Partnership with Parents in Early Childhood Settings

Insights from Five European Countries

Liz Hryniewicz, Paulette Luff, Liz Hryniewicz, Paulette Luff

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781138347113
• eBook ISBN: 9780429792984
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

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.

PART ONE
England

Parents as partners in a marketised economy

1
POLICY

A divided context? Early childhood education and care in England

Liz Hryniewicz and Kerry Holman

Introduction

The UK consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This research project was conducted in England and the information given in this chapter relates only to England, which has a highly centralised and inspected early years education and care framework (Moss and Urban, 2018; Ofsted, 2019). However, the findings will be of interest to those working in other UK countries.

Since 1997, successive governments have focused on the importance of early years care and education for economic reasons, seeing investment in young children and their families as a cost-effective way to provide long-term benefit to society. This is also part of a worldwide agenda of social justice (OECD, 2006) which seeks to address poverty and disadvantage in the youngest children in society. More recently, governments have emphasised the concept of social mobility, which recognises that parents and carers want economic and social mobility for their children (Cooper et al., 2018; Paull and La Valle, 2018). For all these reasons, strong partnerships with parents and families have traditionally played a key role in policy and practice in England and there is detailed practice guidance available for the different constructs of parental partnership in early years settings (Whalley, 2001; Ward, 2013; Jackson and Needham, 2014) and in schools (EEF, 2018). Specific guidance is also available for working with parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Digman and Soan, 2008; DfE, 2014 c). The Department for Education has recently launched the Hungry Little Minds initiative for parents which emphasises the importance of playing and learning with young children from birth to age five and provides detailed guidance on activities to encourage language, communication and cognitive skills (DfE, 2019 a).

Many local authorities and linked organisations have developed specific guidance on how family involvement can be encouraged and valued in both early years settings and schools: in Kent, The Education People provides a very detailed multi-award-winning toolkit, Enhancing Family Involvement in Children’s Learning, which sets out to encourage, support and facilitate the involvement of whole families in their children’s learning (KCC, 2017). This toolkit includes comprehensive audit and reflection tools for providers, children’s centres and schools to identify ethos, strengths and practice in enhancing family involvement with detailed strategies which can be used. This demonstrably highly successful evaluated model engages families in understanding and gaining confidence in their child/ren’s dispositions to learn, including the concept of schemas (Athey, 2007), the power of repeated patterns of behaviour that all babies and young children use to understand and learn and engages families in an understanding of why children are absorbed in such behaviours. Other ‘tools’ included explore the importance of visiting family homes to contextualise a child within their family environment, a Strategies Booklet and a ten-week non-deficit model of parenting course, Learning Links, which has proved to raise family harmony through understanding their children’s learning and development. The approach also features a Smarter Play App which allows parents to record and explore learning moments with their children.

Early years education and care (ECEC)

Children normally start compulsory schooling in England the September following their fourth birthday, although parents can request that children delay starting school until they are five. This means that many children with birthdays during the summer months are just four years old when they start compulsory schooling in Year Reception (Year R), which is very early in comparison to other countries. Before this age, children are either cared for at home or attend nurseries, daycare centres, playgroups or childminders, depending on availability and parental choice. In the years before children start school, they may attend a specialist pre-school playgroup or a nursery class which aims to prepare and make them socially, emotionally and cognitively ‘ready for school’ (Ofsted, 2014; Public Health England, 2019). All places offering pre-school care and education are referred to as early years settings and the use of this term differentiates them from compulsory education classes in school. In this way, early years care and education is provided for children from birth to age seven in both early years settings and in the first two years of primary school. Early childhood education and care is a contested policy area, reflecting not only a traditional split between care and education but also successive government interventions to try to address this divide (Fitzgerald and Kay, 2016). As a result, provision and practice are complex.

Funding

For a variety of reasons, including successive and sometimes competing government initiatives, this arrangement and organisation of early years provision has grown organically over the years to produce a very complex context, particularly in the variation in the way early years provision is funded. Year R and Year 1 classes in school are state-funded and open to all, but much of the early years childcare provision is privately provided by profit-making organisations such as nursery chains, individual businesses such as childminders, or voluntary sector organisations such as pre-school playgroups which often run in local rented premises like church halls. Only a relatively small amount is maintained or state funded, and that is usually provided in state-run nursery classes or occasionally in Children’s Centres. Lloyd and Penn (2014) refer to this as the ‘mixed economy’ of childcare and question whether such a marketised approach can give equal access to all, particularly in times of austerity.

