Parent partnership and ‘quality’ early years services: practitioners' perspectives

Cottle, Michelle; Alexander, Elise

doi:10.1080/1350293x.2013.788314

Cited by 43 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…For example, if the parents are not satisfied with the service, they can choose other services or alternatives for their childcare. The parents are also often referred to as the children's first educator indicating the educational role of the parents (Cottle & Alexander, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Involved, Engaged or Partnership Parents in Early Childhood Education and Care

Råde¹

2020

ujer

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The parental relationship in ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) service forms a key factor for its quality. This relationship is also complex and problematic and can be understood in different ways. There is a lack of research about the parental relationship in ECEC compared with schools. However, some researches have revealed the importance of a functional parental relationship in ECEC but also that the relationship can challenge the professional task of the teachers. One way to understand the parental relationship is study it out of two different frameworks, a vertical or horizontal framework. The vertical framework regards the teachers as experts and with asymmetrical, involved or engagement parental relationship. The horizontal framework regards both teachers and parents as experts and with a symmetrical partnership parental relationship. This review of research has scrutinised how the parental relationship in ECEC is described based on a division into levels as parental involvement, engagement or partnership relation. All three levels were identified in the 22 articles studied, but with a slight domination of the parental partnership. Four advantages of the parental relationship have been identified, quality-indicator, empowerment of parents and teachers, impact on future student academic achievement and flexible relationship. Three problems have been identified, different roles of parents and teachers, discrimination and complex relationship. One conclusion is that the parental relationship is of great importance to the ECEC service, but that it is more realistic to consider this as a balance between vertically and horizontally-framed parental relationships in ECEC services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Involved, Engaged or Partnership Parents in Early Childhood Education and Care

Råde¹

2020

ujer

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“…The first extract comes from a focus group interview with mothers (FG1M) and is part of a discussion around what happens (or may happen) in the setting when you are not there: (Chu, 2017). It could be argued that although parent practitioner partnerships are an essential element in early years settings, the way this is understood and enacted by the various partners is very different (see also Cottle and Alexander, 2014).Whilst practitioners may be influenced by dominant policy and psychology discourses as well as their personal and professional histories and their perceptions of the purposes and priorities of their setting, parents may view that what happens outside of the setting is irrelevant in this context. This could lead to tensions and dilemmas around constructions of the role of practitioners and parents in child development, echoing the tensions within government policies, outlined above.…”

Section: Child At the Centrementioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualising Relationships Between Mothers and Practitioners: Social Structures, Causal Factors, and Generative Mechanisms

Sims‐Schouten

Barton

2019

Sociological Research Online

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This study seeks to build an explanation of the sociological, psychological, and political processes and practices involved in relationships between mothers and practitioners, as generative and causal powers that underlie and shape this. Critical realist’s primacy of ontology forms the starting point, with grounded theory as the epistemological force providing critical realism’s method, contextualising research, and embedding this more firmly into practice. As such, this article offers critical realist grounded theory (CRGT) as a tool for contextualising parent–practitioner relationships, drawing on retroductive argumentation, which involves moving from the level of observation and lived experiences to making (non-linear) inferences about underlying structures/mechanisms that may account for the phenomena. Thirty-four participants participated in six in-depth focus group discussions; three were with early years practitioners and three with mothers of children aged between 2 years and 4 years. Focused coding led to themes reflecting the lived experiences of mothers and practitioners, namely being valued, relationships, what happens at home, child at the centre, and when I am not there. In line with CRGT, multiple causal mechanisms (including the interpretations of each situation made by individuals) were identified that were active in the situated contexts. To improve relationships between mothers and practitioners, attention needs to be paid to the psychological, social, and political forces at play, as generative, causal, and contextual powers, that have an impact on the status and relationships of the players within this triad (mothers, practitioners, and child).

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“…Nevertheless, it cannot be taken for granted that this influence has gone beyond this reflexive dimension and has also changed these educators' implicit orientations, pedagogical habitus, and practices. An English study of 18 early education settings provides support for these doubts (Cottle & Alexander, 2014). Consequently, research in this field must not only focus on what theoretical concepts professionals explicitly express, but also examine how they understand and enact these concepts.…”

Section: Study 1: Early Childhood Education -A Reconstructive Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Approaching trust and control in parental relationships with educational institutions

Schweizer¹,

Niedlich²,

Adamczyk³

et al. 2017

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Trust is a crucial factor in parent-teacher relationships. However, research on this subject to date has largely concentrated on a narrow range of theoretical perspectives and empirical methods. Most studies collect, analyze, and aggregate quantitative data on trust from a psychological or sociological perspective. The present paper starts by reflecting on previous research in brief and discussing its limitations with regard to a selected case: parents' relationships with educational institutions. On this basis, the paper aims to contribute to the scientific exploration of trust as a holistic phenomenon that encompasses explicit as well as implicit dimensions. In this context, we argue for a broader range of theoretical and empirical methods in research on the phenomenon of trust and its apparently tight entanglement with control in education settings. To this end, we focus on the one hand on the five distinctive facets of trust introduced by Tschannen- Moran and Hoy (2001): benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty, and openness. On the other hand, we refer to Möllering's understanding of trust and control as a duality (2005) where trust and control can go hand-in-hand instead of being understood as inherently conflicting phenomena. Because of this assumed duality, efforts to explain the relationship between trust and control need to be able to account for the complex interplay between the two on different levels of interactions between parents and schools. To demonstrate this point, this paper presents three studies using different methodological approaches: study 1 analyzes relationships between parents and educators in childcare centers, focusing on the collective relevance accorded to trust by educators. Applying the qualitative, reconstructive documentary method to the analysis of group discussions among educators and video-recorded parent-educator meetings, the study places particular emphasis on reconstructing the implicit knowledge underlying educators' implicit orientations toward parents. Its result show that, in contrast to the common rhetoric of partnership between childcare centers and parents, educators perceive and enact their relationships with parents in very different ways. Study 2 aims to shed light on how trust is shaped differently in various settings of interactions between parents and schools. To this end, a survey is being conducted using a vignette design which provides descriptions of eight forms of parent-school interactions followed by a number of questions corresponding to each of the five facets of trust. The study, which is still in its pilot phase, will thus provide insight about which facets of trust are triggered by the different forms of interaction and, consequently, how the relationship between trust and control is affected by these interactions. Similarly to study 1, study 3 uses a qualitative approach to the analysis of trust. In contrast to study 1, however, the focus of the episodic interviews lies in exploring different elements that shape parental perceptions of te...

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Parent partnership and ‘quality’ early years services: practitioners' perspectives

Cited by 43 publications

References 36 publications

The Involved, Engaged or Partnership Parents in Early Childhood Education and Care

The Involved, Engaged or Partnership Parents in Early Childhood Education and Care

Contextualising Relationships Between Mothers and Practitioners: Social Structures, Causal Factors, and Generative Mechanisms

Approaching trust and control in parental relationships with educational institutions

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