The use of documentation in a participatory system of evaluation

Abstract

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.

Documenting with early childhood education teachers: pedagogical documentation as a tool for developing early childhood pedagogy and practises

“…Picchio, Di Giandomenico, and Musatti 2014). Some empirical evidence points to the benefits of pedagogical documentation as an assessment tool and as a tool for constructing learner identities in early childhood settings (Carr and Lee 2012;Rintakorpi, Lipponen, and Reunamo 2014).…”

“…The Finnish curricula do not define documentation; however, in ECE research and literature, documentation commonly refers to a procedure that makes the everyday activities, challenges, possibilities, processes, and thoughts of children and adults visible and open to debate and reflection (Carr and Lee 2012;Dahlberg, Moss, and Pence 2007;Picchio, Di Giandomenico, and Musatti 2014;Rinaldi 1998). In practise, the documents can be photographs, video recordings, handwritten notes, transcribed interviews, drawings, reports and portfolios, among other forms.…”

Adoption of Pedagogical Documentation in Finnish ECEC Settings

“…In this tradition, pedagogical documentation can function as a tool for reflection and evaluation that enables democratic collaboration involving children, educators, guardians, politicians, researchers, and citizens (Biffi, 2019;Dahlberg & Elfström, 2014). Clearly expressed objectives, plans, and methods for realisation form a starting point to enable the joint analysis of documented activities (Alnervik, 2018;Pichio et al, 2014). The role of pedagogical documentation has been to enhance quality for ECEC stakeholders, which can be supported by this kind of collaborative reflection (Pichio et al, 2014).…”

Social processes among mothers in centres for children and parents in three countries

“…On the agreed‐upon date, the research team visited the centre before the users' arrival, made sure that the adult users had been informed of and consented to their presence at the centre and took photos of the spatial arrangement and play materials. Observational notes were taken using the observational protocol named Observational Report , which was specifically designed for observing social situations in early childhood education and care services (Picchio et al ). It consists of written notes taken during the entire opening session of the centre, from the first participant's entry until the last participant's departure.…”