1 / 21

FROM COOPERATION TO PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS AND PRESCHOOL TEACHERS

FROM COOPERATION TO PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS AND PRESCHOOL TEACHERS. The 17th EECERA Annual conference Pirjo-Liisa Poikonen University of Jyväskylä, Finland (M. Kontoniemi, H. Rasku-Puttonen, M-K. Lerkkanen, A-M. Poikkeus). Background.

rheanna
Download Presentation

FROM COOPERATION TO PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS AND PRESCHOOL TEACHERS

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. FROM COOPERATION TO PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS AND PRESCHOOL TEACHERS The 17th EECERA Annual conference Pirjo-Liisa Poikonen University of Jyväskylä, Finland (M. Kontoniemi, H. Rasku-Puttonen, M-K. Lerkkanen, A-M. Poikkeus)

  2. Background • International research has consistantly found that good staff-parent relationships in early day care centers and schools benefit children, staff, and parents (e.g.Fantuzzo, McWayne, Perry & Childs 2004; Christenson 2004) • Finnish national guidelines (2000, 2003) emphasize parents involvement in early childhood education and partnership between parents and teachers

  3. The transition to school is a period in which social supports are particularly important: successful transition plays an important role in later school success (e.g. Dunlop & Fabian 2002; Dockett & Perry 2003; Johansson 2002) • Finnish national quidelines (2000) emphasize smooth transition from preschool to school and cooperation between teachers

  4. Partnership • consious commitment • combines the knowledge and experience • create a common strategy for supporting the child • cooperation between parents • staff have the primary responsibility for employing the partnership approach

  5. The aims of the pilot study • What kind of experiences parents have about cooperation between preschool teachers and other parents? • What kind of cooperation do preschool teachers and parents emphasize in the transition from preschool to school?

  6. Design and Methods • First Steps pilot study: 139 preschool children and their parents and teachers (mothers N=107, fathers N= 94, teachers N=16) • Participants were voluntarily selected from one municipality • Data were collected by questionnaires (structured/open questions) first time at October and second time at April • The analysis combines both quantitative and qualitative approaches

  7. Results 1/2Parents’ experiences about cooperation • The three-factor solution (using principal Axis factoring) defined following constructs: • Experience of partnership • Child centered cooperation • Parents’ competence (perceptions of cooperation skills and attitudes)

  8. Item content by factor(parents’ data) • Experience of partnership (Cronbach alfa: Mothers .63, Fathers .77) • ’I feel that I can influence the goals and objectives of my child’s classroom’ • ’I participate in decision-making of the whole preschool’ • ’I feel that my child’s teacher supports my parenthood’ • ’I feel that parents in my child’s classroom support me in childrearing’

  9. Child centered cooperation (Cronbach alfa: Mothers .81, Fathers .75) • ’I draw up the individual preschool education plan for my child in collaboration with my child’s teacher’ • ’I talk with my child’s teacher about my child’s accomplishments’ • ’I regularly participate in acitivities of my child’s classroom’

  10. Parents’ competence (Cronbach alfa: Mothers .62, Fathers .72) • ’I feel childrearing very stressful’ • ’I feel incompetent when I talk with my child’s teacher ’ • ’I hesitate to be in contact with my child’s teacher’ • ’I am not interested in cooperation with my child’s teacher’

  11. Differences in perceptions and experiences between mothers and fathers • A statistically significant difference was found between mothers and fathers on all the items of child centered cooperation (p<.001). Mothers cooperated with teachers in most cases. • A statistically significant difference was found between mothers and fathers on one of the items of experience of partnership ’I feel that my child’s teacher supports my parenthood’ (p<.001).

  12. Both mothers and fathers had positive views about their competence in parenthood and cooperation. A statistically significant difference between mothers and fathers was found: mothers were more interested in cooperation than fathers (p<.001).

  13. Results 2/2Cooperation in transitionprocess • The two-factor solution (using principal Axis factoring) defined following constructs: • preschool-school cooperation (between teachers) • child-parent-school cooperation

  14. The most important issues were(parents and teachers): • ’School teacher visits the preschool to talk to the preschool children about school’ • ’Written records (portfolio) about individual child’s experiences follow to the school’ • ’Before school starts preschool and school teachers held shared meetings with parents’

  15. Implications and challenges • How to use the diversity of attitudes and views between parents and professionals as resource? • How to identify the partnership readiness of the parents? • How to confirm parent’s empowerment? • How to support collaboration between parents?

  16. How to take care of practical organization and arrangements in ways that meet the wishes of both parties • Equal partnership demands teachers to change from professional focused culture to family-focused culture?

  17. The joint aggreement about cooperation and activities between parents and teachers is needed in the transition to school

  18. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!!

More Related