Page 8 - LESSION 18.pmd

Involvement of Parents and Community

First of all, teachers need to communicate with the parents and for this s/he has
to find out ways to communicate to parents about their children.
Notes
18.4.1 Communication

ECCE settings or preschools should ensure that the staff and parents have both
formal and informal opportunities for communication and information sharing
about the child. While the formal opportunities may be quite apparent (e.g.,
meetings with parents), due consideration should also be given to creating
informal interaction with parents, and may begin with something as fundamental
as making them feel welcome within that setting. The practitioners/personnel
need to ensure that this communication supports the child’s learning and
development and could be achieved through:

• communicating information to parents about their child’s development
and learning;
• integrating parents’ knowledge and input into the planning and assessment
of children’s learning and development; and
• supporting parents in understanding children’s learning and development.

The problem may be, how to communicate with parents. Many parents are
working and they often do not get time to interact with the teachers and
sometimes they do not even come for Parent Teacher Meeting (PTM). So, the
teacher needs to find the way to involve and communicate with these parents.

18.4.1.1 Strategies of communicating to parents and community

Effective and meaningful communication between preschools, parents, community
and children must be there to form the foundation in developing and maintaining
quality partnerships.

• Using a range of communication tools and channels, including
newsletters, websites, e-mails, assemblies, parent/teacher interviews, and
PTMs.
• Developing a preschool activity calendar outlining activities, celebrations,
events and holidays in the preschool year where engagement of the parents
and community is very important. Specific activities can be used to engage
them for example, volunteer parent coming to tell a story/rhyme.
• Using Parent Teacher Meeting (PTM) to talk about children's development
and their progress.
• Planning Home Visits, if required, as it will help the teachers, get
acquainted with the families of the children. The teacher can learn about
the family’s culture and special talents, etc.

154 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION