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The COVID-19 pandemic, which affects all areas of life, has also affected children in need of education and care. It is of great importance to develop policies that take into account the best interests of children in this process. In this review article, the policies developed for early childhood education and care during the pandemic period in five countries (Australia, Croatia, Hungary, Spain, and Turkey), how they are implemented, the problems that arose, and the solutions produced are discussed. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that we need to focus on eliminating the educational inequalities, set policies for the welfare of children on foundations that are more realistic, rebuild teacher training, and improve the welfare of families. Priorizating the best interests of the child in the policies to be developed and building the social ecology on justice will ease overcoming the crises that will be faced.

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Cooperation between preschool education institutions (kindergartens) and families contributes to the welfare of children, and primarily depends on the attitudes and competences of teachers. The research was conducted in two preschool institutions from different regions of the Republic of Croatia, on two samples similar in structure. The revised version of the Parent Survey of Family and Community instrument (Sheldon & Epstein, 2007) was used. The reliability of the used scale (.76< λ <.88) corresponds to the original. Informing parents of kindergarten children has been recognised as the most common cause of collaboration with educators (M=3.44; SD=0.59), while counselling on parenting has been recognized as the least common one (M=2.85; SD=0.61). Factor saturation of certain scales indicates deeper parental involvement, rather than particles that point to normal activity. There was a statistically significant correlation between participants’ professional work experience and the results of applied scales (.40<r<.55; p<.01), except for the assessment of parents’ contribution to the curriculum structure (r=-.28; p<.05). Significant differences in subsamples were determined on the t-test for the variable Causes of cooperation (t=2.72; p<.01). Research results indicate that existing formal education of teachers is insufficient in relation to their development of professional competences needed for collaboration with parents, which is in accordance with the results of recent global research.Key words: collaboration causes; forms of teacher-parent collaboration.---Suradnja predškolskih odgojno-obrazovnih ustanova (dječjih vrtića) i obitelji doprinosi dobrobiti djece, a primarno ovisi o stavovima i kompetencijama odgajatelja. Istraženo je mišljenje odgajatelja o suradnji s roditeljima u dvije predškolske ustanove iz različitih regija Republike Hrvatske, na dva strukturno slična poduzorka. Koristila se revidirana verzija instrumenta Parent Survey of Family and Community (Sheldon i Epstain, 2007). Pouzdanost primijenjenih skala (.76<λ< .88) korespondira s izvornikom. Informiranje roditelja o djeci u dječjem vrtiću prepoznato je kao najčešći povod za suradnju s odgajateljima (M= 3.44; SD= .59), a najmanje je zastupljeno (M=2.85; SD= .61) savjetovanje o odgoju djece. Faktorska zasićenost pojedinih skala upućuje na značajniju determiniranost indikatorima dublje uključenosti roditelja nego česticama koje upućuju na uobičajene aktivnosti. Utvrđena je statistički značajna korelacija profesionalnog radnog staža sudionica i rezultata na primijenjenim skalama (.40<r< .55; p< .01) osim za procjenu doprinosa roditelja konstrukciji kurikula (r=- .28; p < .05). Statistički značajne razlike t-testa za poduzorke utvrđene su za  varijablu Povod za suradnju (t= 2.72; p< .01). Nalazi istraživanja upućuju na to da je postojeće formalno obrazovanje odgajatelja nedostatno za razvoj profesionalnih kompetencija odgajatelja za suradnju s roditeljima, na što upućuju i nalazi recentnih svjetskih istraživanja.Ključne riječi: oblici suradnje odgajatelja i roditelja; povodi za suradnju.