Table of contents

Introduction: An invitation to a global conversation

Ann-Louise Ljungblad & Alexander M. Sidorkin


Part1: Foundations: Philosophical and Theoretical Architectures

The pedagogical relation: A perspective from Continental Pedagogy

Norm Friesen

Relational pedagogy: Weaving perspectives from Aotearoa

Tracy Dayman, Roimata Sam & Alison Mander

Relational pedagogy and otherness: A perspective from education in Spain

Eduardo S. Vila Merino & Victoria E. Alvarez Jimenez

Learning at the Student?Teacher Interface: Pedagogy and the Relational Exchange

Andrew Hickey & Stewart Riddle

Attentive involvement as an educational disposition

Lisette Bastiaansen

Guided by a beacon: advocating for ethical-existential guidance in relational pedagogy

Lotta Jons

A Relational Concept of Critical Thinking: Hannah Arendt on the Power of Judgement

Irene Haslund

Relational pedagogy in early childhood: Repositioning teachers’ interests and knowledge

Maria Birbili, Louise Gorst & Helen Hedges


Part2: Contexts of Relationality from Early Childhood to Higher Education

Dialogic (re)conceptualisations of relational pedagogies: Bringing sensing teacher-infant bodies into view

E. Jayne White

Relational practice in Early Childhood Education and Care: The case for a Nurturing Pedagogy

Noirin Hayes

Relational pedagogy in early childhood education and care: An overview of an evolving field

Theodora Papatheodorou

One educator’s journey towards centering love through equity and trauma-informed relational pedagogy

Amber K. Howard

Relationships, human development, and education

Robert C. Pianta

Fostering a sense of belonging in blended study programmes for early childhood teacher education students

Maria Selmer-Olsen, Gunn Anita Søraunet & Elin Børve

Finding Pockets of Care in the university: Weaving connection, collegiality, and relational pedagogies into the Academy

Catherine-Ann O’Connell

A pedagogy of vulnerability: The dynamic of relational practice in Higher Education

Kate Duffy


Part3: Leadership and Organisational Transformation

Relational school development ? Builds on and fosters trust in schools

Ulf Jederlund

Distributed leadership: Five phases of trust and vulnerability

Ann-Louise Ljungblad

The relational dimension of the school leader profession: A tactful balancing act

Ann-Louise Ljungblad

Developing competences in relational leading through the co-creation of transformative learning communities

Lone Hersted & Camilla Fikse

Developing competences in relational leading through the co-creation of transformative learning communities

Lukas Herrmann & Birgitte Lund Nielsen

Minor stories of becoming-relational-leader in kindergarten

Merete Moe, Audun Forr, Berit Flatas & Lotta Johansson

A relational view on the interactions between co-leading pedagogical leaders and the rest of the kindergarten staff

Kjartan Belseth

Teacher stress, burnout and enjoyment: A relational view

Michael J. Richardson, Stephanie A. W. Witt & Melissa Newberry

Relational Reflective Practice for education

Leah O’Toole & Claire Regan


Part4: Inclusion, Justice, and Cultural Responsiveness

“Being in between”: Embracing complexity: rhizomatic teaching as a relational pedagogy for inclusive physical education

Corina van Doodewaard

Relational pedagogy as a polyphony of perspectives: A re-reading of a Brazilian case study through Deleuzian-Guattarian concepts

Paula Albuquerque

Can relational pedagogy be used to frame relationship-building strategies in school-based youth work? A view from Sweden

Michael Wallengren-Lynch

“I want to have a say”: Newly arrived immigrant parents’ relational experiences with Norwegian public schools

Nassira Essahli-Vik, Sultana Ali Norozi & Jostein Vik

The roadmap for change: Cultural residents teaching the teachers

Rose Amazan, Katherine Thompson, Aunty Maxine Ryan & Trent Kelly

That’s the starting point: Using youth culture to strengthen teacher-student relationships

Jason Rawls

Restorative practice as relational and community-building pedagogy: Review, theory and application

Huw Humphreys

Action Research as a relational tool: Addressing power imbalances in university-kindergarten partnerships

Paal Eckhoff Salvesen, Pal Gerhard Rystad, Merete Moe & Leah O’Toole


Part5: Ecological and Material Entanglements

Relational resonance in the pedagogical playground: An ecological relational framework for complex educational environments

Jaap Kleinpaste & Biek Leissner

Scaffolding students’ relational agency in postdigital education: A sociomaterial perspective on teachers’ digital relational competence

Annika Wiklund-Engblom & Helena Bonnevie

Relational perspectives on school design and learning spaces

Hans Petter Ulleberg & Ellen Saur

Relational listening as ethical embodied practice

Emer Byrden

Exploring sustainability through Froebelian Ecofeminism: A relational pedagogical approach

Maire Nic an Bhaird, Laoise Ni Chleirigh & Thomas P. Curran

Aspects of aesthoecology: Ethical relationships and an emerging eco-pedagogical activism beyond the domain of the anthropocentric

Chris Turner

Social Entrepreneurship in Early Childhood Teacher Education: A relational approach to increase students' motivation

Ingunn Elder & Line-Marie Wiken Hatle



Polina Golovatina-Mora & Monica Rocha-Bravo

AI and relational pedagogy

Alexander M. Sidorkin

Conclusion: Relational pedagogy, the birth of a field

Leah O’Toole, Gert Biesta & Merete Moe