ROSE AGUILAR-GARCIA

Date: 27 June 2017

Criteria Number: 1

Importance of Parent’s Involvement in Early Childhood Education

An essential ingredient to children’s learning and development is the involvement of their parents in the
learning journey. Home is where it all started. Parents are the children’s first teachers as they are the first
people to teach, encourage and provide them meaningful experiences that help form their physical, mental,
emotional and cognitive skills. Later in their life, they will explore the wider world. Experiences in school will
then comprise a big chunk of their learning journey. A continuity of home life (parents) and school life
(educators) must be maintained and both parents and educators should be working together to achieve this
connection. Te Whariki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 1996) states that “The environment, routines, people,
and happenings within and around a home provide opportunities for the spontaneous learning which should
be a feature of all early childhood learning contexts.” (p.18). It gives emphasis on the link between home and
early childhood education and highlights the importance of building a two-way relationship between parents
and teachers (MoE, 1996). This underpins Vygotzky’s sociocultural-historical perspective that highlights the
importance of family context in the life of a child (Clairborne & Drewery, 2014). It is through the everyday
interactions with the people in their community that children acquire different sets of skills and abilities which
are added to their own ‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll, Neff, & Gonzales, 1992). And through working together
with the whanau, the teachers can further support these interests of the children.
Working together with parents according to Dahlberg, Moss & Pence (2007) “does not mean pedagogues
giving to parents uncontextualised and unproblematized information about what they (the pedagogues) are
doing, nor ‘educating’ parents in ‘good’ practice by transmitting a simplified version of a technology of child
development and child rearing. Rather it means both parents and pedagogues (and others) entering into a
reflective and analytic relationship involving deepening understanding … ” (p.77). This idea is supported by a
statement made by Arthur, Death, Dockett & Farmer (2015) saying that, “When educators demonstrate trust
and respect by working alongside and trusting families and children, rather than taking over and ‘doing it all’,
educators will be rewarded for their patience with increased participation in the program by both children
and families.” (p.47). Parents’ involvement in the learning of their children and the relationship that they are
building with the educators starts from a challenging beginning. The first point of contact is crucial because it
sets the tone of the parent-teacher relationship. Building this connection starts with reflecting on the diverse
family context, being respectful of each individual’s unique characteristic and being open to a lot of
possibilities including their [parents] own expectations of families (Arthur, et. al, 2015). As educators, there is
a need to acknowledge the fact that adults respond to certain issues and approaches to education setting
depending on their own personal experiences (Turunen & Dockett, 2013). Being open and respectful to all
these facts is important. When all these things have already been addressed and when educators and parents
are already comfortable sharing information with one another, then the idea of partnership will follow.
Partnership is when two people or group of people are working together towards a specific purpose. This
collaborative relationship is challenging as it requires a lot of time, great effort and possible hindrances. First
and foremost, educators need to consider the language barriers, cultural differences of people and their lack
of time as reasons for less parents’ involvement (Arthur, et.al, 2015). With regards to the hindrances, some
writers argued that parents-teacher relationship are “too strained and not always meaningful” (Kasting, 1994,
p.146) which comes from the idea that parental knowledge is inadequate, supplementary and unimportant
(Hughes & Mac Naughton, 2000). Having known these things, many writers argue that teachers should
educate parents on the appropriate and inappropriate way of parental practices (Hughes & Mac Naughton,
2000). And according to Hirschey (1999), educators should be “teaching parents how to observe and
understand their child’s development”. Cagliari, Barozzi & Guidici (2004) contrasted this by saying that parents
have their own role to perform. This role is not limited to only listening to what the teachers have been saying
nor providing the educators the information that they need from the child’s experiences at home but by
actively contributing ideas, thoughts and expectations for the enhancement of the children’s learning and
development (Cagliari, et. al, 2004). Building a solid foundation for learning requires an equal participation
from parents and teachers. According to Arthur et. al. (2015), collaborative partnerships is “an exchange of
information between partners rather than the one-way transmission of knowledge and information from
educators to other parties” (p.25). Teachers’ role is not to educate nor direct parents on what they should
know and do, rather, to work together with them. Teachers should not be viewed as someone who only
performs their duty as an educator, that is to “execute programmes established by others” (Cagliari et al.,
2004) but they should be seen as someone playing an active part in the co-constructing of the children’s
“knowledge-building processes” (Cagliari et al., 2004). Teachers are there to support the needs of the children,
to provide them meaningful learning experiences based from their (children) interests and encourage them to
achieve their highest potential which can be facilitated by “on-going dialogue and documentation about
children’s learning and families’ insights.” (Cooper, Hedges, & Dixon, 2014, p.734). It is only through
