The Voices of Lanterns – Highlighting the Agency of Teachers through Co-Design Practices
Teachers’ professional value extends beyond simply teaching classes or preparing for them; they fulfill a wide range of social roles day in and day out, which allows them to have a long-term impact on social issues.
And yet, being in the teaching profession in Sweden remains difficult. Certain topics are often avoided to maintain a stress-free or calm atmosphere, while expectations connected to administration, emotional resilience and productivity continue to shape teachers’ everyday environments. How could we intervene and achieve a shift towards sustainable futures while staying within these existing systems? How could dialogue between teachers and reflection spark new habits, connections and action towards change?
Through this project, I explored how design could support conversations around the emotional and professional realities teachers face within the Swedish education system. By engaging in conversations with educators, prototyping and iterating concepts together, I aimed to highlight their significance in our society.
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Through conversations with teachers from diverse national and pedagogical backgrounds, I began understanding the everyday realities surrounding Swedish education. Although Sweden is often considered a pedagogically progressive country, many worldwide issues connected to teaching remain present. Teachers described increasing administrative expectations, emotional pressure, lack of trust in their professionalism and limited opportunities to openly discuss difficulties within their workplaces.
The core problem this project approaches is the absence of structured and emotionally safe reflection opportunities for teachers within their professional environments. Because teachers often hold little stake in the decision-making processes shaping their environments, I found it important to understand these situations first-hand and closely involve teachers in conversations about their working conditions.
Being introduced to the Scouting Movement in my childhood shaped how I view learning, responsibility and community. Later, becoming a scout leader myself offered an extraordinary perspective on youth, education and the responsibility of setting an example to others.
During a previous project exploring the challenges of scout leadership, I created a conversation card game called Lanterns. In Hungarian scouting, lanterns symbolise those who guide others by setting examples and “carrying light forward”. Through conversations around the cards, I experienced the importance of creating spaces for reflection and recognising the work of ordinary people who become role models to youth.
What if teachers are viewed similarly? Their ability to “shine light” and guide young people should not be overlooked.
Being part of a rich community like scouting showed me how learning conditions offer individuals the possibility to thrive. Studying in Sweden as a Hungarian also meant learning how to participate in communities as an outsider. These experiences later shaped how I approached dialogue, participation and collaboration within this project.
The base of the framework was shaped through dialogue with teachers and built around situations, emotions and dilemmas repeatedly appearing throughout the process.
Questions on the conversation cards were developed in collaboration with teachers and are structured around two scenarios: one focusing on deeper critical reflection, while the other offers lighter entry points into discussion. The framework is designed to be flexible and adaptable to different contexts while encouraging participants to address things openly but without insulting others in frustrating situations, exchanging thoughts in a respectful and emotionally safe way.
Rather than introducing an entirely new system, the tool was co-designed as a small addition to already existing routines such as coffee breaks, part of meetings or the beginning of the day. Following the Scout Method and small group discussions, the framework is intended to be facilitated by individuals already holding responsibilities within schools, such as principals, counsellors or team leaders.
The intervention does not attempt to solve systemic issues on its own. Instead, it explores how design can create opportunities for participation, shared knowledge and dialogue within institutional structures. Through initiating and declaring care towards a cause and other’s efforts, “Lanterns” for teachers can act as a starting point for cultivating learning environments.
