The idea of making a video emerged from discussion about the need to focus on children, and the importance of learning from activities that seemed to work well. A video had been shown in the previous year about what toddlers were doing, and the value of their interactions and activities, and this had been well attended by parents. Feedback from the initial research interviews had shown that parents were wanting to know about what children were learning, what was actually happening at the centre during the day, and why. The focus of the video was intended to capture the flavour of what was happening and to unpack what was valuable, what children were learning, and why those particular opportunities were offered.
4 Early Child Development (ECD) was a government agency providing advice and support on environmental and building plans as one of its roles. It has since become part of the Ministry of Education.
Videoing children interacting with others and being involved in activities at the centre, and showing and discussing the video with parents and whänau, turned out to be a highlight for everyone involved. Staff talked to parents about the possibility of videoing, and had asked for their willingness to take part and their agreement to letting their child be videoed. Parents responded enthusiastically.
Two videos were made by the professional development adviser, who then worked with the head teacher to analyse and edit them for showing. During this process, the head teacher and professional development adviser worked out how to section the video, what they thought came out of it, and what they wanted to say about each section. It was not possible to work with the whole team on this aspect, as both the professional development adviser and head teacher would have liked, because the professional development had already exceeded its 15 hours of staff meeting time.
The video showing was also to include still frames from the doll-making afternoon. These were set up for display, and put on the computer and projected onto a large screen. Then the edited video was to be shown with staff talking to this. When it came to putting commentary to stills from the video, the professional development adviser said that they tried not to make the commentary “too text dense”.
The first video showing was advertised as a “parent meeting” with an invitation to “Come and look at your children’s profile book, view a video on your children’s day, and have a cuppa.” It was held straight after school. The video “brought to life ... how the children spent their day, their interactions and interests” (head teacher’s reflective journal). The showing attracted not only almost 100 percent of parents, but also some grandparents and other relatives. This engagement of grandparents made the professional development adviser and teachers think about the framing of the meeting as a “parent meeting”. Since then they have been more conscious of including other family members.
Parents, children, and staff talked and responded to the video. The planned talk by teachers and the whole group discussion did not occur because of the enthusiastic enjoyment by everyone and the “take over by the gaggle of excited children down the front” on seeing the video. But there was a lot of informal talk and discussion of individual profile books. For the first time, parents were invited to make comments in the profile books.
Teachers still wanted to try out ideas of conveying what children were learning, and the value of activities, through showing and discussing videos. A second video was made. This video included recordings of an infant’s interest in a book; infants exploring sensory experiences through the heuristic play basket (a flat basket full of objects with different textures and shapes, such as plastic, wood, fur, silk, egg cup, bone teething ring, spiralled cotton reels); and involvement of children in a range of activities and interactions. The head teacher and professional development adviser took still frames of some sequences after the event, and added some text to them about what was going on. That led to a display of the photos of sequences and the text. A poster about schemas and explanations was part of the display.
Another “parent/whänau” meeting was held, attended this time by all the parents, two fathers, a grandmother, and two grandfathers. Children and parents again looked at the profile books, and parents worked with staff on their child’s individual education programme (see next section). Parents’ and children’s input are now more actively sought as part of the profile documentation:
What we learned was that visual stuff works well, there’s huge interest in that sort of documentation, in documentation around the portfolios, around videos. That gave us a sense of what sort of direction we would work in. It was very much a beginning. (Professional development adviser)