This book argues that developmental approaches to observation in childhood pedagogy are limiting, restrictive, and present social justice dilemmas. This book unsettles, dismantles, and reimagines observation, proposing new postdevelopmental theories and modes of inquiry for educators. Written by leading scholars based in Australia, Canada, Finland, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, the chapters consider observation as it is enacted in the home, nursery or classroom. Drawing on a range of theories including feminist new materialism, social semiotics, and sociocultural and multimodal approaches to early childhood, the chapters cover a range of areas, from early childhood art and observational literacy tools to intergenerational research, and using photography and video in observations.

This book argues that developmental approaches to observation in childhood pedagogy are limiting, that there is an urgent need to unsettle and reimagine observation, proposing new postdevelopmental theories and modes of inquiry for educators. Written by leading scholars based in Australia, Canada, Finland, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, the chapters consider observation as it is enacted in the home, nursery or classroom. Drawing on a range of theories including feminist new materialism, social semiotics, and sociocultural and multimodal approaches to early childhood the chapters cover a range of areas from early childhood art and observational literacy tools to intergenerational research, and using photography and video in observations.

This book challenges the developmentalist paradigm that dominates research into children and childhood, focusing on observation as a research method. It offers new postdevelopmental ways of conducting childhood observations which are diverse in context and theoretical orientation, and in the process, deconstructs the dominant traditions of childhood research. Written by leading scholars based in Canada, Norway, the UK, and the USA, the chapters consider observation as it is enacted in the home, nursery or classroom. Drawing on a range of theories including feminist new materialism, social semiotics, and posthumanism, the chapters cover a range of topics including reciprocal methods, photography, childhood art, and memoir.

This book challenges the developmentalist paradigm that dominates research into children and childhood, focussing on observation as a research method. It offers new postdevelopmental ways of conducting childhood observations which are diverse in context and theoretical orientation, and in the process, deconstructs the dominant traditions of childhood research. Written by leading scholars based in Canada, Norway, the UK, and the USA, the chapters consider observation as it is enacted in the home, nursery or classroom. Drawing on a range of theories including feminist new materialism, social semiotics, and posthumanism, the chapters cover a range of topics including reciprocal methods, photography, childhood art, and memoir.

In childhood research, children's art-making has typically been viewed and understood through a lens of developmental psychology and the notion that children's art-making progresses through a linear series of stages continues to dominate how we design and implement art-making experiences for young children. Postdevelopmental Approaches to Childhood Art brings together the work of theorists from around the world who have presented postdevelopmental approaches to childhood art, thereby playing a vital part in unsettling the dominance of the developmental paradigm and offering worked examples of alternative models. Drawing on sociocultural theory, Deleuzian philosophy, posthumanism and postmodernism each chapter offers a theoretical basis that challenges developmentalism, as well as an application of that theoretical basis. The contributors also consider what this shift in our perspective means for the design and implementation of art-making experiences for young children.

This New Zealand adaptation looks both at historical roots of child observation as well as various approaches to observing young children in early years settings.

Pedagogical documentation is a vital method of assessing and observing young children, and is a practice that enables practitioners, families and children to learn alongside each other. This book draws on the projects and experiences of senior researchers from nations including Australia, Canada, Sweden, Singapore, the UK and the USA to highlight multiple approaches to pedagogical documentation. Topics explored include: using video in pedagogical documentation making the most of outdoor learning environments developing pedagogical documentation within curriculum frameworks the relationship with Early Years transitions the potential of pedagogical documentation for leadership enactment. The book offers guidance, support and inspiration to practitioners and researchers on how to implement meaningful and sustainable child-focused observation in early years contexts.