The impact of digital documentation platforms on early childhood educators’ work in Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Thousands of early childhood education centres around the world use digital documentation platforms to report children’s learning. Yet there is little research into how these platforms are changing work practices in early childhood education. This pilot study tested the usefulness of cultural-historical activity theory to analyse work shadowing observations and follow-up interviews with seven teachers across four centres in Australia and New Zealand. The use of Leontiev’s ‘hierarchy of activity’ of operations, actions and motive objects was found to foreground two actions – tagging and monitoring – that connected basic technical operations with motives for the use of digital documentation platforms. The article reflects on the potential of this theory for future research in digital documentation in early childhood education, and suggests areas for further research, including the emergence of datafication in early childhood education as a new mode of governance of educators’ work.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education
• digital documentation
• datafication
• video-stimulated recall
• hierarchy of activity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joce Nuttall

Joce Nuttall is a Research Professor in the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education at Australian Catholic University. Joce's research focuses on early childhood teachers’ work and workforce capacity-building in early childhood education.

Tonya Rooney

Tonya Rooney is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the Australian Catholic University. Tonya undertakes research on young children’s experience in contemporary society, with a particular emphasis on re-conceptualising children’s relations in and with space, time, and more-than-human worlds.

Alexandra C. Gunn

Alexandra C. Gunn is a Professor in the College of Education Te Kura Ākau Taitoka at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Alex teaches and researches in the areas of early childhood education, inclusive education, teacher education and assessment.

E. Jayne White

E. Jayne White is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Jayne’s research encompasses infant and toddler education, educational philosophy, play & creativity, democracy, environmental education, classroom education, and assessment and evaluation.