The use of documentation in a participatory system of evaluation

Abstract

Pedagogical documentation is a practice currently used in Italian early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to make visible children’s learning processes in ECEC, to promote parents’ participation and to support professionals’ reflexive competences. These functions of pedagogical documentation have been enhanced within a system of participatory evaluation of ECEC service quality, which has been implemented in several Italian sites. Specific procedures of documentation of children’s and parents’ experience in the ECEC setting were proposed. On the basis of the documentation, all stakeholders participated in the evaluation process and expressed and discussed the quality of ECEC provision from their different perspectives as professionals, parents or managers. They expressed their judgements considering whether children’s and parents’ experiences in the service were congruent with the educational goals and objectives pursued. The use of documentation guaranteed a common basis for anchoring discussion among stakeholders to concrete matters as well as for making judgements transparent for everybody. The final outcome of this discussion is also documented and constitutes the basis for further planning and improvement of the quality of the service.

Keywords:

• ECEC quality
• evaluation
• participation
• documentation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their warmest thanks to all practitioners and pedagogical coordinators who, in different contexts and occasions, generously shared their perspectives on the evaluation procedures and contributed to their improvement.