Matthew Lambert: Finding Work that Feels Right and Makes One Happy

This paper presents research on the use of visual documentation – photo stories – to support reflective teaching practice, disrupt traditional power relations between educators and families, and enable teacher and researcher co-construction of knowledge.

FULL REFERENCE: Newman, L., Woodrow, C. & Arthur, L. (2016). Visible difference: Photostory as capacity building, research and evaluation method. NZ Research in ECE Journal, Special Issue: Equality and Diversity, 19, 90 – 105.

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ABSTRACT: While visual documentation of learning in early childhood settings has become ubiquitous, the application of visual methodology to educational research has been relatively minor, suggesting a timeliness to investigating its application in early childhood education contexts. This paper discusses how a socioculturally informed visual methodology, and in particular photostory method, demonstrates the potential to support strengths-based participatory research and professional learning. In our study, photostory was used in conjunction with an environment rating scale to produce and document changes effected in the learning environment. We are interested in how photo story contributed to this success and discuss issues emerging from the complexity of such an endeavour in cross-national research. Findings show that the use of photostories to document processes of change facilitated the participating educators’ reflective practice, contributed to enhanced communication with families and agencies, disrupted traditional power relations such as those between the academy and the field, and educators and families, and enabled the co-construction of knowledge. These findings support our contention that visual methodologies can be usefully incorporated as robust research methodology for complex capacity building projects.

Key words: Reflective practice; evaluation; professional learning; visual documentation; photostory.

INTRODUCTION

Although visual imagery has been widely utilised in early childhood education contexts in applications such as Learning Stories (Carr 2001, 2012), and the Mosaic Approach (Clark, 2011), its use as a robust research methodology in early childhood projects is less evident. It is more visible in anthropological, sociological (Pauwels, 2011) and arts-based research than education. Prior to this project’s commencement, the use of visual methods for display, documentation, discussion, knowledge sharing or research was nonexistent in the particular research sites in Northern Chile. The work of visual ethnographers, anthropologists and sociologists including Banks (2007), Kress and van Leeuwen (1990), Pink (2005; 2013), Wang, (1999) and Rose (2012) have provided a foundation for an exploration of the use of visual methodology within one unique educational context. This exploration provides insights to inform our future research with our evolving methodologies.