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- What does opening our doors mean to educators, families, and children?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/cite><\/li>\n
- What should it look like, feel like and sound like?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/cite><\/li>\n
- How do we ensure all our families are included?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/cite><\/li>\n
- What strategies do we use to engage our families?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/cite><\/li>\n
- Do we know what our family\u2019s needs are?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/cite><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I am sure you will have more to add to my list. As part of my early intervention role, I am the champion for family learning and this can cover anything from daily informal conversations to Peep learning together programmes.<\/p>\n
So why do we want to involve our families in the life of the nursery? There is lots of research about the benefits of involving and engaging families in their child\u2019s learning. We know that working together with families can have long lasting effects on family relationships, family wellbeing and academic achievements.<\/p>\n
\u2018It’s well proven that children do better when parents and schools work together. However, not all parents find it easy to be involved in their child’s learning. We want to help parents lay strong foundations for the loving, nurturing relationships that we know are integral to children’s emotional, physical, socio-economic and educational wellbeing\u2019. (National Parenting Strategy 2012)<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fa\/public\/falkirkearlyyears\/uploads\/sites\/1373\/2023\/01\/10145504\/Parental-Involvement-300x69.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTo help us do this we can think about what supports good parent involvement:<\/p>\n
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- Relationships<\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 We need to attune to our children and families, be responsive to their needs and emotionally available to them.<\/li>\n
- Communication<\/strong><\/em><\/span> \u2013 We want to provide clear, consistent, and continuous communication. We want to sensitively support any communication breakdowns and work together.<\/li>\n
- Flexibility\/adaptabilit<\/strong><\/em><\/span>y \u2013We want to break down as many barriers as possible for families. That might mean thinking outside the box, offering different times and thinking creatively about solutions.<\/li>\n
- S<\/strong><\/em>t<\/em><\/span>rength based approach<\/strong><\/em><\/span> \u2013 Families are all unique, they come with their own strengths and resources and we want to empower out families through these. They know their child the best.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fa\/public\/falkirkearlyyears\/uploads\/sites\/1373\/2023\/01\/10145642\/Targeted-Approaches.png\")
Sometimes we want to think about targeted approaches to our family learning experiences. Robust self-evaluation and a good contextual analysis will help support us to identify family\u2019s needs and how we can support families to engage with us. Education Scotland has some great resources to support this.<\/p>\nEngaging parents and families – A toolkit for practitioners | Learning resources | National Improvement Hub (education.gov.scot)<\/a><\/p>\n
Family Learning wakelet – Wakelet<\/a><\/p>\n
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One size does fit all, but it is maybe worth having some professional dialogue in your teams about how you support your families. Other resources you might find useful are:<\/p>\n
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- Scottish government have a \u2018supporting parents to further engage in their children\u2019s development\u2019 <\/em>ELC module that you may find useful. Early learning and childcare practitioners: training modules – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)<\/a><\/li>\n
- The Early learning and Childcare Wakelet has lots of useful links e.g. Dug, parentzone, parents club, loose parts play, etc that you could share adapt and support families with. Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Wakelet. – Wakelet<\/a><\/li>\n
- HGIOELC 2.5 & 2.7<\/li>\n
- A quality framework for children and young people in need of care and protection 2.2 & 6.3<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Thank you for taking time to read this blog.<\/p>\n
- The Early learning and Childcare Wakelet has lots of useful links e.g. Dug, parentzone, parents club, loose parts play, etc that you could share adapt and support families with. Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Wakelet. – Wakelet<\/a><\/li>\n
- Scottish government have a \u2018supporting parents to further engage in their children\u2019s development\u2019 <\/em>ELC module that you may find useful. Early learning and childcare practitioners: training modules – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)<\/a><\/li>\n
- Communication<\/strong><\/em><\/span> \u2013 We want to provide clear, consistent, and continuous communication. We want to sensitively support any communication breakdowns and work together.<\/li>\n
- Relationships<\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 We need to attune to our children and families, be responsive to their needs and emotionally available to them.<\/li>\n
- What should it look like, feel like and sound like?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/cite><\/li>\n
- What does opening our doors mean to educators, families, and children?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/cite><\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fa\/public\/falkirkearlyyears\/uploads\/sites\/1373\/2023\/01\/10145504\/Parental-Involvement.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n