"That's the way it was" : Children's and parents' reflections regarding pedagogical documentation

• The study aims to develop knowledge concerning how children and parents reflect on and make meaning of pedagogical documentation gathered in Reggio-inspired preschool projects. From a pedagogical documentation perspective, children are understood to be knowledge creators, it is therefore important to make children's voices visible (Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 2001) However,questions have been raised about (a) if and how children are given opportunities to participate in the production of pedagogical documentation (Lenz Taguchi, 2012, Lindgren, 2012), and (b) the ethics of representing children in the documentation (Lindgren2016). Our theoretical framework is based on Biesta's (2006) concept of the rational community and the community-without-community. The study data was gathered through focus groups with eight children and their parents. The children and parents were askedto review samples of pedagogical documentation from the child's time in preschool. The documentation was also used as stimulus material during the interview. Finally, the parents were also asked to discuss with their children their memories regarding how it felt to be documented. Interview transcripts were subjected to narrative analyses. Informed consent was obtained from all study participants. Three themes emerged concerning the experience of working with and being a part of the practice of pedagogical documentation: a sense of context, the sense of participation and the sense of a way to explore life. Our analysis highlights that the children had opportunities to participate in the practice of documentation in a project and therefore their voices were supported in "breaking into the world"

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

Keyword

pedagogical documentation

narrative analyses

project

preschool

child and parent participation

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)