Pedagogical photo documentation for play in early childhood education and care

Figures & data

Table 1. Questionnaire participants: number of parents and guardians in each academic year.

Academic year	2016–2017	2017–2018	2018–2019	Total
3 year-olds		18	18	36
4 year-olds		57	43 (+17)	100
5 year-olds	30	28	(+57)	58
Total	30	103	61 (+74)	194 (+74)

Figure 1. A sample of daily class photo documentation: on 6 December 2016 for a class of five-to six-year-olds.

Table 2. Numbers of classes that participated in this project.

Academic year	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017–2018	2018–2019
3 year-olds	1*	1*		1	1
4 year-olds				2	2
5 year-olds	1*	1*	1	1	2

*Photo documentation was shared with children only.

The documentation has been shared with children, parents and guardians since 2016–2017.

Figure 2. Episode 1 photos: three-to-four-year-old children.

Figure 3. Episode 3 photo: five-to-six-year-old children.

Figure 4. A two-year comparison: how the documentation affects parents’/guardians’ interactions (n = 72).

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of the questionnaire for parents/guardians (n = 179).

Item description: ‘What effect has the documentation had on you?’	Mean	SD
I have formed a better picture of how children play in kindergarten.	4.72	0.55
I have been able to see what/how children are doing in the planning/rehearsing processes before school events.	4.65	0.71
I have been able to find an aspect of my daughter’s/son’s behaviour that I had never seen before.	4.65	0.65
The documentation makes me feel happy about how my daughter/son is growing up.	4.57	0.75
I have become interested in how my daughter/son is playing in kindergarten.	4.55	0.85
I have become interested in how my daughter’s/son’s classmates are playing in kindergarten.	4.45	0.88
I have had more chats with my daughter/son than before about what she/he has done at kindergarten.	4.45	0.93
The documentation makes me feel happy about the growth of my daughter’s/son’s classmates.	4.44	0.84
I have found my daughter/son to be more adorable than before.	4.39	0.95
I have found my daughter’s/son’s classmates to be more adorable than before.	4.38	0.91
I have become interested in the development of children.	4.34	0.97
I have been able to understand the pedagogical belief of the classroom teachers.	4.33	0.92
I have been able to know how the classroom teachers think about their children.	4.32	0.97
I have been able to give more positive feedback to my daughter/son.	4.22	0.95
I have had more chats with the other parents or guardians than before about what our children have done at kindergarten.	4.15	1.08
The documentation has given me a chance to allow my daughter/son to play at home in the same way as they enjoy in their kindergarten.	4.03	1.09
I have been able to give more positive feedback to my daughter’s/son’s classmates.	3.95	1.03
I have had more chats with the classmates of my daughter/son than before about what they have done at kindergarten.	3.94	1.15
I have had more chats with the practitioners than before about what the children have done at kindergarten.	3.77	1.04
I have had more time to play with my daughter/son.	3.60	1.04

Figure 5. Processes of communication afforded by pedagogical documentation.