Education is inherently geographical, and geography has made substantial contributions to education research, policy and practice. This edited collection showcases some of the key concepts shaping and enriching the field of geographies of education. The collection is deliberately written for education; it is intended for those studying and researching education to further explore and contribute to discourse about how geographies shape education spaces, processes, access and outcomes.   From spatial inequities in education attainment, to access to nature, to sites of education as targets in warfare and law, to the surveillance of children and teachers through building design and accountability measures, the collection comes at a time when many children, students, educators, researchers and policy makers are considering how and why geographies matter in, and to, education. The rich and growing field of research in geographies of education, and forms of spatial thinking more generally, have much to offer the discipline of education and the social sciences more broadly. 

This book will actively and substantively support engagement with geography (as a disciplinary lens) and geographies in, and of, the world in education research, policy and practice. It will support work to promote the value of geographies of education research to undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes. Focused on key concepts in geography – including, but not limited to, space, place, environment, time, scale, justice and power – we invite chapters that examine how geographical ideas and methods can enhance our knowledges of, policies for, and practices in, education. The book will present multiple chapters (3 or 4) focused on the same concept. Each concept will be introduced by a brief commentary, signposting the main arguments and acting as a primer to the following chapters.

This conceptual focus seeks to recognise and celebrate that education happens in, and is shaped by, place(s); that education spaces are often places of play, socialisation and counterculture, as well as teaching and (un)learning; and that geographical concepts, including space, can help us to better understand and challenge injustices at a variety of scales. Engagement with concepts including power and space can also support broader engagement with questions about how work in the field of geographies of education can enhance knowledge of how and why people, information, policies and ideas flow and evolve across time and space, in turn, shaping lives, places and practices through education.

We invite contributions from colleagues researching in geographies of education and connected fields or working as an educator or policy maker with an interest in these matters. Chapters should be aimed primarily at an academic audience – including postgraduate students – with attention paid to how the arguments put forward can contribute to education research, policy and/or practice. Chapters may focus on any phase of education, consider education in different times or use a temporal lens, and engage with formal or alternative / non formal education in different places to engage with debates about key concepts in the geographies of education, including – but not limited to:

• Space
• Place
• Environment
• Time
• Scale
• Power
• Justice

Within these concepts, substantive areas of focus might be drawn from across the breath of research in the geographies of education, such as: Spatial (in)justices and education; The design of classrooms, schools or other education spaces; Children or educators’ experiences and imaginations of education and education spaces; Institutional geographies; Outdoor learning; Nature-connectedness; Historical geographies of education; Education and futures; Anti-fascist education; Or, methods for researching geographies in of education.

 Chapter formats include:

• A 6000-word written contribution including references, including a 500-1000 word section on how the arguments put forward can contribute to education research methodologies, policy and/or practice.
• A 6000-word discussion, including references, between multiple authors discussing their different perspectives on how, and why, geographies of education matter to education.
• An artistic representation connected to geographies of education, with a short-written discussion.

To submit your chapter, please email Dr Lauren Hammond lauren.hammond@education.ox.ac.uk by 30^thJanuary 2026. Please include:

• Name of author(s)
• Any institutional affiliation(s)
• The title of the chapter
• A 200-word abstract, which clearly articulates how the ideas, knowledges or methods shared in the chapter contribute to research, policy and/or practice in education.
• Type of chapter (e.g. 6000 word written contribution)
• Which geographical concept(s) your chapter speaks to (e.g. time, space, place, power, environment, scale etc.)

Edited by

Lauren Hammond (Department of Education, University of Oxford; IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society)

Matt Finn (Department of Geography, University of Exeter)

Steve Puttick (Department of Education, University of Oxford) 

William Quirke (Strathclyde Institute of Education, University of Strathclyde)