This book offers a comparative analysis of alternative education in the UK, focusing on learning spaces that cater for children and young people. It constitutes one of the first book-length explorations of alternative learning spaces outside mainstream education - including Steiner, human scale and forest schools, care farms and homeschooling.Based on original research with teachers, parents and young people at over 50 learning spaces, Geographies of alternative education demonstrates the importance of a geographical lens for understanding alternative education. In so doing, it develops contemporary theories of autonomy, emotion/affect, habit, intergenerational relations and life-itself. The book will appeal to academics and postgraduates in the fields of geography, sociology, education and youth studies. Given ongoing concerns about the state's role in providing children's education, and an increase in the number of alternative education providers in the UK and elsewhere, the book also highlights several critical questions for policy makers and practitioners.

This open access book explores the complex relationship between schooling as a set of practices embedded in educational institutions and their specific spatial dimensions from different disciplinary perspectives. It presents innovative empirical and conceptual research by international scholars from the fields of social geography, pedagogy, educational and social sciences in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Czechia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and Canada. The book covers a broad range of topics, all examined from a spatial perspective: the governance of schooling, the transition processes of and within national school systems, the question of small schools in peripheral areas as well as the embeddedness of schooling in broader processes of social change. Transcending disciplinary boundaries, the book offers deep insights into current theoretical debates and empirical case studies within the broad research field encompassing the complex relationship between education and space.

This book explores the complex and various forms that privatization of education takes on a global scale at different ages of schooling. Through the spread of neoliberal policies in education both in the global North and the global South, the book suggests that this process is leading to new forms of schooling and socio-spatial dynamics linked to the creation of increasingly competitive school markets. The book highlights some of the main issues that such competition generates by focusing on the acceleration of the segregative processes on one hand but also on the alternatives that are emerging regarding this global context on the other hand. It considers processes of domination, hegemony, but also exclusion and segregation, eventually exploring contradictions inherent to societies. It presents innovative empirical and conceptual research by international scholars from the fields of social geography, sociology, history and demography in the United States, Lebanon, France, Afghanistan and Chile, thereby transcending disciplinary boundaries. Developed in under or unexplored contexts, the book broadens the reflection to social representations, individual and collective strategies, adaptation, innovation and also resistances.

The Routledge Handbook of Methodologies in Human Geography is the defining reference for academics and postgraduate students seeking an advanced understanding of the debates, methodological developments and methods transforming research in human geography. Divided into three sections, Part I reviews how the methods of contemporary human geography reflect the changing intellectual history of human geography and events both within human geography and society in general. In Part II, authors critically appraise key methodological and theoretical challenges and opportunities that are shaping contemporary research in various parts of human geography. Contemporary directions within the discipline are elaborated on by established and emerging researchers who are leading ontological debates and the adoption of innovative methods in geographic research. In Part III, authors explore cross-cutting methodological challenges and prompt questions about the values and goals underpinning geographical research work, such as: Who are we engaging in our research? Who is our research ‘for’? What are our relationships with communities? Contributors emphasize examples from their research and the research of others to reflect the fluid, emotional and pragmatic realities of research. This handbook captures key methodological developments and disciplinary influences emerging from the various sub-disciplines of human geography.

This book explores the growth of ‘character education’ in schools and youth organisations over the last decade. It delves into historical and contemporary debates through a geopolitical lens. With a renewed focus on values and virtues such as grit, gumption, perseverance, resilience, generosity, and neighbourliness, this book charts the re-imagining and re-fashioning of a ‘character agenda’ in England and examines its multiscalar geographies. It explores how these moral geographies of education for children and young people have developed over time. Drawing on original research and examples from schools, military and uniformed youth organisations, and the state-led National Citizen Service, the book critically examines the wider implications of the ‘character agenda’ across the UK and beyond. It does so by raising a series of questions about the interconnections between character, citizenship, and values and highlighting how these moral geographies reach far beyond the classroom or campsite. Offering critical insights on the roles of character, citizenship and values in modern education, this book will be of immense value to educationists, teachers and policymakers. It will appeal students and scholars of human geography, sociology, education studies, cultural studies and history.

This book examines the intersections between children, education and geography. With a particular focus on children’s geographies and geographies of education, the book draws upon cutting-edge research to consider how geographical education can be enhanced through increased engagement with these fields. The book is underpinned by the position that the lives of children and young people are inherently geographical, as are educational institutions, systems and processes. The volume explores the ways in which the diverse relationships between children, education and geography can enrich research and work with, and for, children and young people. Chapters in this book consider how in/justices are (re)produced through education. Chapters also explore how insights generated by thinking in, and across, geography and education can be used to support and empower young people in both formal education and in their everyday lives. Ultimately, this book is written for children and young people. Not as the readership, but as people, often marginalised in decision making at a variety of scales in education, and who, we contend should be at the heart of all educational thinking. The book is of value to undergraduate and post graduate students interested in geography education and children’s geographies, as well as teachers of geography, both new and experienced.

In an era when many young people feel marginalized and excluded, this is the first comprehensive, critical account to shed new light on the trouble of ‘belonging’ and how young people in schools understand, enact and experience ‘belonging’ (and non-belonging). It traverses diverse dimensions of identity, including gender and sexuality; race, class, nation and citizenship; and place and space. Each section includes a provocative discussion by an eminent and international youth scholar of youth, and is essential reading for anyone involved with young people and schools. This book is a crucial resource and reference for sociology of education courses at all levels as well as courses in student inclusion, equity and student well-being.

This volume examines children's and young people's emotions in policy-making and professional practice. It seeks both to inform readers about up-to-date research and to provoke debate, encouraging and enabling critical reflections upon emotions in policy and practice, relevant to readers' own context.

Bringing together authors from a range of academic disciplines and research backgrounds – united as standard-bearers for the child’s right to play – and set against a backdrop evoking play’s critical essence, this book documents the rise and fall of an explosive period of political interest in play in the UK. Has the withdrawal of so much state funding damaged the playwork profession forever? Has the battle for recognition of the significance of play in child development been lost? Why is children’s happiness always so low on the agendas of our politicians? The invaluable contributions in this book identify the lessons learned, and the opportunities that may be available to those determined to maintain the struggle for a greater recognition of the importance of children’s play in an era defined by the oppressive politics of austerity. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Play.

This exciting new book illustrates and analyses the complexities of children's and young people’s everyday lived experiences throughout childhood. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it provides theoretical frameworks and case studies to critically examine assumptions in the field and explore emerging perspectives. Considering different stages throughout childhood and youth, chapters cover key topics such as eating practices, gender, play, digital media and the environment. Drawing upon insights from cultural studies, sociology, social anthropology, psychology, health and education, this book focuses on four key areas: Bodies and minds Space, place and belonging Inequalities and inclusion Childhood in the past, present and future Essential reading for students on childhood and youth and education courses, Exploring Childhood and Youth is an important resource for practitioners working with children and young people, and for parents, communities and legislators who have influence over children’s and young people’s lives.