Collaborative approaches to quality through educator critical reflection

Abstract This article examines a collaborative research project carried out in a regional Australian kindergarten investigating quality practices in early childhood education (ECE) through educator critical reflection (ECR). The project was initiated in response to Australia’s National Quality Agenda (NQA), a national policy initiative aimed at improving the quality of ECE. Central to the NQA is the National Quality Standard (NQS), which outlines expectations for high-quality practice, and Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (V2.0) (EYLF), which guides pedagogical approaches. Guided by the question: How can I lead through a focus on ‘learning our children’ to support children, staff, and families in understanding our kindergarten program?, this project used the Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA) to examine how quality unfolded in practice. Two findings are presented: First, the process, showing how ECR and the TPA enabled the researchers to examine and transform quality practices. Second, the analysis highlighted how investigating practice and the cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements that shape them revealed the collaborative nature of quality in practice. This project contributes to understanding how ECR can help educators articulate, evaluate, and enhance quality practices.