Reconceptualising professionalism in early childhood education: insights from a study carried out in Bologna

Lazzari, Arianna

doi:10.1080/09575146.2011.651711

Cited by 32 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…The first and most important is the availability of an amount of paid non-contact time that the practitioners are able spend on these activities; this condition is guaranteed in most of Italian municipal ECEC provision (Lazzari 2012) and it should be extended to all services. Moreover, in our Italian experience, developing the quality of ECEC service as well as evaluation activities could be supported by a specific professional, the pedagogical coordinator.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of documentation in a participatory system of evaluation

2014

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Pedagogical documentation is a practice currently used in Italian early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to make visible children's learning processes in ECEC, to promote parents' participation and to support professionals' reflexive competences. These functions of pedagogical documentation have been enhanced within a system of participatory evaluation of ECEC service quality, which has been implemented in several Italian sites. Specific procedures of documentation of children's and parents' experience in the ECEC setting were proposed. On the basis of the documentation, all stakeholders participated in the evaluation process and expressed and discussed the quality of ECEC provision from their different perspectives as professionals, parents or managers. They expressed their judgements considering whether children's and parents' experiences in the service were congruent with the educational goals and objectives pursued. The use of documentation guaranteed a common basis for anchoring discussion among stakeholders to concrete matters as well as for making judgements transparent for everybody. The final outcome of this discussion is also documented and constitutes the basis for further planning and improvement of the quality of the service.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of documentation in a participatory system of evaluation

2014

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“…According to Mantovani (, p. 67), partecipazione is ‘a key‐concept in which pedagogy and civic and political engagement are strictly linked’, finding expression in ‘organised forms of participation and control’ (2007; p. 1106) such as teachers' collegiality and parents' involvement in decision‐making committees. Collegiality refers to how the meanings and purposes of educational practices are discussed and enacted collectively through practitioners' joint work and collective reflection (Lazzari, forthcoming ). Parents participate in the everyday life of ECEC institutions through their involvement in decision‐making committees, which is part of a wider effort to democratise educational practices and sustain a public debate about education in the framework of local communities.…”

Section: The Birth Of a Culture Of Childhoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Public Good. Historical and Political Roots of Municipal Preschools in Emilia Romagna

Lazzari¹

2012

Euro J of Education

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According to the findings of a recent European study on competence requirement for the early childhood education and care workforce, competent systems that succeed in achieving high levels of professionalism are embedded in coherent public policies that build on consultation with key stakeholders, particularly at local level. In order to flourish, the professional competence of early childhood practitioners needs to be cultivated not only within the institutions they are working for, but also within a constant democratic dialogue that involves children, parents and local communities. A vision of ECEC as a public good therefore becomes an essential precondition for sustaining the development of high quality services for young children and their families. Given the wide range of interconnected socio‐economic, educational and rights‐based rationales that currently underpin the investment in the expansion of early childhood provision in many European countries, a further elaboration of these findings may offer interesting insights on the purposes of early childhood education and the nature of political commitment serving such purposes. In this article, these issues are discussed by drawing on the analysis of the origin and development of municipal preschool education in the Emilia Romagna region (Italy). Starting from the investigation of the historical and socio‐cultural conditions that gave birth to early childhood municipal institutions, the trends characterising ECEC policy‐making developments over time are analysed with reference to the experiences of grassroot politics elaborated at regional and local level. Through a careful contextualisation of social and political processes and an in‐depth analysis of relevant documentary sources, the conceptual categories underpinning the construction of early childhood education as a public good are outlined and described.

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“…The staff use this documentation (writings, drawings, narratives, footage, etc.) to discuss the meaning of what they observed with each other and with parents in order to enhance their professional reflexivity (Lazzari, 2011) as well as the democratic level of their service (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005). Of course, this will inevitably entail disagreement as it is highly improbable that -when we reflect on what is happening in a classroom -we would all agree on its meaning (Vandenbroeck, 2009).…”

Section: Welcome Disagreementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A powerful way to include parents in the discussions on their children is pedagogical documentation (e.g. Dahlberg & Moss, 2005;Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 1999;Lazzari, 2011;Rinaldi, 2005). This means that professionals document in many ways what children do and what they, as professionals, do with children.…”

Section: Welcome Disagreementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting (Super)Diversity in Early Childhood Settings

Vandenbroeck¹

2018

The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Policy

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Reconceptualising professionalism in early childhood education: insights from a study carried out in Bologna

Cited by 32 publications

References 14 publications

The use of documentation in a participatory system of evaluation

The use of documentation in a participatory system of evaluation

The Public Good. Historical and Political Roots of Municipal Preschools in Emilia Romagna

Supporting (Super)Diversity in Early Childhood Settings

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