Parents Early Years And Learning

Getting parents involved in the learning of their young children in eraly years settings is critical: children learn from everything they experience, wherever they are and whoever they are with. The greater the continuity between home and setting, and the richer the learning environment in both, the more children will benefit. This full-colour book provides accessible guidance for practitioners, explaining why parents need to be involved, what can prevent parental involvement, how to build respectful relationships, and how to ensure that involvement is a two-way process. It features practice examples for working with children and their families and provides ideas for those embarking upon new projects.

This book explores the ways in which Early Years practitioners work with parents and families to enhance children’s development, learning and well-being. It explores the need for close partnership working between staff and families, offers examples of good practice and encourages reflection and discussion of the issues involved. The book pays particular attention to the standards required to gain Early Years Professional Status but is of interest to anybody working in an Early Years setting or studying on Early Childhood courses.

Both home and school play a crucial role in the long-term development of a young child, yet many children experience a disjunction between their two worlds. This book explores strategies for developing effective partnerships between teachers and parents for a more integrated approach.

′It is inspiring to see a text which attempts to shift our worldview. This shift could give us the chance to achieve more open, inclusive, democratic early childhood practice that has the capacity to answer the deeper questions and which sees both parents and children as powerful and positive agents in their own futures′ - Chris Pascal and Tony Bertram, Directors of the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) The role of parents in the early years is fundamental. In order to achieve the best outcomes for children, mutually beneficial relationships between parents and practitioners need to underpin children’s care and learning. There are many services for children and many different settings in which care and education can take place. Whether you work in children’s centres, outreach and dual-focused services, preschools, kindergartens or schools this book will help you develop the skills and strategies to work alongside parents whatever your role. Focussing on: The importance of involving parents The nature of learning How to engage and build relationships with parents How to reflect on and develop shared learning environment in settings Transitions and attachment This book has examples taken from real settings and practical advice to help you put the ideas into practice. Reading and using it will help ensure the wellbeing and development of all children in your care. Dianne Jackson is an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Western Sydney and the CEO of Connect Child and Family Services Martin Needham is Academic Division Leader: Education, Professional and Community Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University

Parents have a crucial role in supporting children’s learning, development and well-being. The act of forming effective partnerships with families and carers is a key feature of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Achieving this takes time, reflective practice, skill and a solid understanding of the barriers that can impede forming effective working relationships with parents. This guide offers an informed and comprehensive framework for working with parents, drawing on the latest evidence and containing practical advice from practitioners and parents, to support sound partnership practice. Full of examples and activities for training and resources to support practice across a wide range of settings, it focuses on key areas such as: Working with parents of different aged children The development of strategies to support the relationship The barriers to partnership working, including cultural differences and working with hard to reach families Setting up home and setting visits Creating parent-friendly environments Including case studies and questions for reflective practice, this book will be ideal for Early Years students on Foundation Degrees, Childhood Studies Courses and those training to become Early Years teachers as well as Early Years practitioners and managers responsible for staff training.

It is a widely acknowledged fact that if parents are involved in their child's early learning there is a positive impact on development and later school achievement. This title looks at how to build a positive relationship with the parents of children in your care, whether you work in a group or home setting. This book offers practical advice on: how to set up and maintain a respectful relationship with parents, what the EYFS expects of practitioners, how to encourage parental involvement, how to include fathers as well as mothers and working with hard-to-reach parents.

This book reports initiatives to listen to parents and families, to ascertain what families believe and do as they seek to engage collaboratively with their children's educators, and what educators and educational systems might do to facilitate and/or establish barriers to such engagement. Parental engagement in children's learning and development has many positive benefits. However, in the current environments of accountability and performativity which are pervading early childhood education in many countries, the opportunities for parents and other family members to be part of the development of respectful, collaborative relationships with their children's early childhood educators are becoming more and more restricted. Many educators feel forced to choose between curriculum outcomes and parental engagement, as both involve their time. There is a danger that the voices of parents and families in their children's early learning and development will not always be heard, seen, or fully understood. This volume addresses this important issue. Researchers, educators, and families will all benefit from this book, to the ultimate benefit of the young children who are the future. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.