Although most early years provision for children from birth to age five is privately provided, two recent government initiatives related to affordable childcare offer funding for children to be able to spend time in early years provision. Two-year-olds who are in receipt of particular benefits or are in low-income families may be entitled to 15 hours of funded childcare and education each week (DfE, 2018 b). All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours funded childcare per week, paid for through a government-funded system. More recently, some of these children can receive 30 hours per week, depending on family circumstances. However, take-up of this offer is not universal and, because the level of government subsidy for these places is set at a relatively low rate, many nurseries find it difficult to survive financially. Families who pay for childcare frequently subsidise those who do not pay (Paull and La Valle, 2018).

Curriculum and assessment

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years old (DfE, 2014a, 2017). This is a framework rather than a curriculum and applies to all early years settings, including nurseries, childminders and also to the reception classes in school. From five years onwards, beginning in Year 1, a National Curriculum structured around different subject areas is statutory for all school age children in publicly funded schools. Significantly, the National Curriculum documents for this phase of education in schools do not mention working in partnership with parents and carers (DfE, 2013), although the Department for Education (DfE) has funded research into the effect of parental engagement on learning and inspection regimes include consultation with parents as part of the process. There are also inevitable tensions between these two curricula, particularly as children move from Reception into Year 1. The emphasis on play and active learning in Year R is often replaced by a much more formal and subject-based approach to learning in Year 1, although children may still be only five years old.

The EYFS (2017) has four key themes: The Unique Child, Enabling Environments, Positive Relationships and Learning and Development. These themes, represented in Figure 1.1, are underpinned by basic principles which include and emphasise the importance of relationships with parents and carers, seen in the following section. These principles are embedded within the work of the early years sector and ensure the holistic progress of a child’s development and learning.

FIGURE 1.1 The principles underpinning the EYFS framework

The pedagogical approach within this framework and children’s learning and development is based on three characteristics of effective learning:

playing and exploring • active learning • creating and thinking critically

This approach recognises that children develop in the context of relationships and the environment around them. The four key themes are intertwined with the pedagogical approach as described, as children develop within seven areas of learning detailed within the EYFS. Three prime areas of learning - consisting of Personal, Social and Emotional Development; Physical Development; and Communication and Language - are developed alongside four specific areas, including Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design. All children are assessed against these areas through a statutory assessment at the end of the EYFS in Year R which focuses on their achievement against 17 Early Learning Goals. In January 2020, the DfE launched a consultation regarding their intention to make the Early Learning Goals clearer and more specific and to focus on strengthening language and vocabulary development, which is intended to provide support for children who are disadvantaged. Literacy and Numeracy outcomes for all children should be strengthened in readiness for formal schooling.

The other significant statutory element of assessment within the EYFS is a combined health and education progress check (EHPC) which takes place between the age of two and three years (DfE, 2014 b). Practitioners work together with parents in order to understand a child’s developmental progress in the three prime areas of the EYFS and to put in place any support that may be required. There is more detailed guidance and information on the curriculum and assessment on the Early Education (2012) and Foundation Years websites and at the current time of writing (January 2020) the curriculum is once again under review.

In September 2021 a statutory baseline assessment will be introduced at the beginning of Year R, following a pilot undertaken in 2019 (Standards and Testing Agency, 2019). The introduction of formal measurement and testing of such young children has been controversial and during a consultation process which took place before the pilot was introduced, many early years organisations questioned the wisdom of introducing the testing of children at four or five years old. This assessment will be activity-based and will assess children’s abilities in communication, language and literacy and mathematics when they arrive in formal schooling. Schools will use this information to plan learning activities and track progress as children move through the primary years of school (Standards and Testing Agency, 2018). It remains to be seen whether the introduction of baseline assessment and the comparative data produced will change the way in which nurseries and pre-school settings deliver a play-based curriculum and whether it will encourage nurseries to introduce more formal literacy and mathematics teaching at an earlier age in response to governmental and parental pressure.

At the end of Year 1 in school, children take a phonics screening check to see how well they can use phonological skills in reading (DfE, 2019 b). The short screening test uses a mixture of real and nonsense words to check their ability to match symbols to sounds. The results of the test help to identify children who are struggling with the acquisition of literacy skills and also enables planning for individual support. Parents are encouraged to help children to develop confidence in sound/symbol relationships by sharing early reading activities and there are a number of commercial websites for parents which produce materials to both explain the importance of phonics and provide supporting materials to use with children.

Inclusion and children’s rights

Inclusive practice is an important cornerstone of current early years thinking in England underpinned by the worldwide movement to recognise the rights of all children (UNESCO, 1994). The EYFS has clear statement...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Notes on contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part One England: parents as partners in a marketised economy
• Part Two Understanding family – school relationships in Croatia
• Part Three Norway: autonomy and learning outdoors
• Part Four Greece: valuing the family; traditional and current approaches
• Part Five Poland: changing the balance of power: parents and professionals
• Conclusion
• Index