Alison's research links to a Froebelian approach to early education - the value of childhood in its own right and the importance of childhood experiences.

A lot here of interest to thinking about the meaning and practice of assessment and evaluation, e.g. only what can be measured is true knowledge; ignoring context; detachment from wisdom; evaluation understood as fast process….I am put in mind of Malaguzzi on ‘Anglo-Saxon testology’, that it is ‘nothing but a ridiculous simplification of knowledge, and a robbing of meaning from individual histories’. This suggests that we need to develop a concept of slow evaluation. Alison's research looks at a range of slow practices where there is time for both children and adults to be less hurried. A core reader for the module: Slow Knowledge and the Unhurried Child: time for slow pedagogies in early childhood education (Clark, A.) is due to be published by Routledge in late 2022/early 2023 in the Contesting Early Childhood series. This book is built around interviews with 20 researchers and educators from 11 countries. These interviews and supporting articles add an extra international dimension to the module. Students write a 2,000-word essay in which students will critically discuss: what would be your key points in developing different relationships with time in ELC in the future?

26 Series Titles

This is the first of three articles that you are invited to read and comment – over the next 6 weeks Write in a critically reflective manner on the external and internal pressures on young children and educators in ELC.

Reading List Bruce, T., McNair, L. and Whinnett, J. (eds.) (2020) Putting Storytelling at the Heart of Early Childhood Practice: A Reflective Guide for Early Years Practitioners. Abingdon: Routledge. In this blog post, we will explore the concept of “slow knowledge” and the benefits of an unhurried approach to education and parenting for young children in New Zealand. What is Slow Knowledge? This course should appeal to a diverse range of students (including international students) with an interest in exploring alternative narratives in education and in Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) in particular. A core reader for the module: Slow Knowledge and the Unhurried Child: time for slow pedagogies in early childhood education (Clark, A.) has been published in January 2023 by Routledge in the Contesting Early Childhood series and offers international perspectives on this topic. This reader will be supplemented by a range of supporting articles that offer alternative perspectives on the relationship with time in ELC. The aim is to model aspects of a slow pedagogical approach in the teaching and learning by providing opportunities for the students to explore slow practices first hand, including for example through keeping a slow journal.

Free flow play actively uses direct, first -hand experiences, which draw on the child’s powerful inner drive to struggle, manipulate materials, explore, discover and practise over and over again. While I think fast versus slow knowledge is a useful idea to think with, I am dubious about the extreme neatness of the dichotomy. Both fast and slow knowledge operate simultaneously and in dialogue with one another. I am also wary of making unidentifiable “sources of power” responsible for the mess. Surely we are complicit. This module should appeal to a diverse range of students (including international students) with an interest in exploring alternative narratives in education and in ECEC in particular. A wide range of themes about slow practices will be covered across the age range of early childhood. Each session can be linked to an online resource bank of related journal articles that can be updated as new relevant research is published.