Critical reflection, identity, interaction

A competent system has to link staff’s initial good education to the possibility of constantly reflecting on ideas and practices (Vandenbroeck, Urban & Peeters, 2016). Therefore, we cannot look at quality just in terms of ‘fixed standards’, but we should recognize in the concept of quality the same complexity that lives in our society. Quality cannot be seen as something that is achieved or not, but as an on-going contextualized process made by negotiation (Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 2007), and ECEC practitioners become researchers of daily life (Bove, 2009; Mortari, 2007). Co-reflection is nowadays one of the key elements to guarantee quality improvement in this sector. Pedagogical documentation can have a great role in this discourse, since its identity is based on the meeting of different perspectives that enrich each other in a democratic way. This chapter will focus on this matter, underlying how the link between pedagogical documentation and negotiation has been developed in some Italian (Centre-North) and Belgian (Flemish Community) experiences that share the same philosophy.