初探「教育地理學」：教育主體、學習空間及鄰里社群

Exploring 'Geographies of Education': Learners, Sites of Learning and Communities of Learners

自2000年起至今的十多年間，歐美地理學界興起一股研究教育議題的風潮。教育地理學，及相似的名詞，紛紛出現在各研討會論文之中、成為研討會的主題、更具指標性的則是期刊專刊和專書的出版。顯見，教育議題受到地理學界關注的程度日增。本文主旨即為引介歐美既有教育地理學的文獻與議題，以期闡釋此新興研究領域的重要性。本文內容主要藉由地理學家所熟悉的空間尺度概念，著重介紹三個較為貼近日常生活的空間尺度，包括「教育主體」、「學習空間」及「鄰里社群」。目前教育地理學的研究，雖然仍處於初期萌芽、發展階段，然而對應於教育在全球經濟迅速重組及再結構的過程中所受到的高度重視，以及它在不同空間尺度上，所引發的各式地理過程及現象，實為不可忽略的研究議題。簡言之，從事教育議題的地理學研究，其本身即可說是一個前瞻性的計畫，因為無論從個體至全球、自微觀達鉅觀的尺度概念而言，教育不僅影響著人們此時此刻的生活，同時更反映了人們對於未來世界的深遠寄望。

Since 2000, there has been an emerging trend of research on education in the discipline of Geography. A term like 'geography of education' and other similar phrases increasingly show on the papers of conferences, titles of conference sessions and as conference themes per se. Also, more importantly, publications of journal special issues and books on geographies of education have been issued. Evidently, a growing interest of studying education within Geography can be detected. Thus, this paper aims at introducing existing geographical literature on educational issues in order to highlight the significance of this developing field. This paper emphasizes research carried out at three scales closer to everyday life in particular, including learners, sites of learning and communities of learners. Although studies of geographies of education are at the early stage, considering the influences of educational restructuring in relation to global economy on geographical processes and consequences, scholars need to pay more attention to this overlooked area. In brief, conducting geographical research on education, which would be a forward-looking project, because no matter from the individual to the global or from the micro to the macro scale, education not only affects people's lives here and now, but also reflects their deep expectation of the world in the future.