Pedagogies of place-spaces: walking-with the post-professional

Abstract

ABSTRACT There has been a re-politicisation of the professional identity of English Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) teachers following revisions to the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. This move from play-based to more adult-directed teaching has been challenged by the sector. In an attempt to bring back the embodied nature of teaching this article turns to posthumanist and feminist materialist scholarship to articulate how place and space influence ECEC teachers’ perceptions of practice. It explores a field trip with ECEC student teachers to a nature reserve on the South Coast of England. We ‘walked-with’ each other to reimagine philosophical and policy expectations for teachers and children. During this trip we attended to the materialisation of place-space considering how social, cultural, and historical narratives entangle with, and impact on, perceptions of childhoods. These left ‘impressions’ on teachers’ bodies helping them reconsider their pedagogy with young children. The walkers developed their own understanding of the impact of place-space which, although materialised in the moment of the trip, resonated and connected to contemporary perspectives of young children. These moments provide sites to challenge existing policy and professional knowledge allowing for a more expansive view of posthuman post-professional ethical response-able practice.