Researching change: a praxeological case study on toddlers' educational contexts

The present study intends to deepen the understanding of processes of praxeological transformation in education and care contexts for children under three. This prime purpose is associated with evidence concerning these contexts in Portugal, namely the strong social need around them, some results from research that show their low level of quality and the almost total lack of studies focusing on the analysis of processes of praxeological reconstruction, aiming at enhancing the quality of these contexts. A case study on action research was developed in two activity rooms located in the city of Porto, considering the pedagogical and methodological perspective of Pedagogy-in-Participation. The study integrated an initial phase of multimethod evaluation of the quality of the activity rooms, followed by a second phase that encompassed a context-based teacher education process centred on the transformation of quality through processes of experimentation and reflection. The third phase involved a multimethod evaluation of effects of the context-based teacher education process which showed its positive impact on the professional learning of early childhood teachers. This impact was associated with a positive evolution of the quality of activity rooms, from low to medium levels, in different pedagogical dimensions. Results also pointed out the positive effects at the level of children's well-being, involvement, quantity and equilibrium of learning experiences. The study stresses the need to focus on praxeological research as a privileged way for the construction of knowledge, reconstruction of practices and the improvement of the quality of contexts for children under three.