A Matter of Time (Use): Conceptualizing Time Navigation and Time Equity as Directions for Equitable Research

Abstract

Educators have been concerned about students’ time management skills for decades. Subsequently, scholars have studied approaches for better time management to intervene and help students. Prior research has described organizing, scheduling, and completing tasks to meet time constraints. Although insightful for understanding key mechanisms at the individual level, such approaches miss structural influences that shape the degree of control working-class students have over their time. Therefore, we argue that traditional notions of time management describe a deficit-oriented construct. We suggest two new approaches centered on reframing time management as time navigation and positioning research on time within a time equity approach. These approaches resist deficit perspectives rooted in capitalism and offer new opportunities for nuanced understandings of college students’ experiences.