Men så kan man ju också tänka! Pedagogisk dokumentation som förändringsverktyg i förskolan

This thesis, is about pedagogical documentation as a tool for transformation in preschool. The aim is to understand learning and transformation in, and of, preschool practice where pedagogical documentation has been used as a tool during a longer period of time.

Empirical data consists of texts by, and conversations with, personnel working at four preschool units who cooperated around a mutual project initiated by the Reggio Emilia Institute; a project where pedagogical documentation was a central tool. The study focuses on organizational issues and transformation, as statements about this appeared to be important in the participants’ conversations.

The analysis is made in three steps. Data was put together into three themes. The three themes are: 1) a changed practice 2) experiences ofworking with documentation, and 3) to organize for exploratory learning. Then, an analysis was made giving an account of participants’ descriptions of working with pedagogical documentation as a joint trip, especially making use of Engeström’s model of an activity system and expanded learning, described metaphorically as a black box. Finally, Wartofsky’s theory on primary, secondary, and tertiary aspects of a tool is used. Thus, pedagogical documentation was illustrated from many different perspectives.

The result shows that working with pedagogical documentation has led to preschool teachers discussing epistemological and ontological questions. This in turn led to preschool teachers starting to act differently in pedagogical practice, where acting differently became a trigger for revealing contradictions in the activity system, which participants describe as being solved over time. So, organization of preschool practice had changed on a unit level as well as on a preschool level including the children. Among other things, teacher teamwork has expanded when working with pedagogical documentation. The expanded team has meant that stories from the documented material have come in motion through analysis in several stages. Stories in motion, and pedagogical documentation perceived as seen from different perspectives, can be described as a complex tool.