Using documentation as a teaching tool in Turkish early childhood programmes

This study examined the contribution of pedagogical documentation as a teaching tool to the practices of ECE teachers as well as the support mechanisms for- and challenges in using it.The use of pedagogical documentation as a teaching/learning tool is well documented in the literature, however, only a few studies (Aghayan et al., 2005; Buldu, 2010; Emilson & Samuelsson, 2014; Goldhaber & Smith, 1997; MacDonald, 2007) examined the contribution of it to early childhood teaching. The process pedagogical documentation provides a kind of debriefing or revisiting of children’s experiences during which new understandings can be clarified, deepened and strengthened (Dahlberg et al., 2006). A variety of documentation tools—visual representations or archives of children’s learning that provokes reflection are used in this process (Buldu, 2010). A purposive sample of twenty-four ECE teachers participated in this study. The data was collected through observations and semistructured individual and focus-group interviews. The analyses of the data were founded on an inductive approach, which is based on the constant comparative method of data analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Participation to this study was voluntary. Informed consent was obtained from all participants, with an emphasis on confidentiality. The results suggested that pedagogical documentation was informative and guided teachers’ practices and improved children’s participation and motivation for learning. The results also highlighted the need for an assistant teacher, time for preparation and analysis of the observation data, and support from families. The implications for ECE programmes, teachers, teacher education programmes, and educational policy-makers will be presented