Parental Involvement: The Portuguese Task In TODDLER Project

Maria João Cardona (coord.) Helena Luís; Isabel Piscalho; Marta Uva; Teresa-Cláudia Tavares

isabel.piscalho@ese.ipsantarem.pthelena.luis@ese.ipsantarem.pt

Students: Elódia Oliveira, Marta Calheiros; Soraia Cardoso, Susana Godinho.

Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Santarém

Porto, agosto de 2012

Istambul, 10-13 September 2013

• TODDLER project and the Portuguese work package

• Methodology

• Some results

• Final considerations

Summary

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Show the educational potential of high quality education & care in center-based settings for toddlers, in particular for those from low education/low income/migrant families.

How?

- Compare systems and approaches in 8 countries, identify areas of improvement for each country

- Investigate and describe ”best practice” within 3 main areas of efficient ECEC for toddlers at risk. Produce a collection of good practice justified by a theoretical rationale for these approaches.

- Show how ECEC can: improve early learning of languages, enhance toddlers’ well-being and improve parental involvement.

Aims:

• Identify good practices of parental involvement and how to support and engage families in formal and informal educational contexts.

• Create a tool – a “Teachers Guidelines Book” - to support students and professional kindergarden teachers in the development of good educational practices and to foster parental involvement in the ECECs.

WP5 – Parental Involvement:Portuguese task

Stages

Conception of a guideline book for teachers trainning

concerned on parental involvement

(Portuguese and English version)

- Seminar (ESES): Students, Kindergarten teachers,

children families , technicians and specialists representing the social, health and educational services.

- Interviews:a) Needs and perspectives of the

families about the options available for the caring of toddler’s.

b) Major similarities and differences between countries.

- «Parental involvement» definition and an example of a good practice working with families

- 2 Workshops: families and technicians

DVD“Open kindergarten”

focused on the parental involvement (case study

in Norway)

Design

• State of art“Parental

involvement” • Interviews• Questionnaires

• 2 WorkshopReflexive

methodology• Teacher’s

Guidelines book

All partner countries

Parents

Health, social, education technicians

and parents

• Vídeo“Open kindergarten”

University of Stavanger

• Local seminar”

Local SeminarSeminário inicial

Interviews - parents

PARTICIPATION / PARENTAL

ENGAGEMENT

Through: - Health Centers - Educational Instituitons (Creches) - Social Services

Results:Identify and recognise

typical situations

22 interviews – Health centers:

- 19 mothers9 family2 nurseries (amas)8 crèche

- 3 parents2 family1 nursery (ama)

What portuguese families say

National Immunization Program(children with 6, 15 e 18 meses)

What portuguese families say

• Overall, seems to prevail a good relationship and a good image, however, the participation of the parents, seem to be punctual, though they relate their willingness to greater collaboration.

• They consider that the crèche offers:

- security and trust;- interaction with others;- support for the working schedules of the parents;- specific training to take care for the global needs of the children;- support for the work done by parents with the child;- a good affective relationship.

CRÈCHE

O que dizem as famílias portuguesas

• Reasons for the selection of nurse/”ama”/crèche/home:- protection and care of the overall needs of the child;- economic factors / unemployment;- Lack of options and /or vacancies in institutions;- maternity leave;- advice of others;- 1 of the respondents reported not agree with the existence of or nurses/“amas” or crèches.

• All the parents expressed the need for more daycare centers, with more flexibility (in the schedules) and more economic prices.

• Unequal opportunities because of economic reasons.

• They refer a good relationship: dialogue, no conflict, friendship with all the staff and sympathy.

CRÈCHE (cont.)

What european families say• The access to daycare isn’t a reality for all children.

• Families have good representations, they feel informed and involved in the life of the nursery.

• They value the training professional training and the pedagogical quality

• They value the learning that kids do with each other.

• They reported that the daycare centers should primarily attend to the needs of children.

• The problem of the “schedules” is mainly placed in Portugal, where the support conditions for motherhood and fatherhood are different.

Parental involvement (partners contributions)

Kingston UniversityUnited Kingdom

“Early years practitioners have a key role to play in working with parents to support their young children.”

(GB. DCSF, 2008, p. 6)

Artevelde Hogeschool Belgium

“The different dimensions of parental engagement are the different ways/forms in which this engagement can exist:

- Co-experiencing: being aware of the daily school life through brochures, website ,...

- Co-acting: help with more practical matters in class or school

- Co-thinking: advising in the school policies

- Co-deciding: being part of the schoolboard.”

(Poppe, K. et al., 2011-2012)

HELMO UNIVERSITYBelgium

“ (…) Showing respect to a child implies showing respect to his parents.”

(Doeleman, 2012)

Timisoara UniversityRomania

“The Ministry of Education, Research and Youth has developed a curriculum for pre-scholar children’s early education (0-3 years), that targets a new perspective in education and refers to a parental involvement in an active partnership between them and kindergartens. (…) There are major discrepancies between state owned kindergartens and private ones regarding this subject.”

Schwabisch Gmund UniversityGermany

“(…) crèches have the duty to work together with the parents to assure a well going development. They have to advise them in their educational questions and inform them about their rights. They document the development of the children and speak with the parents about their observations (…). In most of these writings the parental engagement is seen as an important field of the pedagogical work.”

“All form of parental educational activities with their children – at home, in the community or at school”.

Teresa Sarmento (1992)

ESE de SantarémPortugal

Workshops

• Two workshops were conducted based on the reflexive dynamics proposed by the Danish team.

• Participants were: fathers, mothers, grandparents, educators, nurses and special education technicians (early intervention) - all from the local community.

• Major purpose was to triangulate needs, concerns, constraints, potentialities and reflect on the concept of parental involvement. The aim was to reach a broader definition grounded in praxis.

Methodologykey stages

• 1st: participants are divided into groups of 4-5 elements.

• 2nd: a definition of parental involvement is displayed and each group should identify/select an experienced practical situation - an example that can illuminate and enrich the concept.

• 3rd: each group share the “situations” to the large group.

• 4th: the trainers summarize the cases/situations and identify common characteristics, trying to define the concept in relation to concrete practices.

• 5th: the groups meet again and discuss the situations of other groups in relation to their own – discuss the other cases, putting the situation in perspective of the group itself, contesting it or confirming it. The goal is to identify the different perspectives surrounding the practice.

• 6th: now the trainers introduce new perspectives on the chosen theme, combining theoretical knowledge with the ideas and perspectives shared. These perspectives are used as tools to question the concept in debate.

• 7th: The last part of the session is a final set of reflections to reach a set of assumptions and considerations around the concept analyzed.

Two workshops…some conclusions about parental involvement

• It is extremely important cooperation and coordinated work between institutions and other educational partners.

• The major educational responsibility lies with the parents

• The major purpose of parental involvement are the children.

• The engagement involves the promotion of some parents training.

• Parents should be active partners and it is important: transparency; complicity; respect and reciprocity.

• It is important empathy and trust.

The two workshops…some conclusions about parental involvement

• Communication has to be bilateral.

• We must work on the basis of common goals.

• We must create the conditions for the involvement.

Some examples of good practices from european partners

• United Kingdom

- First Steps - Programme to support Parents at Norbiton Children’s Centre: the Early Years practitioners support parents in interacting with their children and understanding what they are observing. Parents are encouraged to look for the WOW! moments that their children have and what their children have achieved through play and learning.

• Belgium

- Strong investment in parental engagement through intense daily contact, listening to needs and ideas oft he parents, inviting the parents tob e with their child in day-care, regular meeting with the EYP of their children, parents activities (f.e. having breakfast together, going tot he beach...)

- Offering a simple and concrete document is the first step. Parents can then prepare questions and a dialogue can be created. This brochure should be translated into the family language as a sign of welcoming and recognition

• Romania

- The project aimed at a commitment of parents to dedicate 5 days to show their unconditional love through various activities full of love-showing tasks, at the kindergarten and at home: expressing love towards their children through careness, services, time, gifts and encouraging words.

• Germany

- A technique called ‘Ressourcensonne’ (sun of resources) which collects all topics related to what the toddler is already able to do. Parents and EYPs complete it together.

• Norway

- Open Kindergarten: The open kindergarten offers children and their caretakers the opportunity to interact with one another by receiving and integrating people who are usually at home with the children.

Final Considerations"The most common form of contact between parents and educators is to provide information to parents, for example in the form of parent meetings or giving them guidance and advice. Working with parents in other ways and create a partnership approach is a systematic feature of providing children in just a few countries. "(Eurydice, 2009, p. 103)

Despite government recommendations, unfortunately, this reality can’t be found in all countries involved in this project. Alongside these contributions, we are currently analyzing the data collected by other teams, including Belgium and Germany, with descriptions of how families participate in everyday contexts that take care of their children.

Final conference in Ghent 7.-8. October 2013

The TODDLER project will end with a big final conference in Ghent, Belgium from 7.-8. October 2013. Early years practitioners, policy makers, ECE providers and others are encouraged to join us for a stakeholders' conference and workshops on quality enhancement in early years provision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw0XewtuBpk

Vídeo“Open kindergarten”

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

www.toddlerineurope.eu

The teacher guideline book(1st draft)

1. Introduction

Contextualization of the document

The study of parental involvement – the task of the School of Education of Santarém (ESES). Methodological lines

How to read this document

2. Theoretical assumptions

3. Issues that facilitate and/or block parental involvement in the education of young children

4. Parental involvement definitions

5. Listening to the parents and the care helpers

6. Practical approaches: some examples.

7. How to evaluate parental involvement.

8. Final considerations: a proposal to work in the teachers training.

9. Some bibliographical references.

10. Other references for practical work.