Education policy and the socio-spatiality of school reform – learning support spaces as perceived by students in the context of the new middle school policy in Austria

Abstract Education policies are socio-spatially sensitive and, depending on the local situation, can be interpreted and understood differently. The concept of perceived learning support spaces (e.g. student cooperation, student-teacher relationships) refers to an understanding that students’ school experiences are situated within the school. Using the example of the introduction of a new type of school, the new middle school (NMS), in Austria, and based on the longitudinal data of a national evaluation project (NOESIS), this article aims to clarify the extent to which, and how, student learning support spaces are perceived as local social conditions inside and outside school, and how this can explain changes in students’ educational aspirations, which was the objective of the NMS reform. In this sense, the reform policy of introducing the new middle school is examined from the perspective of the students themselves. The results from the panel analyses demonstrate that the perceived learning support spaces are highly relevant in explaining students’ aspirations.