Nikki Fairchild

Place-space Methodologies in Early Childhood Education and Care extends the concepts of place-space and feminist materialist relational time into educational philosophy and practice. Drawing from empirical data obtained during extensive research projects, including doctoral studies, this book explores the dynamics of English Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) across diverse settings such as classrooms, gardens, and outdoor spaces. This book employs critical feminist materialist and agential realist theories to analyse the intricate relationships between young children, practitioners, and their environment. By focusing on English ECEC pedagogy and practice in various settings, including classrooms, gardens, and outdoor spaces, the book goes beyond theoretical discussions. It provides practical implications and applications, offering tangible takeaways for educators and practitioners. It makes use of particular material objects as a focal points to synthesize empirical data and theory to enhance clarity and facilitate a deeper comprehension of the nuanced relationships between materiality, space, and pedagogy. This exploration leads to the development of new, expansive understandings of ECEC pedagogies and readers will gain fresh perspectives on what these pedagogies mean for both young children and practitioners, fostering a broader and more inclusive approach to early childhood education. This book is essential for educators, researchers, and practitioners in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care. By presenting innovative methodologies grounded in the concepts of place-space it provides a valuable resource for those seeking to deepen their understanding of ECEC practices. Whether you are a scholar looking for fresh theoretical perspectives or a practitioner aiming to enhance your teaching strategies, this book offers a transformative journey into the intricate dynamics of early childhood education.

Knowledge Production in Material Spaces is a curation of the interventions that the authors undertook at a range of academic conferences since 2016. It problematizes disciplined practices and expectations governing academic conference spaces and generates new ways of thinking and doing conferences otherwise. The authors use posthuman, feminist materialist and post-qualitative theories to disrupt knowledge production in neoliberal and bureaucratic conferences spaces. The analysis they offer, and the rhizomatic writing and presentational styles they use, promote a form of educational activism through theory. They interrogate the conference space as a regulated, normalized and standardized mode of academic knowledge production – which they call the ‘AcademicConferenceMachine’ – and playfully subvert the dominant meanings and modes of conferences and workshops to show how we can better interact and produce research, with and for each other. The authors indicate how creative conference practices promote playful possibilities to imagine and produce knowledge differently.This book will appeal to audiences ranging from established professionals to early career scholars, doctoral and master’s students in Education and the social sciences.

Knowledge Production in Material Spaces is a curation of the interventions that the authors undertook at a range of academic conferences since 2016. It problematizes disciplined practices and expectations governing academic conference spaces and generates new ways of thinking and doing conferences otherwise. The authors use posthuman, feminist materialist and post-qualitative theories to disrupt knowledge production in neoliberal and bureaucratic conferences spaces. The analysis they offer, and the rhizomatic writing and presentational styles they use, promote a form of educational activism through theory. They interrogate the conference space as a regulated, normalized and standardized mode of academic knowledge production – which they call the ‘AcademicConferenceMachine’ – and playfully subvert the dominant meanings and modes of conferences and workshops to show how we can better interact and produce research, with and for each other. The authors indicate how creative conference practices promote playful possibilities to imagine and produce knowledge differently.This book will appeal to audiences ranging from established professionals to early career scholars, doctoral and master’s students in Education and the social sciences.