Looking for children’s resistance in pedagogical documentation with ECE students: a case study of slow and multiple listening

Abstract

It may be essential for children to have the possibility to express resistance in diverse ways and for different reasons in order to develop democratic practice in kindergarten. But how can early childhood education students recognise, reflect on and work with notions of resistance? We explore the use of young children’s photographs as a springboard for students’ explorations by bringing together concepts of resistance and multiple listening with thinking about slow pedagogies. The article focuses on a case study of Master’s degree students, invited to look for ‘resistance’ in photographs taken by children in a wider study: ‘Children’s Photographic Expressions’. The discussion highlights the images’ power to slow down the students’ search for new meanings of resistance and to use children’s photography as pedagogical documentation. Possible implications of working with pedagogical documentation through a slow lens in early childhood teacher education and practice are raised.