Documenting children's learning in early childhood settings in Singapore: parents' perspectives and teachers' reflections

Documentation within early childhood settings involves the process of recording children's learning and development and the product presenting this information. It is a key component of early childhood pedagogy and teacher accountability, with parents viewed as the main audience.In Singapore, documentation is a requirement specified under the legislative policies included in the national Pre-school Accreditation Framework. There is however little to no research conducted in Singapore to inform and support policies and practices on documentation. This mixed methods study addresses this gap by utilising Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1995), with a focus on the child's mesosystem, the interconnectedness between the child's development, family and early childhood setting. An electronic survey was used to ascertain parents' perspectives on documentation of their child's learning. Analysis of this data was used in individual interviews to attain five teachers' responses to the parents' perspectives. Findings of this study affirmed that documentation varied in process and product across early childhood settings. Commonalities between parents' and teachers' perceptions on documentation existed, however, the perception of parent-teacher partnerships differed. The findings offer professional learning on documentation as a process and product for key stakeholders-children, parents and teachers-and the wider early childhood sector.