Hammond, Lauren Elise; (2020) An investigation into children's geographies and their value to geography education in schools. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis examines the relationships and ‘borders’ (see Castree et al., 2007) that exist between children’s geographies in the space of everyday life, and formal spaces of geographical thought (geography as an academic discipline and geography as a school subject). The research is based on the construction of a Storytelling and Geography Group which was convened by the researcher six times between September and November 2014. The group consisted of five participants, with the young people being encouraged to be active agents in the research. In the group, the participants shared their geographies and imaginations of London and their world(s). The young people’s narratives were then interpreted using the work of Henri Lefebvre (1991) and David Harvey (1990) on the ‘production of space’. Analysis examined how children are both shaped by, and shape, social space. The research has three major findings; firstly, the young people in this study navigate multiple, sometimes contradictory, social spaces when constructing and representing themselves, and their identities, in London; secondly, the young people imagine London as a jigsaw of territories with distinct social rules existing in different spaces and places within the city; thirdly, London is perceived by the young people participating in the research as a place of opportunity and hope, but also as a place of inequality and injustice. This thesis provides an original analysis of children’s geographies using the production of space, an idea that is also hitherto under-considered in education (Middleton, 2017). The research also presents an original argument as to the value of border crossings between the different spaces of geographical thought. Positing that the value of such a crossing for school geography lies in enabling geography teachers to be more informed in their ‘curriculum making’ (Lambert and Morgan, 2010), and arguing further that providing children with opportunities to examine (their own) geographies using ‘powerful knowledge’ (see Young and Muller, 2010) can support their development as informed, and empowered, social actors.

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