14.03.2022

Paulo Fochi gives training on Pedagogical Documentation

By Bruna Cronfli

Holding a Doctor’s degree in Education in Didactics, Teaching Theories and School Practices, and specialized in Early Childhood Education and School Management and Organization, Paulo Fochi was invited to give a lecture to the teaching staff as part of the pedagogical team’s annual formation process on evaluation. With the theme “Do verbo documentar ao conceito de documentação pedagógica”, the lecturer approached his experiences in the classroom, based on bibliographic references. 

As a trigger for the meeting, the researcher raised a question to the audience: “When we talk about pedagogical documentation, what comes to your mind?” It is common to associate the record of evidence of the learning process with the concept of pedagogical documentation. 

According to Fochi, the “mistake” when reading the concept lies in the limitation of the physicality of the process, that is, to what is communicated and how it is communicated (transmissive pedagogy). However, in his publications, the educator makes a distinction between the verb “to document”, which in his reading is the act of producing records; the noun “documentation”, the communicated product; and the “concept” of pedagogical documentation, which involves the way of doing, reflecting, projecting, and narrating daily life. 

Paulo Fochi also talked about concepts from Loris Malaguzzi, the educator who founded the Reggio Emilia pedagogical project. “The didactic we have in school does not respond to the complexity of children. The didactic is designed to meet a teaching need, and the integral development of children is not focused on teaching, but on education,” said the lecturer. 

Thus, the first level of the documentary process is in the observation. The child from 0 to 6 years old has a particularity: to inaugurate new worlds. Fochi emphasized the need to restore the learning processes by means of a narrative with possibilities of constructing reality and, thus, making the child the protagonist of his learning. 

The meeting was a rich exchange opportunity for educators of Early Childhood Education. Besides clearing up doubts, they had the chance to report cases, share experiences, and pedagogical proposals.