Parents play a key role in their child’s holistic development as they are the main educators and care givers in a child’s life. It is important for a child attending an early childhood care and education setting that there is a good relationship between their parent’s and the childcare practitioner’s. This is important as it will ensure the child feels safe and secure while attending the setting. Through communicating with parents, the childcare practitioner can ensure that the child’s learning at home and experiences are integrated into their learning in the early year’s settings (CECDE 2009, p.6).
Inclusive Practice
Partnership with parents is key for the childcare setting to show inclusive practice. Ireland is a multicultural diverse society and it is important for childcare practitioners to have a good understanding of the child’s family’s culture and beliefs. The child will feel respected if they see their culture reflected in the environment. If a child has a child has a disability or learning difficulty, effective communication between parents and childcare practitioners is vital to identify the child’s care and educational needs (DCYA 2016, p. 44).
Identity and Belonging
The child will gain a better understanding of themselves and their cultures when they can see their interests and culture integrated into their play and learning, giving the child a strong self-identity. It also provides good learning for the other children as they will grow to understand that others may come from other backgrounds with different cultures and traditions. A child will feel part of the group seeing their peers interested in their cultures and experiences from their own lives (NCCA, 2009). Asking the parents to come in and speak to the children about their culture is a good way to get the parents involved. This will make both the child and the parent feel that they are respected and that their culture is being reflected in the childcare setting.
Supporting Parents
Communication is only effective if it flows both ways. Parents should be involved in the child’s learning and development and should be consulted about their child’s learning and informed about their child’s day. Formal communication is important but sometimes not always possible. Sometimes parents may arrive just before closing or the child’s main practitioner may be finished there shift already when the parents arrive. ‘Child Paths’ is an app that has been created to keep parents up to date on their child’s experiences and development at the childcare setting. Parents can communicate through the app, sharing photos, tracking milestones and experiences. The Child Paths app has many different functions. The parents can see their child’s activity at setting including what they have ate, and if they have slept. The app allows the parents to see observations that are carried out on the child while at the service and links to Aistear and Siolta (Child Paths, 2014).
Parental Involvement is key to ensure the child gets the best learning opportunities while at the childcare setting. Parents should always be involved in all aspects of the child’s learning and development.
References
CECDE (2006) Síolta: The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education, CECDE: Dublin.
Child Paths. (2014). Child Paths Childcare Software that supports parental interaction. [online] Available at: http://childpaths.ie/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2019].
DCYA (2016) Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Charter and Guidelines for Early Childhood Care and Education, Dublin: Government Publications.
NCCA (2009) Aistear: The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework, NCCA: Dublin.
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