Reclaiming Slow in Nordic Early Childhood Education and Care

The network fosters innovation in teacher training, playful learning, reflective leadership, and international collaboration to ensure sustainable, child-centred practices in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and higher education (HE), aligned with Nordplus objectives. 

This network brings together partners from the Nordic countries to strengthen the unique contributions that Nordic countries can make to reclaiming slow pedagogies in higher education and ECEC for teacher educators, students, ECEC leaders, educators and children. In HE, the network challenges the emphasis on increasing acceleration for teacher educators and students, frequently undermining intellectual depth, critical thinking, and collegial collaboration (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2025-2030).

The network highlights the need to reclaim time for reflective scholarship, meaningful student mentorship, and the cultivation of collaborative academic communities and sets out to identify strategies to replace shallowness (Ball, 2016) with depth (Clark, 2022). In ECEC, the network will pool expertise about slow leadership that prioritises play, listening, unhurried routines, connections to nature, and the holistic development of children, leading to the development of a Nordic slow leadership framework.