ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the notion of children’s identities being constructed and defined through time by reflecting on a few vignettes from a 3–5s classroom in Sydney, Australia and beyond. It highlights the interconnectedness of children’s identity formation within a learning community with their peers and within the school community over days, months and years. Pedagogical documentation – inspired by the educators of Reggio Emilia – describes a cycle of inquiry, a cycle of ongoing reflection by all involved; the teachers, children and families. Pedagogical documentation makes visible the thinking, theories and learning that motivate and inform the ongoing inquiry. Children’s emerging sense of identity as defined by Erik H. Erikson involves the self with others with whom interactions occur. Identify formation highlighted in this vignette involves the negotiation around values, attitudes, dispositions and goals between these two children that influenced its adaptation in later childhood years.
