Education spaces: embodied dimensions and dynamics

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1 Whilst beyond the scope of this editorial, it would be remiss to overlook research undertaken on the historical geographies of education (e.g. Driver and Maddrell 1996 Driver, F. and Maddrell, A.M.C. 1996. Geographical education and citizenship: introduction. Journal of Historical Geography, 22: 371–372. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Gagen 2000 Gagen, E.A. 2000. "Playing the part: performing gender in America's playgrounds". In Children's Geographies: Playing, Living, Learning, Edited by: Holloway, S.L. and Valentine, G. 213–229. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]; Ploszajska 1998 Ploszajska, T. 1998. Down to earth? Geography fieldwork in English schools, 1870–1944. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 16: 757–774. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 2 It is not only students who are able to subvert and challenge institutional spaces of power. For example, Askins (2008 Askins, K. 2008. In and beyond the classroom: research ethics and participatory pedagogies. Area, 40: 500–509. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) demonstrates how academics can create spaces in which students are able to express their agency. Askins's work engages with debates about 'border geographies', which have important implications for geographers engaging in collaborative partnerships both within, and beyond, academia (e.g. Castree 2002 Castree, N. 2002. Border geography. Area, 34: 103–112. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Philo's (1998 Philo, C. 1998. Reading Drumlin: academic geography and a student geographical magazine. Progress in Human Geography, 22: 344–367. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Lorimer's (2003 Lorimer, H. 2003. Telling small stories: spaces of knowledge and the practice of geography. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 28: 197–217. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) work offers similar reflections on the geographies of geographical education, whilst also underscoring the necessary blurring of spaces and places of education. However, reflections on the embodied role of educator are notably lacking within this literature, particularly the creative practices of negotiating institutional requirements. 3 Research has also been conducted at different stages of a student's lifecourse. For example, O'Connor and Goodwin's (2005 O'Connor, H. and Goodwin, J. 2005. "Girls perceptions of adulthood in the 1960s". In Young People in Transition: Becoming Citizens?, Edited by: Pole, C., Pilcher, J. and Williams, J. 52–73. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [Google Scholar]) research explores the school-to-work transitions of Leicester school girls during the 1960s. 4 Whilst beyond the scope of this paper, research has also examined how the circulation and performance of particular knowledges continually transforms education spaces as sites of production, reception and reproduction (e.g. Livingstone 2003 Livingstone, D.N. 2003. Putting Science in its Place: Geographies of Scientific Knowledge, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]).