In this presentation, I make a case for a critical spatial perspective in comparative and international education research. In the first part, I review some traditional, narrow ways of thinking about space, place and time, pointing out some of the limitations of these approaches, which set up false dichotomies between space and place; neglect the relationship between time and space; and oversimplify the relationship between the global and the local. In the second part, I provide some of the key ideas associated with the “spatial turn,” including a relational understanding of space that emphasises the productive capacity of space. I then review a range of spatial theoretical approaches that focus on networks, connections, and flows, the beyond-human world, socio-materiality, and social topology. My concluding comments will emphasise the value of spatial theories for problematising conflicts and crises our world is facing today, human and beyond human relationships, as well as recent technological shifts in society. I argue that liberating space from its old, fixed meanings and understanding space as open, relational and always in a state of becoming is more productive and political. Indeed, this is not solely an academic exercise in developing new vocabularies and new theories, but also a call to use these approaches to make sense of our changing world, as well as re-imagine how to live in relationship with all others, human and beyond.