communicating with the parents and their whanau about their home and community experiences that they
will become aware of all the things they need to support the learning of the children. Seeking parent’s voice
and role in decision making to achieve effective partnerships is one of the suggestions made by Hughes and
Mac Naughton (2002). A good partnership means contributing and communicating with each other which
starts from respecting each other’s abilities and individual uniqueness. Arthur et. al (2015) stated that one way
of strengthening powerful partnerships between parents and educators is through encouraging parents and
whanau to think and suggest meaningful ideas on how they might be involved in the learning of their children.
It is further supported by a statement made by Whalley and the Pen Green Centre team (2001) saying that
children who have teachers and parents who are working together will “gain a sense of continuity and of being
cared for” and experience a “trusting and secure environment in which they can learn and grow” (p.95).
This partnership could possibly lead to a collaborative relationship in which both parties are invited to “form
policies, manage resources and evaluate services [and to make] decisions about what and how children should
learn” (Mac Naughton & Hughes, 2003, p.263). This is the idea of participation. The notion of participation
changes over time. In the year 1990s, participation between educators and parents in New Zealand was only
about parents meeting the teachers’ agenda and requirements within the centre programme through
fundraising or other organised activities (Duncan, 2014). But since the development of Te Whariki, it changed
to a more meaningful way of looking at the importance of parents’ participation to child’s learning. Te Whariki
emphasises in its Belonging Strand Goal 2 that everyone should feel that they have a place to be in this
community which can particularly be demonstrated when they take on “different roles in different context”
(Ministry of Education, 1996, p.58).
According to Cagliari et. al (2004), “Participation involves the children, the families, and the teachers and is
viewed not only as taking part in something but being part – the essence, the substance of a common identity,
a ‘we’ which comes alive through participating” (p.28). In a Reggio Emilia’s approach, participation is not only
about involving families and whanau to the centre life. Participation is about the value of the whole
experience. Cagliari et al (2004) once said that when school is practicing and putting high regards to
participation, then children’s sharing of their own experiences to other people can “translate into a culture of
childhood that is deeply embedded in the school itself as well as in the broader social fabric.” (p.29). This is
supported by Vygotzky’s sociocultural perspective in suggesting that “children learn best when the curriculum
is connected to their everyday lives and interests” (Arthur, et. al, 2015). In Bronfenbrenner’s Ecology of
Human Development, children’s learning are greatly influenced by the people that surround them (Ministry of
Education, 1996). The everyday experiences of children within their communities contribute to their
developing “funds of knowledge” (Moll, et. al, 1992 ) in which through participation and partnership with
parents can be used by the teachers to better understand and support the learning of their children and also
find ways on how to properly address the needs of the children (Arthur, et. al., 2015). These two highlights the
importance of the connection between families and school to help the children further enhance their learning
that is supported by their interests.
Establishing good relationship and partnership with parents often is a challenge to any teacher (Clay, 2005)
including myself. It takes a long time and great effort for both the parents’ side and educators’ side to build
and maintain an effective partnership (Arthur, et. al, 2015). As an educator, I view partnership and
participation as a gradual and never ending process. It takes small steps at a time and grows every single day
through constant communication with the parents. This kind of interaction will lead to a stronger relationship
that will benefit all the involved parties. When parents participate and become an active part of their child’s
learning, it can help them better understand and know the right educational practices that should be done at
home and at the centre (Gelfer, 1991) which could possibly lead to having a better support system for the
child’s learning both in school and at home (Hughes & Mac Naughton, 2000). Developing good relationship
with parents is essential to providing the best care for their children which greatly affects their (children)
wellbeing. It is through effective communication that this partnership grows. Having a wide range of strategies
to maintain constant communication is essential. There are lots of considerations in building a strong
partnership between parents and teachers. The important thing to note is respect everyone’s language,
culture, religion, parenting practices and family background. Being respectful means not judging the family
and their opinions towards certain issues as this may lead to misunderstanding that is detrimental to
relationship building. Some communication method might only suit to a particular set of parents so there’s a
need to utilise different ways ranging from formal and informal ways that incorporate both oral and written
communication strategies (Arthur et.al, 2015). A regular revision of the ways on how educators encourage the
parents to actively participate in the learning journey of their children is also necessary. As an educator, I also
put great importance in breaking the barriers and having an open and active participation between myself and
the parents. This will result to a better and stronger bond that will eventually lead to enriching the wellbeing
of the children.
References:
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