Children's Agency and Voice in Digital Portfolio Work in Finnish Early Childhood Education

• In Event: Children's Agentic Positioning in Research: A Critical Examination of Participatory Research Methodologies With Young Children

Abstract

This paper discusses a case study on the use of digital portfolios in Finnish early childhood education (ECE), and examines children’s agency and voice in the process. Our work aligns with efforts to understand the opportunities and challenges associated in the use of digital portfolios as pedagogical tools for inclusive participatory ECE practice in which children’s agency and voice are valued.
Our study draws on empirical data from a one-year long development project of three Finnish municipalities and their ECE centres. Altogether, the data comprise the digital portfolios of 71 children from six different ECE groups across the three municipalities. Of these 71 children, 37 were girls (52%) and 34 (48%) were boys. All these children worked in mixed aged groups composed of children aged three to five years old. The study is based on data that have been authorized by the municipalities, ECE centres and children’s parents/guardians. Children’s participation in the research was voluntary, and the children could withdraw from the study at any time.
We analyzed the data using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative analyses focused on the number of photos and videos in each child’s portfolio. The qualitative analysis focused on the portfolio content, with a specific interest on the nature of children’s agency and voice. The analysis process begun by reading all the data repeatedly to achieve immersion and obtain a sense of the whole (Tesch, 1990). Then, we began our abductive development of overall themes from the data while drawing on sociocultural theories on agency and relevant empirical research evidence (Authors, 2018). Altogether, our analysis involved repeated iterations between data and theory (Miles & Huberman, 1994).
The study shows how digital portfolios can tell rich and multi-layered stories behind ECE activities and children’s participation, learning and development in these activities. Yet, at the same time, our research indicates the complexity and challenges of using digital portfolios in ECE for inclusive participatory work. The results show little evidence of the children’s own agency and voice in the portfolios. Our data show many instances in which the digital portfolios were strongly adult-directed and used for archiving rather than for collective interaction, reflection and learning between the child, ECE teachers and parents/guardians. Altogether, the results demonstrate how the construction of digital portfolios in the ECE communities produced a dynamic tension between the adults’ and children’s agency; between digital archiving and narrative documentation of the children’s lived experiences; and between documentation and reflection. The results also show major differences in the contents and use of digital portfolios across the ECE groups and children, which suggest that the children were seen and heard differently depending on the child and in which group the child was part of. The children were also given different opportunities for creating and reflecting upon their portfolios. We conclude from our study that recognizing every child’s agency and voice in the construction and use of digital portfolios calls for strong pedagogical expertise, creativity and digital skills from the educators.
(Word Count: 490)

Authors

• Kristiina P. Kumpulainen, University of Helsinki

• Najat Ouakrim-Soivio, University of Helsinki