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How critical reflection through scrapbook compilation becomes a methodological tool.
Gathering and compiling children’s work allowed a small team of researchers from the universities of Wolverhampton and Trinity Saint David to engage in a deeply critical reflective process. This was not planned for or expected and has thus led to the possibilities that the compilation of scrapbooks is a useful methodological tool within the Mosaic Approach. The following article discusses how scrapbooks provided additional opportunities for deep reflection on reception children’s thoughts and led to the realisation that they were an integral part of the data analysis process. The article introduces the idea that scrapbooks could also be a useful tool to support action research within practice.
Background and context of the research project
‘What I really think about sitting straight, golden time and reward charts’: Gathering 4-year-olds views on behaviourist pedagogy in reception.
The research sought to understand the views of young children upon the behaviourist strategies used within education, specifically reception year. The research team recognised young children as ‘experts in their own lives’ (Langsted, p.35) and therefore, the Mosaic, multi-method, polyvocal Approach was deemed the most suitable and appropriate to enable young children to demonstrate their understanding and view of the world in which they reside (Moss, 2017). Young children now find themselves subjected to an educational environment that is fixated upon achieving outcomes (Clark, 2017) with little regard for individualism, creativity and the importance of play and movement (White, 2015). Therefore, the research team sought to understand how the child feels or as Clark (2017, P.10) explains ‘what is it like for young children to be in this place’?
How scrapbooks were initially to be used within the research process
The research team’s initial thoughts were that they would compile an age-appropriate scrapbook of each child participant’s collected research and then share this with them, enabling time for discussion and if required further explorations of the feelings and emotions that may arise. BERA, (2018, P.4) explains that all social science research should maximise the benefits and minimise any harm to its participants. The scrapbook would then be left with the child and their family as a memory of their significant contribution to the research.
Compiling our co-researchers’ scrapbooks
Due to the large number of pictures and the time involved in having them professionally printed, the research team shared these with the children via a laptop. The children shared their thoughts and discussed their photos and drawings, and these reflective discussions were captured on film for later analysis.
The research team worked independently and collaboratively on the analysis of the collected ideas and thoughts of the children (the data). It was when I began the process of carefully constructing each child’s scrapbook that I realised that something was happening.
Each scrapbook took an inordinate amount of time to compile, and this was due to the amount of reflection I had began to engage in. It led to the sharing of thoughts with my team of researchers and highlighted differing strands that warranted further investigation.
Scrapbooks as a new methodological tool
It was through the sharing of my initial experience with the scrapbooks that we realised that drawing together our co-researchers (the children) drawings, photographs, and reflections into one place had significance. That through the careful construction of all of their personal insights a deeply reflective process for us as researchers was taking place. That through the process of constructing these scrapbooks a new methodological tool had emerged. I considered how scrapbooks were indeed an important aspect of the methodological approach to understanding the data and that this had been overlooked until now.
Scrapbooks as a new methodological approach to action research
Building upon the research of Walling-Wefelmeyer (2020) I considered how such a tool was an accessible way for children, practitioners, and teachers to collaborate and learn with each other in practice, thus supporting an action research idea. Scrapbooking in this sense argues that the participatory nature of children’s ideas and thoughts are fundamental in understanding their worlds, but most importantly how we acknowledge them, therefore upholding rights as noted by the UNCRC (1992). I consider that this approach moves away from the notion of an inside view of lived experiences (Bragg & Buckingham, 2018) as the collection within the scrapbooks of the thoughts ideas and reflections offered by the children are pondered upon and presented to the children by the adult. The scrapbooks then offer further collaboration and thus offer a new methodological process that is based in a deep collaborative process.
Scrapbooks as a new methodological approach to action research within practice
I suggest that scrapbooks could support collaborative learning within practice, thus providing opportunity for young children to express their voice, their opinions, and interests. This approach might enable a curriculum of learning that is based upon children’s creative ideas and where they are actively co-constructing their learning with responsive practitioners and pedagogues. This approach whilst based within the philosophy of Reggio (Hewitt, 2001) may provide a useful alternative pedagogical approach to assessment within the Early years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (DfE, 2024). I consider that this approach sees the child as competent, as a researcher in their own right and supports the very skills documented within the EYFS and the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning (DfE, 2024; Early years coalition, 2021), however, I consider how this approach supports the process of learning, not the product alongside practitioners who are reciprocal partners within the learning process.
The scrapbook process provides opportunities for practitioners within practice to engage with active ongoing research that provides opportunities for reflection upon pedagogy and policy within their settings whilst upholding the ideas of young children as protagonists (Hewitt, 2001).
I also consider that scrapbooks provided a rich collection of documented evidence to support both inspection frameworks and EYFS outcomes.
Key takeaways
- The significance of taking time to understand, hear and respond to children’s ideas, their thoughts and suggestions.
- How scrapbooks can support a deeper analysis of young children’s contextual understanding of their worlds.
- The possibilities of scrapbooks as a new methodological tool to aid action research within practice.
- How scrapbooks may provide the required documentary evidence in a more developmentally appropriate manner.
Critical considerations
- What opportunities can you identify within your setting where this approach could be embedded?
- Consider the voice of the child and the level of participation; make notes on how this approach would empower, listen, hear, and respond to young children.
- Consider the challenges of this approach to achieve the required target documentation. Do you have suggestions on how to overcome these?
Explainer
- Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning – These describe behaviours which the EYFS (2024) deems children need to learn effectively, for example to problem solve and be curious, as part of the English legislation – The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Statutory Framework (2024).
- Protagonist – The main character – a child is understood to innately be driven to understand the world in which they reside through active discovery and exploration.
- Methodology – The methods or approach used to carry out research on a specific topic/focus.
References
British Educational Research Association (BERA) (2018). Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research. 4th Ed. https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018 [Accessed: 14.02.2024]
Birth to 5 matters (2021). Non statutory guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Available at: Birthto5matters-download.pdf[Accessed: 14/02/2024].
Clark, A. (2017). Listening to Young Children: A guide to understanding and using the mosaic approach. 3rd edn. London: Jessica Kinsley Publishers.
Clark, A., and Moss, P. (2011). Listening to young children: The mosaic approach (Second edition.). London: National Children’s Bureau.
Langsted, O. (1994). ‘Looking at Quality from the Child’s Perspective’, in Moss, P. & Pence, A. (eds.) Valuing Quality in Early Childhood Services: New Approaches to Defining Quality. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Moss, P. (2017). ‘Foreword’, in Clark, A. Listening to Young Children: A guide to understanding and using the mosaic approach. 3rd edn. London: Jessica Kinsley Publishers.
DfE (2024). The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Statutory Framework. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2 [Accessed: 14/02/2024].
Hewett, V.M. (2001). ‘Examining the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education’, Early Childhood Education Journal 29, 95–100 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012520828095
Walling-Wefelmeyer, R. (2021). The Methodological Potential of Scrapbooking: Theory, Application, and Evaluation. Sociological Research Online, 26(1), 3-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780420909128
White, J. (2015). Every child a mover: A practical guide to providing young children with the physical opportunities they need.London: Early Education.
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