Although the primary focus in early years education should rightly be on the children, it is also important to understand that actively promoting positive relationships with your parents and carers can only enhance the experience the children receive. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework emphasises the importance of developing these partnerships, and it is a core principle of the EYFS, recognising that “children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.” These benefits can include:
- Enhanced child development
- Improved learning outcomes
- Developing trust and confidence
- Supportive learning environments
- Effective communication with all parties
- Inclusion and cultural sensitivity
The industry-produced document, “Birth to Five Matters”, encourages settings to view parents as partners, saying:
- “Parents make a crucial difference to children’s outcomes
- Parents are children’s first and most enduring educators
- Each unique family must be welcomed and listened to
- Consider levels of engagement to make the most of relating to parents
- Practitioners have a responsibility to work with all families
- Clear leadership regarding partnership with parents will provide the right foundation”
Key Principles To Building Relationships
The relationships you develop with your parents and carers should be based on a few key principles, including:
1. Sharing knowledge
Parents and carers know their children; their strengths and weaknesses as well as their likes, dislikes, foibles and needs. They also understand their children’s moods and develop strategies to support their children in the best way possible. Of course, not all parents/carers are the same, but they will still have an insight into their children that early years practitioners in your setting may not. The same is true vice versa. Nursery staff often see a different side to the children than parents and carers, so sharing information and knowledge about the child is crucial. Practitioners are encouraged to consult with parents/carers about the children’s early experiences too as this helps in planning effective learning activities and can identify any special needs that the children have. Sharing knowledge also helps parents/carers to continue their child’s development at home.
2. An inclusive and respectful approach
The EYFS stresses the need for practitioners to create a welcoming and inclusive environment by respecting each family’s unique background and values, ensuring that all parents/carers feel included and valued. Some children may have English as a second language (EAL) and this can sometimes mean that their parents/carers might not be fluent English speakers, so practitioners should make additional efforts in these cases to ensure they feel included. Other situations that practitioners may need to give special consideration to are children from ethnic minorities, looked-after children, and the wide variety of family situations that children come from such as one-parent families, disadvantaged families, armed forces families or same sex parents/carers. No matter the family set-up, families and carers need respect and to feel included and welcome. Remember too that some parents may have additional needs and require information in alternative formats such as braille/audio file or a larger-font format.
3. Effective communication
Setting up and maintaining open and clear communication channels is vital to develop educator/family relationships. Practitioners should provide various opportunities for parents to be involved in their child’s learning, such as daily chats, workshops, and home visits. In today’s modern world, there are a myriad of ways in which settings can communicate with parents and carers including:
- Face-to-face meetings
- Start/end of day informal chats
- Progress-sharing reports
- Emails and phone calls
- Letters home in bags
- Social media
- Voice messages
- Texts and group chats
- Nursery-specific software
- Websites
- Newsletters
- Webinars
- Outreach programmes
- Home visits
- Awareness days
- Social events
Not all parents/carers will access all of the above, but if you are trying to reach as many people as possible, it makes sense to increase your communication channels.
4. Collaborative approach to activities and learning
The EYFS framework encourages a collaborative approach where practitioners and parents work together to understand children’s interests and support their learning. It does not ust mean that practitioners ‘talk at’ parents or vice versa. The communication and flow of information should be 2-way, and this can create a more consistent and supportive learning environment for the child and a sense of partnership and shared responsibility with the family. Invite parents and carers to participate in their child’s learning journey. This can include attending workshops as a family; encouraging parents/carers and extended family to volunteer in the setting either on a regular basis or on special days (e.g. grandparent days); and working together with parents and carers to set goals and develop strategies that support the child’s individual needs and development.
5. Confidentiality
Respecting the privacy and confidentiality of families is crucial and all setting should have robust data protection and management systems in place to ensure this, especially in the case of safeguarding issues or health information. Ensure that any information shared by parents and carers is kept confidential and used appropriately.
6. Extended learning into the home
Parents/carers can continue the child’s learning in the home environment, and this is best served if they understand what their child has been doing whilst in your care, and are given strategies to continue and extend it. This could be explaining to the parents/carers that they have been learning the names of different shapes for example, and you could ask the parents/carers to help by giving them a list of 3-4 activities to do at home that involve recognising shapes (e.g. I spy games, hunting for different shapes, or colouring/drawing templates involving shapes.
How To Involve Parents And Carers
Using the above key principles as the basis for all interactions, there are many ways that you can improve your parent/carer-educator relationships. Think about:
- Reviewing all your communication channels
- Setting time aside for parents/carers to have daily chats with their child’s key person
- Reviewing your parent/carer public areas to ensure they are welcoming and promote inclusivity and diversity
- Running workshops on the different areas of learning for parents/carers and supporting them with resources to use at home
- Showing videos of their child to report on progress and key milestones
- Increasing the opportunities for parents/carers to volunteer
- Special family days
- Inviting parents/carers on trips
- Setting up some joint community projects
- Inviting parents/carers to be governors or steering group members
- Encouraging a class/room rep who can help you deliver key information and notices
- Celebrating successes together
- Providing support in times of need
By nurturing strong relationships with parents and carers, practitioners can enhance the overall quality of early years education and support children’s development more effectively, which is, after all, what everyone wants.
