Slow knowledge and the unhurried child: time for slow pedagogies in early childhood education

The project aims to serve as a catalyst for urgent discussion among researchers, practitioners and policy makers about the relationship with time in early childhood environments, and how high quality practice in ECEC teacher education can emphasise these values.

Project summary

This project explores alternatives to the acceleration of childhood by investigating research and practice in early childhood that supports slow pedagogies and slow knowledge. It is centred on the idea that childhood needs to be valued in its own right in keeping with Froebelian principles.

The project is set against the background of increasing pressures within education and early childhood education and care that has led to an increasingly ‘hurried child’ (Elkind, 2007/1981) and hurried educators and parents. Policy demands to measure and test young children earlier have been part of this pressure (Brogaard Clausen et al, 2015). This project seeks to investigate the case for a different approach to this acceleration of childhood based on a focus on the time, pace and rhythm of early childhood practice that celebrates play.

Part One explores the reasons to be slow in early childhood by examining different understandings of time that have particular relevance for young children’s lives including ‘clock time’, ‘wasted time’, ‘playtime’, ‘embodied time’ and ‘timefullness’.

Part two explores practical examples of what slow can look like in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC).

• In what contexts are slow practices happening now and in the past that can enable each child’s capacity and potential to be recognised?
• What qualities and environments can support these ways of teaching, learning and living together?

Part three focuses on examples of teaching slow with ECEC students and in professional development. This will draw on the knowledge of experienced ECEC teacher educators working in diverse international and cultural contexts and using different theoretical frames for slow pedagogies.

The project aims to serve as a catalyst for urgent discussion among researchers, practitioners and policy makers about the relationship with time in early childhood environments, and how high quality practice in ECEC teacher education can emphasise these values.

Publications

Clark, A. (2023) Slow knowledge and the unhurried child: time for slow pedagogies in early childhood education. Abingdon: Routledge.

Professor Clark's book was named 'Professional Book of the Year' at the Nursery World Awards 2023.

Kari Carlsen & Alison Clark (2022) Potentialities of pedagogical documentation as an intertwined research process with children and teachers in slow pedagogies, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 30:2, 200-212

Nursery World Magazine published a series of articles on Prof. Alison Clark's research:

- Alison Clark's Slow Pedagogy: How to be 'slow' outdoors, October 2023

- Alison Clark's Slow Pedagogy: How to take your time with mealtimes, Nov 2023

- Alison Clark's Slow Pedagogy: How to be slow... with stories, January 2024