Research Partnerships In Early Childhood Education

Duncan and Conner demonstrate how collaborative research on early childhood education results in gains for educators, researchers, and children alike. Drawing on examples of successful partnerships from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, they set out the successes, struggles, insights, and opportunities that come from such partnerships.

Realising Innovative Partnerships in Educational Research examines the underlying principles and actions that support the development of and engagement in partnerships in educational research. With social justice at its core, the work in this book represents various architectures of innovation, whereby new ways of thinking about partnership research are proposed and practices of teaching and learning are reconciled (or not) with existing education contexts and practices. With contributions from educational researchers and practitioners from New Zealand, and international commentaries provided by established scholars in the field, the book draws together key experiences and insights from students, teachers, community members and researchers in tertiary, community, school, and early childhood settings. The research in this book seeks to address a gap in our understanding, extending knowledge beyond simply the benefits of partnership work, to examine how successful partnerships can be initiated, enacted, and sustained over time. This book invites reflection on the following provocations: Why engage in partnerships for educational research? How has this happened in the past and what needs to happen for the future? What is unique about the New Zealand context and what might researchers in other countries learn from our collaborative and culturally responsive research methodologies? What could be some of the underlying principles that support the development of and engagement in collaborative research? How do we evaluate the effectiveness of research partnerships in education to shift the focus to the future?

This volume is directed toward research to practice issues related to partnering with families of children birth through age 5. This monograph and the next monograph focuses on family and school involvement issues in two age categories. This sixth volume analyzes family involvement practices across a variety of settings and programs at the early childhood level. The seventh monograph in this series addresses research and practices related to family–school issues in middle and secondary schools. The chapters address, to varying degrees, five themes based on the principles of familycentered partnerships: 1. Recognizing and respecting one anther’s knowledge and expertise; 2. Sharing information through two-way communication; 3. Sharing power and decision making; 4. Acknowledging and respecting diversity; and 5. Creating networks of support The monograph supports the accomplishment of these goals as a whole by providing important insights about exemplary programs and promising practices, informed by current research. Also it highlights policies and theoretical perspectives relevant to these aims. Individual chapters offer a variety of practical strategies and recommendations that families, early childhood practitioners, policymakers, and researchers can use to enhance their knowledge and strengthen their skills for partnering effectively.

This book presents research-based family-school intervention programs that target the specific developmental period of preschool through the early elementary years, focusing on promoting positive child transitions into school. It explores critical intervention issues, including the need to understand mechanisms of efficacy, issues with real-world implementation, and methods for scaling family-school interventions. The volume references developmental research to highlight the importance of family-school partnerships at this critical transition period. Several chapters briefly describe research on proven intervention models that are effective in promoting family-school partnerships as children enter kindergarten and foster positive school outcomes. Each chapter concludes with a review of the most critical next steps in family-school intervention research within the context of the early school years. At the end of the book, several commentary chapters address overall implications for future research and methods for advancing the field, including perspectives on research-informed family-school practices and policies. Not only does the volume highlight interventions that work effectively to engage families with schools, it focuses on identifying critical components and processes that may underlie effective intervention outcomes and offers agendas for future research and intervention diffusion efforts. Key topics of coverage include: Presenting the logic model of the intervention program. Exploring questions concerning critical elements of family-school partnerships that may account for children’s positive outcomes. Discussing the challenges and strategies for scalability and broad diffusion. Family-School Partnerships During the Early School Years is a valuable resource for researchers, professionals and graduate students in child and school psychology, educational policy and politics, family studies, developmental psychology, sociology of education, sociology, and anthropology.

Partnerships was developed as a resource for students, faculty, and teachers to encourage the development of positive and respectful relationships with families. Over the past few years, a significant shift has taken place in the relationship between families and teachers in both child-care and school environments. Many family members have demanded a more active role in their children?s education and have challenged the notion of "teacher as expert". Research supports the benefits to children, teachers, and families when a strong alliance between all parties is formed, and it is from this perspective that this text has been written.

"This comprehensive publication rightly establishes early childhood as a critical phase in the education of young people and makes the case for developing our insights regarding early childhood education (ECE) practices through the eyes of practitioner inquiry in the context of collaborative partnerships. It achieves its goal through a series of insightful case studies that not only illuminate the text as stories from the field, but also contribute to our understanding regarding ECE learning and pedagogy."- Susan Groundwater-Smith, Honorary Professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. Bringing together theory and practice, this book draws on the projects and experiences of senior and new researchers implementing various forms of practitioner research. Chapter discussions are informed by international literature to provide insightful reflections on research processes and the contribution of practitioner research in changing practice. The diversity of perspectives across the chapters provides an excellent resource for those undertaking research within early childhood contexts. Features include: the contribution of practitioner research to curriculum and social change. professional development and strengthening learning communities how practitioners can be supported in documenting and articulating their work the relationships between the research community and field of practice through practitioner research projects contemporary problems and issues that frame the practices of early childhood educators case studies from Australia, South Africa, Sweden and Chile A diverse range of case studies that use a range of internationally recognised research methods are presented. The book offers guidance, support and inspiration to practitioners on how to research their implementation of meaningful and sustainable changes in early childhood contexts.

Duncan and Conner demonstrate how collaborative research on early childhood education results in gains for educators, researchers, and children alike. Drawing on examples of successful partnerships from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, they set out the successes, struggles, insights, and opportunities that come from such partnerships.

Partnership with Parents in Early Childhood Settings examines how practitioners can work effectively with parents and families, acknowledging the complex nature of these relationships. Drawing on policy, research and practice from kindergartens and early years settings in five European countries, it provides insight into how political, social and cultural contexts affect the relationships between educators and families and the impact this has on children’s early experiences. The book is based upon learning from an Erasmus mobility project between educators from five countries in OMEP (the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education). It presents examples from practice and research from the different countries and highlights some positive and practical ways in which professionals can work with parents, as well as potential barriers to parental partnership and how these might be overcome. Each section focuses on a different country and allows for a detailed exploration into how relationships are developed and sustained for the benefit of young children and their families in different places. Throughout, the reader is encouraged to reflect on their current understanding of parental partnership and how they can plan for positive parental partnership working in the future. This thought-provoking text will be an indispensable resource for students of early childhood and teachers and practitioners, as well as academics and those with an interest in early years social and educational policy.