Challenging the Intersection of Policy with Pedagogy

Leanne Gibbs, Michael Gasper, Leanne Gibbs, Michael Gasper

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138319264
• eBook ISBN: 9780429844492
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Asking key questions about how policies and systems impact on children's early years and rethinking the ways in which young children's learning and development becomes integral to policy, this insightful text challenges the common misconception that policy development and pedagogical implementation are separate endeavours.

Challenging the Intersection of Policy with Pedagogy explores symbiotic dynamics between policy and practice in the early years to consider the implications of policies relating to documentation, professional well-being, mentoring, the role of the family, language development and diversity. Written to provoke group discussion and extend thinking, opportunities for international comparison, points for reflection and editorial provocations will help students, educators, integrated service providers and policy makers engage critically with a variety of understandings of how policy and practice interact. Considering the role of learning environment, the practitioner, the wider community and policy, chapters are divided into four key sections which reflect major influences on practice and pedagogy:

• Being alongside children
• Those who educate
• Embedding families and communities
• Working with systems

Considering diverse settings and contexts, perspectives, policies and systems, this text will enhance understanding, support self-directed learning and provoke and transform thinking at both graduate and postgraduate levels, particularly in the field of early childhood education and care.

Section 1

BEING ALONGSIDE CHILDREN

1

PEDAGOGICAL DOCUMENTATION

The intersection of children’s learning and prescribed systems and policy

Rhonda Livingstone and Catharine Hydon

Pedagogical documentation in early childhood education and care has become many things, appearing to serve numerous masters and, in its complex diversity, the cause of both inspiration and frustration. Not only is documentation a professional responsibility and the pragmatic recording of children’s progress, it is known to transform the encounters of children’s lives into moments of profound learning that change everyone. This chapter navigates the landscape of what we have come to understand as pedagogical documentation. While the Australian context is our starting point, we look to the broader experience of this phenomenon to commentate on the lived experience and how educators might progress their thinking.

Introduction

In the process of writing this chapter, it became clear that pedagogical documentation is an almost universally discussed concept in early childhood education and care. There are numerous academic publications that describe the phenomenon (Carr, 2008; Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 2012; Fleet, Patterson, & Robertson, 2006; 2012; 2017). They are supplemented by a suite of ‘how to’ tip-sheets, newsletters and online publications that seek to explain how pedagogical documentation can be implemented in everyday practice in early childhood settings (Australia, Education Services, 2018). Add to this the way pedagogical documentation is taught in pre-service education and the expectations of this process that have (formally and informally) become deeply connected to the mechanism of regulation and quality. When we also consider the arrival of digital technologies promising to make the process simple and easy, we have the substance for confusion and disengagement.

In this complexity, it is timely to re-imagine the depth and breadth of pedagogical documentation and to re-construct our approach to understanding and engagement and promote imaginative exploration. Expectations of such an approach to pedagogical documentation will require skilful navigation through policy, legal requirements and compliance, while promoting participation that embraces early knowledge as well as sophisticated considerations of teaching and learning.

While mapping the phenomenon, we conducted an online search on pedagogical documentation and discovered commentary from around the world. We suspect this is a regular ‘go to’ strategy for many an educator. We found a complex landscape of expectations and possibilities, as well as misunderstanding and potentialities, that chart an indirect route to understanding how to record children’s learning and the way we understand the art of teaching.

Since the concept of ‘pedagogical documentation’ first received prominence in the English-speaking world (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 2002; Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 2012), it has been defined and reconfigured. This has resulted in both opportunities and challenges. The fluidity combined with the reluctance to be prescriptive has resulted in a lack of clarity about what is meant by pedagogical documentation. Simultaneously, in its subjectivity, it is almost liberating to define pedagogical documentation as Tiziana Filippini from Reggio Emilia has done – ‘not about finding answers, but generating questions’ (Turner & Wilson, 2010, p. 9). This liberal interpretation leaves space for every educator to translate and define pedagogical documentation both contextually and responsively.

In the light of what we have encountered we have decided to be bold and suggest that the universal use of the term and the application of the concept in multiple ways has resulted in vagueness about what is actually meant by the process and how to undertake it. Being so careful to leave the door ajar in the definitions of pedagogical documentation and its contextual understanding has left educators thinking it is essentially a process that captures everything and showcases it to everyone. We contest that while it is enticing to leave things open to interpretation – and most certainly the ideas that can and do evolve with the community in which it is practised – it can be helpful, in fact empowering, to give the concept clearer parameters. This will ultimately make it possible for an educator (beginning or consolidating) to participate in the process and enact practice close to its intent.

In response to these deliberations, this chapter follows a more linear path that explicitly discusses the what, why, who and how of pedagogical documentation. In each section, descriptive narratives attempt to illuminate the idea and our approach. This is followed by reflective questions designed to deepen thinking and then, by way of a response, some important things to consider as you embark on this pathway. We acknowledge there are more prescriptive moments, but we hope the signposting will make it possible for others to navigate and, in doing so, find their own lines of flight (Olsson, 2009).

The ‘what’ of pedagogical documentation

Much has been written about pedagogical documentation – there is a plethora of definitions and descriptions. For example:

[T]he ideas and concepts of pedagogical documentation have been, for many, vague, slippery and hard to pin down. . . . Iram Siraj.

(Fleet, Patterson, & Robertson, 2012, p. iii)

It values subjectivity (or rather, ‘rigorous subjectivity’) (Lather, 1991), uncertainty, provisionality, contextuality, dialogue and democracy. It assumes a participant who makes – in relation with others – a contextualised, subjective and rigorous judgement of value. It foregrounds, therefore, democratic political practice, the exercise of collective deliberation.

