*Apologies for cross-posting*
We are looking for a couple more papers for our session "Beyond School: Geographies of Informal and Alternative Learning Practices" at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 12-16 April 2011, Seattle, Washington. Our deadline has therefore been extended to 11th October.
Session organisers: Sarah Mills (Aberystwyth University) and Peter Kraftl (University of Leicester)
CALL FOR PAPERS:
In 2009, Claudia Hanson Thiem outlined the possibilities for geographical research on (formal) education and asked “what might be the theoretical, methodological and empirical foundations of a ‘new’ geography of education?” This session expands the possible scope of such geographies of education: it draws attention away from conventional, formal school spaces towards more informal and alternative learning spaces. A growing number of geographers have sought to examine alternative spaces of education (Holloway et al., 2010). These include seclusion units in UK schools for excluded students (Barker et al, 2010) and Steiner Schools (Kraftl, 2006). However, these studies remain small in number and point to significant but currently under-developed potential for innovation in theory, methods and applied geographies of education, as well as in social/cultural geographies. In doing so, we not only want to reflect on the learning practises and settings of (sometimes) marginalised groups, but also to engage critical, comparative discussion about how geographers might think about and conceptualise learning environments beyond the school.
The aim of this proposed set of sessions is to bring together scholars working on informal learning spaces and papers, with a particular but not exclusive focus upon young people. It seeks to examine the spatialities, materialities and practices that constitute alternative learning environments. It also seeks to understand the kinds of boundaries, relationships, flows and tensions that may operate between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ spaces of education – indeed, questioning which processes and discourses may define those spaces in different geographical contexts. Finally, it invites critical discussion around the institutionalisation, regulation and organisation of alternative or informal learning spaces; to what extent are informal learning spaces actually ‘formalised’, and how do learners (such as young people) ‘come to know’ about or contest the assumed knowledges, behaviours and ideologies that may be central to particular approaches to learning? What does ‘learning’ mean in each of these contexts?
Papers may attend to any issue on informal and diverse learning spaces. We would particularly like to welcome papers on the following themes and kinds of learning spaces:
• Critical studies of informal/alternative learning spaces in diverse geographical contexts
• Young people’s ‘place’ in the production and negotiation of alternative learning spaces
• Informal/alternative learning spaces for adults and older people and learning across generations
• Pedagogy and Citizenship in informal/alternative learning spaces
• Conceptual and methodological approaches to studies of informal and alternative learning spaces, including studies that compare diverse learning spaces
• Policy and professional practices in informal/alternative learning spaces (including critical policy readings)
• Identity-formation and performance in informal/alternative learning spaces
• Religious spaces of learning and therapeutic communities
• Home Schooling and experiences of being ‘out-of-school’
• Alternative Schools (e.g. Steiner, Camphill, Montessori, Forest Schools)
• State-provided, non-school learning environments (e.g. prisons, young offender institutions, libraries)
• Historical and contemporary geographies of Youth Organisations and Clubs (e.g. Scouts, Guides, Woodcraft Folk)
• Informal education and youth work
• Learning and ‘privilege’: fee-paying schools and other ‘private’ learning environments
• Informal/alternative education in ‘formal’ learning settings (such as state-sponsored schools)
If you would like to participate, please send a title and abstract (maximum 250 words) to Sarah Mills ([log in to unmask]) and Peter Kraftl ([log in to unmask]) by 11th October 2010. Submissions to the AAG are due 20th October 2010; more details can be found on their website For more details see: http://www.aag.org/cs/annual_conference
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