Perspektiven für eine konzeptionelle Orientierung der Bildungsgeographie

Abstract. Education has become central to the social and political debates in many countries. Under the influence of comparative international studies as well as national rankings of education institutions there is a growing awareness for social and regional inequalities of formal education infrastructure and processes. This article focuses on the geographical education research in Germany by reviewing existing research work on the one hand and opening perspectives for future studies in geography of education on the other. The main aim is to restructure the field of German Bildungsgeographie (geography of education) along key concepts and perspectives from human geography. After a brief introduction, the first part discusses the concept of Bildung (education) and its transformation. The following chapter sketches the major lines of research in geography of education in the German-speaking context. In the last and most extensive part six key concepts from human geography are pointed out as suitable reference points to situate existing and future research activities in the field of geography of education.