Documentation with Purpose: Term 2, 2026

Documentation with Purpose

This conversation series includes three sessions:

• Tuesday 28 April 2026, 2:00-3:00pm

  Designing Documentation – the big picture

  Systems that support ‘a slower’ way of thinking, dialogue, research, and inquiry

  
  

• Tuesday 19 May 2026, 2:00-3:00pm

  Documenting with Children

  Living documentation as a pedagogical strategy for listening and research

  
  

• Tuesday 23 June 2026, 2:00-3:00pm

  Meaningful Assessment – formative and summative

  Learning stories, learning notes, and the ethics of time - advocating for rich, authentic, and robust learning

  
  
  
  

Documentation is everywhere, yet our practice can easily narrow into formal observations that are overthought, overwritten, and repeated. When this happens, documentation becomes a task to complete rather than a meaningful practice to engage with.

This conversation series invites you to document the stories worth writing, stories that honour relationships, thinking, and learning as they unfold. When we understand our why in documentation, the how and what naturally follow, allowing documentation to move beyond compliance and into purpose.

Together, we will reimagine documentation as a living, relational practice, one that sits comfortably in the everyday and strengthens reflection, dialogue, and research cultures.

Engaging documentation as a pedagogical tool for teaching and learning in real time it acts as a living artefact of thinking with children. We recognise that documentation does not have to finish, but instead be engaged as an on-going living dialogue that weaves together our shared ideas over time……inviting new curiosities, questions and unexpectedness along the way.

Presented by Ellen Carney

Ellen is deeply passionate about fostering curiosity and creativity through inquiry-based learning. With a strong focus on social justice, reflection, and inclusive practice, Ellen supports teams to build thoughtful partnerships grounded in care, dialogue, and shared responsibility. Her work invites educators to think deeply about belonging, equity, and the ways learning communities can be both reflective and socially conscious. Ellen is an experienced KGlearning Approach practitioner.