Collaborating with

Families
 Building Bridges with Families

• Families usually have the largest impact on the development of young

children. Family involvement is linked with positive outcomes for children,
including better outcomes in child development, attitudes, and behavior.
• Bridging the gap between home and preschool makes families feel more
engaged with their children’s development, with many studies suggesting
strong parent-teacher partnerships can help children develop positive self-
esteem and be motivated to learn.
Collaboration – The Value of Parent Engagement
• If your communications engage parents, you will build a stronger teacher-
family partnership. This leads to a better understanding of the child, more
feedback from parents on how things are going and ultimately, a happier
and more successful learning experience for the child.
• It gives parents a better understanding of how you are helping to prepare
their children for success in school.
• Parents learn how well their children are progressing in developing the
building blocks of learning.
• Parents learn ways to help their children at home.
 Communicate
• Communicate with families often. When there is good communication
between educators and families, learning is collaborative, accomplishments
are acknowledged, problems are recognized, and solutions are provided.
• Communicate the positive and the negative. Families will have a better
sense of their child’s behaviors and accomplishments if all behaviors are
reported (not only those that are negative or challenging).
• Foster two-way communication. It is as important for the educator to hear
from the parent or caregiver what the child is doing at home as it is for the
parent or caregiver to hear what the child is doing in the early learning
program. Share what children are learning and how parents and caregivers
can offer support. Ask for feedback from families about the child’s academic
and social development outside of the program.
• Use multiple modes communication. Create a constant flow of
communication. Engage with families in person, Personal visits, Social
 Involve Parents
Part of parent engagement in early education is parent involvement. The more
comfortable a parent feels with your service and your approach, the more
likely they are to engage and collaborate in the learning.
• Make sure parents know you
• Encourage parents to volunteer. Do they have a passion or talent they would
like to share?
• Create an ePortfolio where parents can see their child’s progress whenever
they want.
• Recommend activities at home that build on the learning during the day, to
extend the learning.
 Opening Communication

• Open communication makes the learning process easier, enables students

to achieve their goals, increases opportunities for expanded learning,
strengthens the connection between student, teacher and families, and
creates an overall positive experience for all in the learning and teaching
process. 
 Benefits of Open Communication
• ● It allows parents to build relationships with their child's teacher. Parents are
able to feel comfortable coming to their child's teacher with any concerns they
may have, and teachers can explain what is happening in the classroom in
order to increase understanding. It also opens up two-way communication. For
instance, if a child has become quiet and reserved at home, parents may be
worried that it is something at school that has caused this. By being able to
communicate openly, both the teachers and the parents can keep a close eye
on the child, and they will likely pick up why the child is not completely happy.
An example of this could be that their friend has moved away recently and
they are missing them. Teachers are in a brilliant position to be able to support
children to integrate with others in their class to build friendships, and parents
are there to offer support when at home and can help children remain in
contact with their friends.
• ● It helps parents better understand their child's progress. They are able to
understand the journey that their child will go on during the year, what
topics they will be studying and how different skills will be developed. As
teachers have an opportunity to observe a child's academic growth as well
as their emotional development and social needs. They see the children
daily, so they are in the perfect position to monitor their progress.  They can
provide parents with important insight that can help them build their
children into strong, confident learners. Ideally, there is an ongoing dialogue
between parents and teachers.
• ● It keeps parents informed of what’s happening at the school and allows
them to get involved in classroom life. When teachers and parents
communicate regularly, teachers can provide parents with information
about school events and classroom volunteer opportunities. Parents, when
they are made aware of these opportunities, often find themselves excited
to participate and be a part of the classroom. School is a community and we
want parents, families, teachers, administrators and students to feel that
they each impact the school’s development. By encouraging everyone to
get involved, whether that be by supporting a school play, making cakes for
a charity fundraiser or offering time to attend extracurricular activities, this
all makes a difference to the overall experience
• ● It helps to make sure that there is consistency in the classroom and at
home. Ultimately, both the parents and teachers need to work together to
improve the personal, academic and social development of the child.
Parents are offered ways of integrating opportunities at home with the
experiences that their child has while at school. Some students may find it
hard to concentrate for longer periods, so teachers may have taught them
focus management techniques for this. By utilising these at home as well, it
gives the child continuity and allows them to practise these techniques in a
range of situations. Through communication, both parties can use a
consistent approach that will benefit the individual learner. 
 Knowing and Understanding Families
• Well-prepared early childhood educators require knowledge and
understanding of family and community characteristics, and many
influences on families and communities. In addition, successful early
childhood educators require a strong understanding of how socioeconomic
conditions; family structures, relationships, stresses, and supports, home
language, cultural values, ethnicity affect children and their families.
Knowledge of family functions and structures creates a deeper
understanding of young children’s lives. This knowledge is critical to
teachers’ ability to help children learn and develop well. Also, teachers
develop the knowledge and skills needed to support and empower families
through respectful, reciprocal relationships.
 How Teachers Come to Understand Families
• Communication and observation were the two most common methods
employed by teachers to collect information about families. Through
communication and observation, teachers collected information about
families' situations, child-rearing practices, and family involvement practices.
Specifically they learned about the family structure, family strengths and
needs, status in the community, and parent employment status and work
schedules. Parents' educational levels, their goals and expectations for
children, and cultural beliefs about child-rearing also constituted important
aspects of a teacher's knowledge of family contexts. Teachers discovered how
families helped their children with homework, how they planned their
children's life outside of school time, and the other educational supports they
provided.
• Social class and culture shape teachers' understandings of families. Personal beliefs
and values are a filter through which teachers understand the families they work with.
Teachers need to critically reflect on their own values and judgments so that their basis
for understanding families is rooted not in inaccurate stereotypes, but in authentic
relationships and culturally-sensitive interpretations.
• Understand each family’s expectations and views about their involvement.  What
parents and caregivers view as family engagement may differ from family to family.
For example, in some cultures families believe that the most respectful way to treat an
educator is not to question, suggest, or share information. Be explicit about the kind of
involvement that you expect and welcome from families, but also honor the limits
families may want to maintain.
• Outreach and study of children's family life may lead teachers to better know the
cultures from which their students emerge. When teachers collect comprehensive
information about families and make meaning of it, they may glean a better
understanding of where to reach families, whom to contact, what issues the families
are facing, and what potential barriers exist to their involvement. Through this deeper
understanding, outreach has the potential to become more individualized and
targeted, in effect yielding stronger parental responses.
Students' family structures vary now perhaps more than ever before. It's therefore
important for teachers to be inclusive of all types of families when it comes to
communication, assignments and many other aspects of classroom life. Diverse family
structures can include:
• Single parent (divorced or never-married)
• Foster parent(s) (or state as legal guardian)
• Adoptive parent(s)
• Blended (biological parent and another parent figure to whom s/he may or may not
be married)
• Unmarried biological parents
• LGBT parent(s)
• Non-parent relative(s) as guardian(s) (grandparent, aunt, etc.)
• No matter the type of family, students do best when educators remain sensitive to--
and welcoming of--these differences. Acceptance by both adults and classmates at
school contributes to students' social-emotional well-being, which we know
positively impacts their academic achievement.