(Moss & Dahlberg, 2008, p. 6)

For Loris Malaguzzi, one of the pioneers of pedagogical documentation, pedagogical documentation “meant the possibility to discuss and to dialogue ‘everything with everyone’”.

(Moss, 2014)

[P]edagogical documentation offers more than a record. It offers a process for listening to children, for creating artefacts from that listening, and for studying with others what children reveal about their competent and thoughtful views of the world.

(Wien, 2013)

Some definitions have been transformed into standards and expectations of quality mechanisms while others are reserved for a more philosophical understanding of the teaching and learning encounters we have with children and their families.

The reality is that the definition of pedagogical documentation lies in a continuum from the practical to the profound. At one end of this continuum is the need for a definition that describes the mechanics of the process – the steps and key markers that enable the beginning practitioners, as well as those who wish to support others or re-examine and re-imagine existing ways of knowing, to undertake the process. At the other end of the continuum is a more nuanced and evolving definition that speaks to the ‘big ideas’ in education, suggesting possibility and potentiality rather than a fixed way of knowing or articulating.

Pedagogical documentation could be described as visible records (written notes, photos, videos, audio recordings, children’s work) that enable teachers, parents and children to discuss, interpret and reflect upon what is happening from their various points of view, and to make choices about the best way to proceed, believing that rather than being an unquestionable truth, there are many possibilities.

The provision of actual documents makes possible the opportunity for both children and adults to revisit and to reflect on what has gone before. The documentation allows for many possibilities and although in some instances it may occur spontaneously it is usually the result of a pre-determined intent which might include information that assists in determining how particular projects might proceed.

(Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange, or REAIE, 2018a)

Pedagogical documentation is a powerful process that not only makes children’s learning visible but is also an influential mechanism for ensuring children – and those who work with them – are seen and heard. In a world where joy may seem, at times, to be diminishing, illuminating children’s learning is one of the most worthwhile of human pursuits. In considering pedagogical documentation as such, we lift the profession from, as Moss (2006) put it, ‘skilled technicians’ to educators concerned with enriching and enabling human potential.

There are a number of key considerations to think through on pedagogical documentation.

Key considerations

Standards and expectations for documentation for education and care services are increasingly aligned with the expectations of educators. For example, in Australia these expectations are outlined in the National Quality Framework (NQF) (ACECQA, 2018). The NQF is underpinned by a nationally unified law and regulatory system which mandates the documentation of an educational program based on approved learning frameworks such as Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, or DEEWR, 2009) and My Time, Our Place: Framework for School Age Care in Australia (DEEWR, 2011) and child assessments or evaluations for delivery of the educational program. Additionally, this details the responsibility of education and care professionals to provide parents/families with information and relevant documentation about the content and operation of the program, as well as their child’s participation within the program. Similar requirements exist in other countries and educators must understand the expectations of effective pedagogical documentation in the jurisdiction in which they work.

Effective pedagogical documentation is positioned within the context of the assessment and planning cycle and involves educators, with the support of educational (and/or service) leaders and in partnership with families and other professionals:

• capturing meaningful information about children and their learning and development

• building an understanding of children’s knowledge, strengths, ideas, culture, abilities, interests, understandings, dispositions and skills

• analysing and critically reflecting on this information and using it to inform planning, decision making, educators’ pedagogy and the design of environments and content of the curriculum.

It is more than a process of record keeping or fulfilling compliance requirements; rather it is undertaken to ensure the educational program enhances and extends each child’s learning, development and wellbeing. Situating documentation within a critically reflective, ongoing cycle of assessment and planning distinguishes it as a pedagogical practice.

Questions for reflection

• What is your understanding and your team’s shared understanding of pedagogical documentation?

• What is your understanding of what is expected in your community and by the legislation that governs the education and care of children?

• Where is pedagogical documentation recorded and how is it communicated?

The ‘why’ of pedagogical documentation

First and foremost, pedagogical documentation is about children and their learning encounters with themselves and the world around them. We understand children have a right to be heard and as learners from birth have the capacity and capability to participate in their own and others’ learning. Pedagogical documentation assists in bringing this commitment to life. As previously noted, the concept of documenting learning arose from a deep commitment to make children’s learning visible so as to shift the understanding of who children are and how they contribute to the world.

Furthermore, decisions we make around the role of pedagogical documentation are shaped by how we view the child. Dahlberg, Moss and Pence (2002) identify that the young child emerges as a co-constructor of knowledge, culture and his or her own identity from the very start of life. Rather than an object that can be reduced to separate and measurable categories (for example, social development, cognitive development or motor development), the young child is understood as more than the sum of her parts – unique, complex and individual. By isolating processes that are complex and interrelated, documentation becomes fragmented and ultimately loses meaning. With such a view, pedagogical documentation becomes a matter of rights and acknowledgement, and a means of recognising shared humanity.

The answer to why we ought to pay attention to pedagogical documentation is an ethical one. It is not ultimately a matter of law and regulation (although these are the manifestation of the ethical commitment and a means by which we can ensure it is availabl...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Acronyms
• Volume Editors’ Acknowledgements
• Series Editors’ Acknowledgements
• Series Editors, Volume Editors and Contributors
• Preface: Trawling Muddy Waters
• Section 1 Being Alongside Children
• Section 2 Those Who Educate
• Section 3 Embedding Families and Communities
• Section 4 Working With Systems
• Coda: Thinking Forward
• Index