Comparative Education And The Geographical Factor

All the sub-disciplines of education, known as the foundations, have a need of a more sophisticated treatment of the essentially spatial nature of educational processes and their outcome; that is to say, the geographical factor. This is especially true of comparative and international education where the range of spatial scales is potentially greatest. Yet the geographical factor, in the form of a geography of education has yet to establish itself. In this article the essential affinity of geographical and educational studies is illustrated, as well as the symbiotic relationship between geography and history in relation to the issue of space-time. The fundamental issue of scale, both spatial and temporal is also discussed and the emergence of a geography of education reviewed through a selection of the literature. It is argued in conclusion that comparative education needs to catch up with the advances in what the geographers call ‘geographic information science’ and develop a more sophisticated understanding of the geographical factor.