Exploring pupils' face-to-face interaction in a co-learning classroom context: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Global education trends indicate that social interaction skills grounded in cooperation are becoming crucial for current quality education. More than ever, empirical research and educational innovation call for a socially inclusive focus on strengthening teachers’ and pupils’ pedagogical face-to-face encounters in co-learning processes. These processes can help engage in preparing every pupil for twenty-first-century social and work lives. This thesis is a response calling for socio-dynamic relational pedagogies that promote active engagement in education, cooperation and social inclusion, such as cooperative learning. This article-based dissertation aims to understand and explore how pupils’ and teachers’ experiences with face-to-face promotive interactions can strengthen socially responsive resources for co-learning education. The three peer-reviewed articles have explored the following subresearch questions: - Which face-to-face promotive interaction factors lead to successful cooperative learning in small groups? - How do pupils and teachers perceive face-to-face promotive interaction in cooperative learning group work? - How do Year 4 pupils practice their face-to-face promotive interactions in small cooperative learning groups? This is an exploratory case study in which qualitative empirical data with auxiliary quantitative data were drawn from two primary schools implementing a cooperative learning approach in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The thesis is grounded in intertwined sociocultural theoretical perspectives on learning and social interdependence theory. The first article is a literature review of 34 international empirical studies selected through systematic searches of databases and manual searches of academic journals. This review study explores the critical factors of pupils’ face-to-face promotive interactions (FtFPI) associated with engagement for successful co-learning. The results, which are embedded in a face-to-face promotive interaction model, have indicated three groups of factors that underpin pupils’ socially responsive engagement: (1) factors that characterise FtFPI (interpersonal behaviour and supportive communication), (2) factors as determinants of FtFPI (experiences and processes; teacher influences) (3), FtFPI mediating status regarding deep learning. The study illuminates the complexity of face-to-face promotive interaction situations, indicating a lack of more profound insights from the pupils’ and teachers’ experiences and pr