to increase the empowerment and participation of students in school dynamics. During the workshops, photographs and texts were used to explore relevant themes. The main findings were that low socio-economic status was associated with lower levels of mental well-being and lack of social capital was related to young people’s inability to participate in decision-making. However, at the same time, the student body came up with some salient proposals, such as: 1) more group work to improve classroom relationships; 2) provide teacher training to improve their pedagogical and leadership skills; 3) get more computers and repair broken ones to facilitate learning and reduce stress; 4) provide more tasty food in the school cafeteria to get energy for school work and wellbeing; 5) provide more food in the school cafeteria to get energy for school work and wellbeing; and 6) provide more food in the school cafeteria to get energy for school work and wellbeing.

Seeger et al.’s (2022) research, conducted in high-poverty high schools in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region, proposes dynamics in which students collaborate with teachers to restructure the educational curriculum, both in content and methodology. This approach is accompanied by readings of texts by Martin Luther King and presentations by Chimamanda Ndiche that address issues of equity and social justice, among others.

Also, the research by Ramos-Ramos et al. (2022) and Lousley (1999), focused on the curriculum of Music and Visual and Plastic Arts subjects, proposes to have an impact on the nearby social contexts with the aim of bringing about changes in the immediate context. The research by Ramos-Ramos et al. (2022) is located in the surroundings of a secondary school in the maritime district of Valencia with students in the 3rd year of Compulsory Secondary Education. The intervention is carried out through participatory action research in which students work with artists and educators to create artworks that address social and environmental issues. In Lousley’s (1999) research, based on critical ethnographic methodology and positioned within critical pedagogy, interventions were carried out in four environmental clubs in urban, multicultural high schools in the city of Metropolitan Toronto. This project conducted dialogues with all educational agents about culture, structures, relations, and discourses related to race, ethnicity, class and/or gender in order to understand and analyse how dominant environmental discourses are constructed.

3.3. Relevant and transformative contributions on the implementation of disruptive pedagogies in educational centres.

The consulted literature shows us successful experiences in terms of repercussions, transformations, and dynamics of change established in the educational centres in which they have been developed. The results presented by Alfandari and Tsoubaris (2021), Ansell (2002), Warne et al. (2013), and Hammer (2023) show that the use of critical pedagogies in the classroom has generated positive changes in the power relations between participants, both inside and outside the educational environment, contributing in an implicit and explicit way to the construction of a more democratic school and citizenship. In this sense, using theatre as a disruptive tool has allowed students the possibility of questioning their own ways of thinking, fostering change-oriented learning and generating modifications in the production of knowledge, as well as in the construction of subjectivities (Alfandari and Tsoubaris, 2021). In addition, students have improved their communication skills and their ability to resolve interpersonal conflicts, promote greater understanding, and accept diversity (Hammer, 2023); at the same time, teachers have positively valued their ability to act as facilitators (Warne et al., 2013).

Similarly, the study by Cortés et al. (2020) highlights that the implementation of disruptive pedagogies in schools has led to changes in teachers’ expectations by adopting a closer and more empathetic approach to students. There have also been transformations in the curriculum, which is beginning to be understood as a tool for transformation (Machingo, 2021) and not as a set of knowledge to be transmitted from a banking (Freire, 1970) and hierarchical conception. On the other hand, the studies by Alfrey and O’Connor (2020) and Luguetti et al. (2023) suggest that there is a change in the role of students, facilitating their active involvement through role-playing strategies, discussion groups, and debates. The use of these collaborative, participatory and reflective strategies generates critical awareness and drives proposals for curriculum modification based on theoretical and ideological foundations such as justice, social and educational engagement, critical perspective, connection of curriculum content to the real world and diversity of voices, as well as approaches that promote educational and social equity (Seeger, 2023).

4. CONCLUSIONS AND CHALLENGES

Just as the concept of ‘disruption’ is associated with innovation, it is difficult to address educational innovation without considering the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Learning and Knowledge Technologies (LKT), Technologies for Empowerment and Transformation (TEP) or Relationship, Information and Communication Technologies (RICT) (Del Río, 2023). In this regard, there are many authors who relate the concepts of disruptive innovation (Christensen, Raynor and McDonal, 2015; Pilonieta, 2017), disruptive pedagogy (Hedberg and Freebody, 2007; Ocaña-Fernández et al, 2020), and disruptive education (León, 2021; Molano, 2018) with the use of technologies; however, being aware that there are many educational practices that respond to their principles and do not use technologies and within the framework of the projects in which this research emerges, we propose the present study. In this sense, considering the work of Bower and Christensen (1995) as a starting point, we have shown that there are (n = 196) publications developed in secondary education that respond to the principles of disruptive innovation, disruptive pedagogy and/or disruptive education without making use of technologies. This poses a challenge, as well as a limitation, in the sense of knowing what other educational practices are developed under the terms disruptive innovation, disruptive pedagogy, and disruptive education and whether they respond to educational practices that break with hegemonic and traditional educational logics in terms of organisation, the implementation of methodologies, the structural and political aspects of the educational system, and the assumption or not of other pedagogical epistemologies. In spite of this, we can find other research and disruptive experiences that have not been considered because they do not use the search criteria used, which can be considered as another of the limitations of this study.

In order to address innovative and disruptive educational practices, the 12 analysed studies include so-called disruptive practices that have been characterised as: (1) counter-hegemonic educational experiences; (2) have transformed school cultures in their curricular, organisational, methodological and participatory dimensions; (3) have been developed without relying on the use of technologies; and (4) have been implemented in secondary education.

In a particular way, the analysis of these works shows us that disruptive pedagogies: