School Journey as a Third Place

Journeys to school are an important time and space of transition between homes and schools for children around the world.

This book comprises various chapters providing insights on children's experiences of this essential part of their lives and schooling experience. In an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective, international leaders focus on how children from very different contexts travel between their homes and their schools and how this transitional space impacts their daily lives and interactions with their environment. An overview of different school journeys is covered, laying out the contours of a child-friendly and context responsive transition to and from school.

The way to and from school becomes a third place for some children who develop meaningful social and environmental relationships, mix up with children who do not belong to the same groups, learn, relax, etc. As genuine social actors, children invest one of the last spaces of freedom they are given to apprehend their environment. What specificities arise depending on various experiences and contexts? What similarities can be drawn on this close-to-be generalised transitional practice? How do children themselves act, impact and appreciate the journey to and from school?

Various studies from a wide range of disciplines and using different methods have highlighted benefits and risks related to children's journey to school, providing insightful data regarding modes of transportation, health and wellbeing issues, school organisation and legislation, safety or urban development, etc. Research has also shown how this journey can support positive links between the child and his or her social and natural environment. Realities however vary immensely depending on the context. While some children, conveyed to school, barely have the opportunity to interact with their environment, or to benefit from some welcome physical activity after having been sat for several hours in class, others walk long distances or even face relatively serious hazards during their journey.