Stretching Spatial Theories in Comparative Education: New Approaches for Challenging Times

Overview & Synopsis

The aim of this article is to stretch spatial theorising in the field of comparative education. Among the different spatial theoretical approaches that have been explored in educational research in the last 10 years, we review social topology, spatial-temporalities, and beyond-human spatialities and how they have been used in comparative education research. To illustrate the potential of these approaches we then use them to analyse recent technological changes, shifts in governance, the impacts of global crises and the complicated ways in which they are spatially related to education. Through our analysis, we argue that comparative education research would benefit from making space for spatial theorising in relation to time, materiality, and the beyond-human, not only to better understand the world, but also to consider how education is ethically linked to the existential challenges humanity is facing today.