Ethical Issues in Pedagogical Documentation: Representations of Children Through Digital Technology.

The purpose of this study is to investigate two ethical standards related to daycare facilities, as presented in OECD reports. The first standard is “respecting the individual child”, and the second standard is “childhood as an important stage of life”. The researchers argue that more could be put into documentation practices in improving values and norms for children in daycare and their childhood.

In the online discussions on ethical reflection, the early childhood educators showed that they had become more aware of whether or not children participate voluntarily in the pedagogical documentation. The early childhood educators discussed whether pedagogical documentation as part of everyday practice at the daycare facility is always ethical. For example, they discussed how much adults think about whether children want to be photographed or not, and whether children want these photos to be visible in photo displays or on the wall. The results of the study were presented under three main headings: 1) fascination, 2) revelations and frustrations linked to ethical reflection and 3) use and abuse of visual technology. The analysis shows that the early childhood educators are very positive towards blogs as a tool for pedagogical documentation. They view blogs as a new way to gain insight into the experiences and understandings of children, and they believe that pedagogical documentation helps raise awareness in general, including of the individual child itself.

Early childhood educators attending a continuing training course on pedagogical documentation at the University of Borås in Sweden took part in this study. The purpose of the course is to improve the competences of the early childhood educators with regard to documentation and to discuss ethical issues related to the children’s participation in the documentation. As part of the process, the early childhood educators are to create a blog in which they write about their reflections and learning processes as well as share their knowledge and ideas with other students and early childhood educators interested in the subject. The researcher has analysed at total of nine blogs.

Lindgren, A.-L. (2012). Ethical Issues in Pedagogical Documentation: Representations of Children Through Digital Technology. International Journal of Early Childhood 44, 327-340.