Timescapes of Waiting: Spending Time in a Swedish School-age Educare Centre

This study aims to problematise how time, exemplified by waiting, may take shape in a school-age educare (SAEC) centre. The focus is on the organisation of time and how it is produced through the interactions between children, teachers, and the SAEC context. The study builds on ethnographic data from one SAEC centre. The results show how different time units create time frames with distinct blocks and intervals, influenced by the need for the same staff, premises, and children to transition between activities. Waiting takes place in the intervals between these blocks. The results of this study suggest that the sense of owning one’s time is crucial for waiting to be shaped in positive ways. Waiting that is incomprehensible or unpredictable to children tends to become idle, unproductive, or even perceived as lost time.