Merleau-Ponty, depth and epiphany: On using multiple GoPro viewpoints, empowering educators, and researching with children aged under-three

Seeing what is happening or what is important, or simply ‘there’, and for whom, is an important focus in educational research. This is particularly so when researching with children aged under-three, or with children whose speech, language, and ways of communicating might not be shared by those seeking to involve them. Visual methodologies and methods are available, but these are sometimes insufficient, or even inappropriate. How might the interplay of images and the ‘work of the eye’ herald a provocative rethinking of children and their involvement in educational research? This is a question I explore in this presentation. I draw mainly from a study of supporting Early Childhood Education (ECE) practitioners to see and cultivate the mathematics that features throughout the Family Day Care day, and a study of infant participation in research. My particular concern is with exploring some of the implications of the insight that emerged from within both studies: that viewing video-images, filmed simultaneously from different camera viewpoints, can support ECE practitioners/researchers to see more of what is happening, and to reflect closely on their own practices with children. Merleau-Ponty provides an important resource in this regard, with his concept of depth; as does Ihde, with his notion of sensory-extension-reduction-relations. Two key ideas are emphasised: image as depth, and image as epiphany.