Children’s Voices in Collaborative Planning of Professional Development Workshop with Teachers

Background aims
The proposed presentation examines the process of co-planning a professional development (PD) module for early childhood teachers (3-6 y.o.) by a team of six primary school teachers and six researchers at the SciTeach Centre (University of Luxembourg). It aims to highlight the value of collaboration with teachers by analysing how they bring the perspectives and voices of children during the co-planning process.
Methods
The research data consist of video recordings of two co-planning sessions that happened in person at the SciTeach Centre and amounted to 4.5 hours of footage. Four teachers and five researchers were present at both meetings. The data analysis was approached using qualitative content analysis in four themes.
Results
Throughout the process of co-planning, the teachers shared the perspectives and voices of their children in ways that can be grouped into four themes: 1. Observations (“It was so much fun seeing the tower fall”), 2. Quotation (“He said it’s an Eiffel Tower”), 3. Re-enactment (mimicking a child: “My pig is a princess, she will have a castle”), and 4. Presentation (drawings, photos). With these, the teachers shaped the overall co-generated structure of the PD module.
Conclusions
Braided together the four themes closely connect the PD module to children’s needs, giving insight into children’s thinking, experiences, and learning processes, and shaping activities and discussion topics of the module. Hence, through collaboration with teachers, we not only acknowledge children’s agency, but also design a contextually-responsive module that supports their well-being and quality education.