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It's Just Research, Season 2 Ep.3: Critical Geography and Education Justice with Dr Sara Black

In this month’s episode of ECS’ ‘It’s Just Research’ podcast, we flip the tables with an interview with host Dr Sara Black, asking her about her research into critical geography and the sociology of trust.

The episode generates an extremely topical conversation, telling us how schools are a microcosm of the relationship we have with the state, and how widening inequalities correspond with the growing mistrust in state institutions and regulatory bodies.

Dr Sara Black discusses how critical geography is an essential tool to uncover why education is a social justice issue. She describes that critical geography is the understanding of time and space and how this relates to the production of human life, from the ‘things we do’ to the ‘ways we exist’.

Time and space underpin, in this invisible way, the way that social institutions are constituted.– Dr Sara Black, It's Just Research Podcast, Season 2, Episode 3

Dr Black suggests that if we understand that the opportunities we are afforded are intrinsically linked to wealth, social class and status, we will have a better insight into who benefits where in education and how we can improve the experiences of those who are disadvantaged.

Pivotally, she states that poverty constitutes itself in the temporal. She uses the example of how the rich versus the poor access education and reflects on E.P. Thompson’s suggestion that poverty is defined by how far ahead you can plan, depending on how stable your world is. Access to education is determined by time and space, but as Dr Black notes “people who are poor do not have control over their time”.

She explains how a wealthy person has a multitude of ways to travel to a schooling facility, whereas a poorer person may rely on inconsistent public transport in a remote area. This can in turn determine where one studies, and what they study, as they may not have the privilege of being able to travel to a school that offers the subjects they wish to study. Equally, a working-class parent won’t have the same amount of time as a wealthy parent to work on school applications, and the precarity of their situation may complicate their ability to commit to certain location for their child’s schooling.

Dr Black understands that this is a concept that many might be vaguely aware of, but lesser known effects of time and space on education include, from Dr Black’s research specifically, the effect of the South-African apartheid on timetabling, or how COVID-19 exposed the imbalances between the way wealthier schools are able to run in comparison to poorer schools due to availability of resources.

The discussion goes further into how the construction of these social institutions then effects people’s trust in the state. When the state does not understand how intrinsic critical geography is to education, policy will not be suitable for all those within the system, and those who have less time are less likely to find opportune moments to share their thoughts. Dr Black also shares her concern for education becoming a vehicle for profit making, and becoming further away the purpose it was built for.

This argument then manifests itself in the rising commodification of education. Dr Black discusses her ‘techno-scepticism’ as her and Liam delve into her thoughts on ‘Ed-Tech’, and how the rising technologization of the classroom is not being advocated for by teachers, but by tech tycoons who see education as a money-maker.

Technologies are just ways in which we compress time and space.– Dr Sara Black, It's Just Research Podcast, Season 2, Episode 3

It's these discrepancies and changing landscapes in education that have driven and continue to drive Dr Black’s commitment to education research.

Listen to the full episode on all major podcast streaming platforms now.

Listen now

Listen to the full episode on all major streaming platforms now.

Acast

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This episode of "It's Just Research" was hosted by Liam Cini O'Dwyer. The "It's Just Research" podcast is executively produced by Sylvie Carlos.

In this story

Sara Black

Sara Black

Lecturer in Education and Society

Liam Cini O'Dwyer

Liam Cini O'Dwyer

PhD Candidate

Sylvie Carlos

Sylvie Carlos

PhD Candidate

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