Spatializing critical education: progress and cautions

• Published in: Critical studies in education Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 209 - 221
• Main Authors: Ferrare, Joseph J., Apple, Michael W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne Taylor & Francis 01.06.2010; Routledge; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Critical Theory; Education; Educational Policy; Educational sociology; Educational Theories; methodology; Quantitative methods; Research Methodology; School Space; Society; Sociology; sociology of education; space; Spatial analysis; Statistical Analysis
• ISSN: 1750-8487; 1750-8495
• DOI: 10.1080/17508481003731075

Recently critical scholars have shown a renewed interest in spatial relations in educational contexts. In this essay we use selections from Gulson and Symes's edited volume Spatial theories of education as a point of departure to examine what spatial analysis can contribute to the critical education traditions. We argue that, when done thoughtfully, spatial theory can shed new light on existing and taken-for-granted social relations in education, though we raise cautions regarding particular forms of its application. In the process we connect the more recent attempts to 'spatialize' critical education to the ways in which space has been dealt with in past moments of critical work. Finally, we conclude by advocating for the expansion of the types of methodological tools used by critical theorists of spatial relations and of critical projects more broadly.