In this article I present a narrative essay on how a professional development support community in Brazil has reinterpreted the notion of pedagogical documentation based on the way it plans and communicates children's learning and pedagogical day-to-day life. I begin by retrieving some ideas from the pedagogue Malaguzzi, Loris. [2001; 2017a;…

The present study seeks to address the dearth of research focussed on childminding (family day care or family childcare) in Ireland, despite its significant role in national childcare provision. One overarching aim was to explore childminders' cultural models of praxis and pedagogy in the Irish context. This research was conducted within the…

This paper focuses on the plural uses of pedagogical documentation, particularly the uses in the development of processes of Context-Based Participatory Professional Development for continuous professional development. It sits in the realm of participatory pedagogies, specifically the Pedagogy-in-Participation approach (Oliveira-Formosinho and…

Research shows that attention to pattern and structure is fundamental to mathematical learning and attainment yet early mathematics curricula in England underplay the importance of patterning. In a critical realist notion of powerful knowledge, pattern teaching has the potential to empower children to notice patterns, mathematise their everyday…

This study presents a Context Based Participatory Professional Development path of early childhood educators and assistants in an early years centre located in Lisbon, Portugal, aiming at the contextualization of Pedagogy-in-Participation. Processes of contextual professional learning and praxis transformation are conducted and open up horizons to…

As emerging literature reflects, "praxis" is an important and useful concept for thinking about the many aspects of early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood research. In this article, I seek to contribute to discussions about praxis in ECE as a valuable concept for meeting the ethical challenges that arise in participatory…

Through an examination of the reflective comments of 42 pre-service Early Childhood Education Teachers (PS-ECETs), this study describes how an infancy course within an Early Childhood Education program used four different ways of organizing learning to unravel details of infant pedagogy, focusing on the role of the teacher. It is vital to theorize…

Praxeological-learning has emerged as a potential theoretical framework that has considerable potential to support and improve teacher education preparation programs. This article presents a study with participative research on early childhood with four groups of students. In response to new twenty-first century Teaching Standards and enhanced…

The monitoring and evaluation of the quality of educational processes and of child and adult learning are key procedures for a praxeological investigation which supports the constitution of an educational context characterised by the right to professional development of all adults who are directly or indirectly involved with the children. These…

Educational research developed initially using the natural science model based on the positivist tradition. Education was then seen as an application of the positivist science thus produced. This research could predict some effects but not explain the processes through which these effects came about. This exclusively numerical representation of…

The discipline and practice of participatory, practice-led research has grown rapidly in recent years and it is now widely accepted as making an important and serious contribution to the knowledge base of early childhood. Despite this progress recently we have come to understand that our worldview has needed to shift again in response to the…

This study investigates the process of praxiological transformation developed in an early childhood education institution, in Portugal, within four activity rooms. It is a single case study using action research, context-based staff development and participatory childhood pedagogy as means to change educational practices. It undertakes thorough…

Praxeological research is a necessary contribution to the research field in early childhood education and care, which is currently dominated by an evidence-based paradigm that tends to consider the measurement of predefined outcomes as the most valid form of research. We analyse the history of the evidence-based paradigm in the field of medicine…

The present study intends to deepen the understanding of processes of praxeological transformation in education and care contexts for children under three. This prime purpose is associated with evidence concerning these contexts in Portugal, namely the strong social need around them, some results from research that show their low level of quality…

In this article some preliminary data from an ongoing exploration of student teachers' development of professional identities are explored. This project uses hermeneutic techniques to develop a set of categories which characterise students' articulation of their understanding. This is related to the Aristotelian categories of "praxis",…