The child and their (geographical) education

In the 18th Century poem entitled ‘The School-Boy’, William Blake portrays children sat in rows in a classroom, under the ‘cruel eye’ of their teacher and removed from the wonders and pleasures of a summer morning. Blake asks ‘how can the bird that is born for joy, sit in a cage and sing?’ Written over two centuries ago, Blake’s question still resonates when considering the relationships between people and nature, the nature of childhood and the purposes and practices of education. This question carries an especially heavy weight in the period of intersecting crises within which we live. In this introductory chapter, we set out how, and why, exploring the intersections between children, education and geography, is key to supporting and empowering ‘the child’ to sing in, and through, their education. We begin by exploring why it is necessary to rethink these intersections in the present time-space, before examining how the relationships between children, education and geography have thus far been represented in the literature. Finally, we set out the sections and ethical considerations which frame the book.