Introduction

More recently, accelerated learning programs emerged during the 1970s in higher education to provide working adult students with opportunities to take less time than conventional curricula to attain university certification. Claiming that educational sciences occupy a specific position in the scientific arena, due to the cross-pollination of the disciplinary backgrounds they mobilize and the relevance of education as a ubiquitous human phenomenon. Educational temporalities relate to multiple forms of change (e.g., physical, biological, psychological, and social) that affect every level of existence from the most material to the most spiritual. The hybridity of educational time appears as a key feature that translates one of the specificities of educational theory. Privileging a sociological perspective, temporal constraints are first conceived through the prism of social history: the genealogy of the temporal norms, standards and influences among institutions (e.g., religion and economy) that impact the evolution of education. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.