Metaphors of space in educational theory and practice

Abstract

Space is largely ignored in both the theory and the practice of education. At the same time, however, there is an abundance of spatial metaphors that are used to describe schooling, the curriculum and educational processes. Some of these (top of the class, department) have their origins in spatial arrangements that once dominated schools and schooling, while others (curriculum area, field, baseline assessment) seem to derive from a spatial imagination that has crept into educational discourse despite its overt privileging of issues of time. This article examines the variety of spatial metaphors used in educational discourses and demonstrates how they are used in different ways for different aspects of and approaches to educational processes. The discourses around these various spatial metaphors both illuminate and constrain the ways in which we think about educational processes and learners' relationships with them.