ABSTRACT
Time affects everyone. It is part of the social ethos of our daily experiences. In education, time is often viewed as a commodity to be managed, a limited resource with financial implications. Organizational time is characteristically monochronic, future-oriented, compartmentalized and calendar based. Time is a regulator that is linked with ways of managing and manipulating our environment; time is also a controller that confers power and status to individuals. This objective notion of time stands in contrast to a more subjective and situated view of time. There is, for example, a variety of situations, e.g. within classrooms and contexts of continuous change, where time is distinctively polychronic, rhythmic and directly linked to individuals’ emotions. These more subjective views of time are often very personal and meaningful, supporting connection and engagement with the learning enterprise. Educators require many kinds of time and they often construct and make meaning of time differently.
