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Time: 16 hours
Level: Introductory
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 Introduction Resource- In this unit we look at the notion of parents as partners. We identify a cluster of reasons why partnership is considered important – for children, parents and practitioners – and give examples of ways...
| | | | | What is meant by ‘Partnership with parents’
- What is meant by ‘Partnership with parents’ Resource
- ‘Partnership with parents’ is a familiar phrase in education. Without exception, all early years settings wish for a close, two-way relationship with children's parents and carers. There is considerable...
| | | | | 1 Practitioner – parent partnerships
- The nature of partnership Resource
- Partnership: An association of two or more people as partners; a joint business.
- A broadly accepted principle Resource
- Looking back over time, parent – practitioner relations didn't always get off to a good start. Increased provision for children in the early years, including universal state education, served to create...
- Why work together? Resource
- There are many reasons why parents and practitioners should work together. Writers and practitioners often stress the benefits for children's learning when practitioners, parents and children work as a...
- Parents are educators Resource
- There is a sense in which all parents are educators, whether or not they work in conjunction with their child's professional educators. Indeed, some parents extend this intuitive involvement by formally...
- Parents give ‘background’ support to practitioners Resource
- Many parents take on an educating role – through their own initiative, or perhaps through their liaison with practitioners and teachers. They provide specific support within families for the learning that...
- Many parents work alongside practitioners Resource
- Parents can provide invaluable support to children within an early education setting – offering occasional help when practitioners request it, or working as regular volunteers or maybe as paid assistants....
| | | | | 2 Partnership issues for practitioners
- Perspectives and challenges Resource
- As we have suggested, parents and practitioners may have different perspectives on partnership, and this raises important issues for practitioners when seeking to involve parents in their work with children....
- Recognizing that parents are individuals Resource
- Just as practitioners regard children as individuals, so it should be with their parents. However, because most parents are more distanced from practitioners' immediate professional lives than children,...
- Understanding why some parents decide not to be partners Resource
- Carol Vincent's ‘detached’ and ‘independent’ parents remind us that when practitioners set up parent partnerships they need to be mindful of the reasons why some parents choose not to be involved in ways...
- Working with ‘challenging’ parents Resource
- Jennifer Chambers, a childminder, has noted that:
- Parents are both women and men Resource
- The gender-neutral term ‘parents’ is rightly inclusive of both mothers and fathers. It does, however, mask the fact that women mainly take the lead in childcare and interact with early years and primary...
- Acknowledging family structures Resource
- Understandably, family structures impact on partnership practice, and practitioners need a good knowledge of the many forms that families can take. It's important not to make the assumption that most children...
| | | | | 3 Partnership in practice
- Parent – practitioner relationships Resource
- In this section we focus specifically on parental involvement practice and look at the following four expressions of partnership:
- Parents following practitioner suggestions Resource
- A great deal of partnership involves parents responding to practitioners' ideas. This often involves the recommendation of specific activities that can be carried out within children's homes and communities...
- Adventure Ted Resource
- Sometimes novel ideas are used to stimulate parent–practitioner partnership. Caroline Struthers runs a home–school partnership project in South Lanarkshire. She uses ‘Adventure Ted’ to stimulate a range...
- Bookstart Resource
- Bookstart is another innovative ‘practitioner to parent’ partnership idea that has been running since the 1990s. There are now Bookstart schemes operating throughout the UK. They usually include an LEA,...
- Practitioners providing courses for parents Resource
- A well-known way of increasing goodwill, understanding, and a sense of partnership between practitioners and parents is through the provision of courses and workshops. These can take many forms, but essentially...
- Parents and practitioners supporting each other Resource
- At the beginning of Section 1 of this unit we gave a definition of partnership, which included the idea that it is ‘a joint business’. We next consider a partnership initiative in which parents and practitioners...
- Parents taking the lead with practitioner support Resource
- There are some situations in which parents become leaders in ways that are not typical, even in early years settings. Footprints, for example, is a parent-run breastfeeding support project that arose out...
| | | | | 4 A framework for understanding partnership
- Five dimensions to parental involvement Resource
- Over the years, writers have put forward models, frameworks and typologies for understanding the theoretical and practical dimensions of partnership. The curriculum guidance documents produced respectively...
- Partnership in your setting Resource
- Look again at Table 1, and consider how your relationships and initiatives with parents relate to the types that are identified:
- Review Resource
- In this unit we have looked at the notion of parents as partners. We have identified a cluster of reasons why partnership is considered important – for children, parents and practitioners – and have provided...
| | | | | References and Acknowledgements | | |
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