Chapter 16: Theme 7 – Slow Down: Relationship Building and Slow Research in Settings for Non-formal Learning

One of the themes that cut across most of the cases is the importance of spending time forging relationships with participants in the research setting. Whilst this can be a long process which under the drivers of the current ‘neoliberal academy’ may appear to yield few tangible outputs, we argue that dedicating effort to building relationships – and being willing to take a ‘slow’ approach – is an essential methodological aspect of researching non-formal education. In this chapter, we first outline the importance of developing relationships and embracing slowness in research, illustrating how these concepts play out in Case Study 2 – Youth Sports Programmes, Case Study 6 – Geographies of Youth Work, Case Study 7 – Parents' Everyday Maths, and Case Study 9 – Theories of Change. Finally, we distil two key recommendations from the four cases: trusting relationships can lead to richer data collection, and building relationships can lead to a more ethical and caring form of research.