The institutionalization of the geography of education: An international perspective

Abstract

The geography of education is a young field of research. This article makes two innovative contributions to knowledge about the evolution of this body of work. First, it presents a three-fold history of the field, delineating distinct phases in its development. Second, it draws out both linkages across, and disparities between, geographies of education in different language traditions. The analysis includes longer established German-language, Francophone and Anglophone oeuvres, as well as more recent Eastern European and international research. In combination, this attention to the temporality and spatiality of geographical debate about education provides a unique introduction to the field.

Supplementary education and the coronavirus pandemic: Economic vitality, business spatiality and societal value in the private tuition industry during the first wave of Covid-19 in England

“…Geographies of Education have burgeoned into a diverse and vibrant field in the twenty-first century ( Kraftl et al, 2021 , Kučerová et al, 2020 , Nguyen et al, 2017 , Waters, 2017 ), but important omissions remain. The field spans education designed for different age ranges, from early-years provision through to higher education, and incorporates formal, informal and alternative learning environments ( Holloway & Jöns, 2012 ).…”

“…As geographers seek to examine this flourishing global industry, there are a multitude of approaches that could be taken; here we opt for an innovative focus on economic aspects of supplementary education. Geographical research on education to date has been strongly influenced by locational, socio-cultural, feminist and children’s geographies, such that studies which dominate examine questions about spatial and social equity in access; the material design of learning environments; education-related mobilities; and the making of young people’s subjectivities within educational spaces ( Kraftl et al, 2021 , Kučerová et al, 2020 , Waters, 2017 ). Research about the political-economy of education is of increasing importance too, as researchers pay greater attention to the marketisation of early years, school and higher education in neoliberal regimes ( Cohen, 2020 , Gallagher, 2018 , Harrison et al, 2016 , Hunter, 2019 ).…”

“…‘Geographies of Education’ has a complex and spatially varied history as a field, but by the twenty-first century this body of work reached critical mass on the international stage ( Kučerová et al, 2020 ). The field’s research foci encompass early years, school-age and higher education ( Brooks et al, 2012 , Nguyen et al, 2017 ), but until recently supplementary education has been left off the geographical research agenda ( Holloway & Kirby, 2020 ).…”

“…Supplementary education refers to extra tuition received outside of school or college: it is provided on a commercial basis, for example by private tutors or tuition centres, in order to boost children and young people’s formal academic performance ( Gupta, 2021 , Ireson and Rushforth, 2011 ). Its absence from the geographic research may in part be accounted for by its global geography, as in the late twentieth century the industry was most developed in Asia and less so in European nations such as Germany, France and the UK where academic interest in Geographies of Education was particularly strong ( Kučerová et al, 2020 , Manzon and Areepattamannil, 2014 , Song et al, 2013 ). Today, however, the industry is booming in previously low-usage markets ( Bray, 2020 , Guill and Lintorf, 2019 ), for example, being worth an estimated £2 billion per annum in the UK alone ( Kirby, 2016 ).…”

“…The purpose of this paper is to focus geographers’ attention on the lucrative, but understudied, supplementary education sector. Much geographic research on education has been stimulated through the field’s links with locational analysis ( Kučerová et al, 2020 ), social-cultural geographies ( Kraftl et al, 2021 ) or political economy ( Nguyen et al, 2017 ), but here our intention is to take a different path and pursue an economic geography of the supplementary education sector in England. Like all businesses, the private tuition sector has recently been exposed to the profound economic shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and this has hit England particularly hard ( Harari & Keep, 2021 ).…”