The previous section opened up problems and gaps in our understanding of relationships between learning and space, from the different perspectives that are currently impinging on debates and developments in post-compulsory education. Here, the intention is to go back to basics; to start unravelling what is it that matters about learning, in relationship to material spaces. This means examining in greater detail what it is that is distinctive about teaching and learning in post-compulsory education, before developing an alternative conceptual framework for relating learning to the spaces in which it takes place; and then beginning to consider appropriate methodologies for both analysing existing spaces and evaluating ‘improved’ ones.