Reflections on wordless connection from the perspective of early childhood education

Authors

• Miia Perkola Turun yliopisto
• Sara Sintonen Turun yliopisto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.144711

Keywords:

wordless connection, dialogue, multispecies, solitude, being alongside, autotelic practices

Abstract

In this article, we examine wordless connection, particularly from the perspective of early childhood education. We reflect on wordless connection in relation to Martin Buber’s ideas about the world relation in which encounter, connection, and dialogue are realized, and we ask what kinds of meanings wordless connection can have in early childhood education. The inquiry has been carried out in a dialogical process, and the main working method has been thinking with theory. During the research process, we have tried to move away from human-centered thinking, allowing time and space for moments of wordless connection to occur also in relation to more-than-human world. Wordless connection often exists in activities that are carried out purely for the sake of doing them and do not require the qualities or skills typical for adults. Openness, unhurried wondering and sensing the world without the need to have control are at the heart of wordless connection. Wordless connection seems to become possible in moments where one approaches another without expectations or goals: the aim is not, for example, learning, development, or becoming a better person, but rather what there is in the moment. By examining wordless connection, we can recognize the educational significance in forms of coexistence in which words and social interaction between human beings are not in the focus and also find ways to value the many different ways of being-in-the-world as equal.