"Vignettes as an appropriate methodology to highlight the complexity of children’s participation in early childhood centers and Children’s schools". In C. Landridge (ed). Emerging Trends in Early Childhood Education. London: Proud Pen. https://doi.org/10.51432/978-1-914266-01-0-3

This proposal is aimed at the identification of a relevant descriptive method that can support ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) practitioners in the recognition of the structure of children’s participation in the educational activities that impacts on their learning. In order to highlight the structure of children’s participation, a relevant methodology is needed. A methodology is the vantage point of any educational perspective, since it enables the identification of the critical aspects of an educational practice from a large mass of information and events; as a consequence, it can support professionals in their reflection about children’s participation and learning. The methodology does not determine what will be discovered, but what is relevant to inquiry; it gives also an orientation towards change. We refer to an in-service professional training programme, in which we used the method of “vignettes” to analyze the impact of the organization of the setting and the professional scaffolding to the children’s participation in the educational activities. The nature and rationale of our method is discussed through the presentation of some examples.