Textual analysis speaks: pedagogical documentation as relational pedagogy

Despite growing international interest in pedagogical documentation, there is limited research investigating this professional practice. In strengthening the knowledge base, this paper offers textual analysis of material written about pedagogical documentation to enable greater understanding of its nature and purposes. The authors of this paper analyzed the contents of three publications they also contributed to and edited. International chapter authors and commentators shared their thinking related to definitions of pedagogical documentation, its processes and potentialities, as well as elements enabling or constraining engagement. Offering richly contextualised voices within analytical categories, this paper positions pedagogical documentation as conceived in different ways for various purposes. Analysis indicates a foundation of relational pedagogy throughout the data set, an element rarely apparent in current approaches to planning and assessment. Seeing these texts as a combined data source enables a clearer configuration of this phenomenon, thus foregrounding the potential of pedagogical documentation as an empowering transformative component of early childhood settings.