Visual documentation as a normalizing practice: a new discourse of visibility in preschool

Abstract

The visual documentation of education for pedagogical purposes focuses on preschool children's activities and is used by educators to improve their understanding of children while strengthening their own professionalism. By analysing three educational TV programmes concerning visual documentation in preschools, this paper challenges the positivistic way visual documentation is portrayed. Moreover, it questions political documents and the TV programmes' unproblematic description of children as always ready to be visually documented. Applying a child perspective and children's perspectives, the paper demonstrates that there is a fine line between being documented and surveilled using visual technologies. The paper describes how doing on-looking-ness (onlooker) versus being looked-at-ness (looked at) can be understood as specific discursive formations.

Teachers’ actions and children’s interests. Quality becomings in preschool documentation

“…This documentation is supposed to focus on the practice rather than on individual children, but should also indicate 'how the child's knowledge changes and when they experience the preschool as interesting, fun and meaningful' (Swedish National Agency of Education, 2011, p.14). However, some research on preschool documentation has found that documentation focuses more on children as subjects of observation and surveillance than on teachers' practices and children's interest and learning (Sparrman & Lindgren, 2010;Vallberg Roth & Månsson, 2011).…”

“…However, some research on preschool documentation has found that documentation focuses more on children as subjects of JOURNAL OF NORDIC EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION RESEARCH VOL. 14(2), p. 1-17, 2017 ISSN 1890-9167 observation and surveillance than on teachers' practices and children's interest and learning (Sparrman & Lindgren, 2010;Vallberg Roth & Månsson, 2011).…”

“…This documentation is supposed to focus on the practice rather than on individual children, but should also indicate 'how the child's knowledge changes and when they experience the preschool as interesting, fun and meaningful' (Swedish National Agency of Education, 2011, p.14). However, some research on preschool documentation has found that documentation focuses more on children as subjects of observation and surveillance than on teachers' practices and children's interest and learning (Sparrman & Lindgren, 2010;Vallberg Roth & Månsson, 2011).Whilst quality is sometimes seen as potentially measurable through different kinds of scales, some researchers want to go beyond that, arguing that quality has multiple meanings and is therefore not useful for evaluation (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 1999;Moss, 2016). Others want to redefine or critically examine quality in different ways.…”

Playing a part in preschool documentation : A study of how participation is enacted in preschool documentation practices and how it is affected by material agents

“…Preschool documentation as a pedagogical tool was common before the revised curriculum (Lenz Taguchi, 2000), and it has often been seen as unambiguously good, since it is sometimes argued that being seen is one part of becoming a subject (Sparrman & Lindgren, 2010). Traditionally, preschool observation and documentation has focused on what is general and normal in children of a certain age, according to theories of developmental psychology by Piaget and Erikson (WehnerGodée, 2000).…”

“…It can also be used to inform parents about what is going on in the preschool or for children to reflect on, discuss and remember what they have done or learned (Vallberg Roth, 2010). Documents are often displayed on walls for visitors to the preschool to see (Sparrman & Lindgren, 2010). Photographs and sometimes also short texts are occasionally shown publicly on preschools' websites or blogs.…”