1. Role of the Family and Community
28 November 2013

2. Historical Background
Plowden Report (1967)
Education Acts 1980, 1988 (ERA), 1992, 1994
The Children Act (1989)
Rumbold Report (1990)
Start Right report (1994)
Early Learning Goals and the OFSTED
Baseline assessment
Curruculum Guidance to the Foundation Stage (2000)
Every Child Matters (2004)
Early Years Foundation Stage (2007)
Robert Owen, McMillans and Susan Isaacs.
Te Whariki, Reggio Emili

3. Limiting factors Relationship between parents and practitioners
Availability of parents
Structure of school day
Nature of learning
Parents experience of education
Practitioners skills

4. Barriers to partnership
Circumstances
Lack of confidence
Jargon
Formality
Negative attitudes
Power
Structural
Definition
Discrimination

5. Barriers to partnership
What might some of the barriers be?

6. What do you think?
Most teachers don’t see the point of working with parents
Children achieve better when there is a close partnership between home and school.
Working with parents is more trouble than it’s worth!
Some parents are just not interested in how their children are doing in school.

7. Benefits
Better informed “… they must rely on what their children do and say to build up a picture of what is happening to them in school” Hughes et al 1994
Increased support
Higher teacher expectations
Enhanced pupil performance.

8. Strategies Structure Planning Listening Recognising Informing
Identifying and meeting needs
Valuing
Informing
Recognising
Flexibility
Identifying resources

9. Parenting Young Children
• Family security is maintained by
redefining patterns, roles, and boundaries.
Adults must deal with assisting young children in meeting their developmental needs while also meeting their own.
•Parents understand children’s needs and preferences, model appropriate behaviour, and set age-appropriate limits and consequences.

10. Providing Structure and Nurturance
Behaviours Promoting
Structure/Nurturance
Affirming developmental
tasks
Providing safety, protection,
love
Encouraging exploration
Encouraging expressiveness
Giving clear directions
Enforcing simple rules
Those That Do Not
Teasing
Inconsistent behavior
Failure to provide
options/choices
Being sarcastic; ridiculing
Using double-bind
messages
Discounting

11. Using Rules Nonnegotiable Negotiable Consequences Time out
What about threats?
What about spanking?

12. Facilitating A Sense of Initiative
Definition
Avoiding a heavy sense of guilt
The importance of siblings and the entire family system

13. Three-way relationships
Child
All parts of the triangle contribute equally to its strength. If any one of the three is feeling anxious, stressed or under threat, it has a negative effect on the other two. The relationship between child and practitioner needs to be a warm, emotional one. Parents can be reassured that they have the enduring, long-term attachment with the child. Parents and practitioners who establish a friendly, working relationship are able to share what they know about the child regularly. (Edwards 2002; Lindon 2001; Gerhardt 2004)
Parent
Practitioner

14. Beginning Socialization
Definition
Promoting Prosocial Behaviors
Empathy
Deflecting aggression
Delaying gratification of immediate needs
Encouraging positive sex-role development
Gender identity
The role of toys and play
Teaching about Sexuality
Teaching about Dying and Death

15. Facilitating Cognitive Development
Providing a wide variety of experiences
• Helping young children acquire accurate
information
Serving as an interpreter of the world and of family values

16. Factors Influencing Children
1: Family Support
2: Positive Family Communication
3: Other Adult Relationships
4: Caring Neighborhood
5: Caring School Climate
6: Parent Involvement in Schooling

17. 1: Family Support
Children need love, comfort, encouragement, and support from their families.

18. 2: Positive Family Communication
Parents effectively communicate with children in positive ways and respect and respond to their needs.

19. 3: Other Adult Relationships
All children need to receive love and comfort from at least one trusted adult other than a parent.

20. Children have neighbours who care for and about them.
4: Caring Community
Children have neighbours who care for and about them.

21. 5: Caring School Climate
The school community understands each child and family—their structure, needs, and cultural background.

22. 6: Parent Involvement in Schooling
Parents talk about their children’s needs with caregivers and teachers, and help their children succeed outside the home. They understand the importance of being involved in their child’s education.