This book explores the relationship with time in early childhood by
arguing for the valuing of slow pedagogies and slow knowledge. Alison
Clark points to alternative practices in Early Childhood Education and
Care that enable a different pace and rhythm, against the backdrop of
the acceleration in early childhood and the proliferation of testing and
measurement. Diverse approaches are explored to enable an 'unhurried
child' and less hurried adults.
Slow Knowledge and the Unhurried Child is divided in three parts. Part
1, Reasons to be slow, looks at the pressures in Early Childhood
Education and Care to speed up and for children to be 'readied' for the
next stage. The book then explores different relationships with time for
young children and educators. Part 2, Slow pedagogies and practices,
explore some of the forms slow practices can take including outdoors, in
the studio, in everyday routines, through stories, in pedagogical
documentation and in 'slow' research. Part 3, Moving forward, shows what
a 'timefull' approach to ECEC can look like, whilst debating the
challenges and possibilities that exist.
The book serves as a catalyst for urgent discussion about the need to
slow down in early childhood education and teacher education and
explores case studies of where slow early childhood education are
already happening. It will be a key reading for researchers,
practitioners and policy-makers about the relationship with time in
early childhood and the importance of taking a longer view.
