Page 7 - LESSION 18.pmd

Involvement of Parents and Community

• Practitioners facilitate parents' work schedules and create suitable parental
involvement opportunities.

• Practitioners inform parents about the performance and activities of their Notes
children through meetings, phone calls, portfolios etc.
• Teachers allow parents to visit the preschool, observe activities and provide
feedback.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 18.2

Fill in the blanks:

(a) For parents to be involved in their children’s education, they need to be
seen as ................... .
(b) Effective partnerships with family and ................... are characterised by
mutual trust and respect for the each other.
(c) Children’s development would be optimised when there is a linkage
between the home and ................... in terms of experiences and expectations.

(d) A quality preschool setting should provide opportunities for parents to
visit the setting, observe activities and provide ....................
(e) The role of a teacher is to build on the knowledge and to encourage parents
to work with the ................... in the best interest of each child.

(f) ................... are best able to rear children when they are adequately
informed about work of the preschool/ECCE centre.

18.4 WAYS OF EFFECTIVE INVOLVEMENT OF PARENTS
AND COMMUNITY IN FUNCTIONING OF AN ECCE
CENTRE /PRESCHOOL
As discussed earlier, the early education of young children is a shared
responsibility of parents, schools and community as a whole. Therefore, parents
and communities have a reciprocal responsibility to engage with preschools/
ECCE centres. The quality of this partnership will certainly determine the
quality of the ECCE programme. There are many ways that can be adopted to
promote the parent-teacher relationship. For example, as they get to know the
parents, teachers can ask each parent’s particular interest in being involved in
the children’s education and care. Some parents may be happy participating in
classroom activities. Others may prefer to contribute as committee, member of
a board, write in a newsletter, design a web page or participate in fund raising
efforts.

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION 153