Family is one of the earliest encounters and most valuable aspect of your child’s life. It is also the most influential factor in determining your child’s cognitive, behavioural, and social development in their earliest years. There is a misconception among parents that when it comes to their children’s learning, they should “leave it to the teachers”. The reality is that family, especially parents, play a crucial role in ensuring children achieve key milestones of their early childhood development. Ever heard of the saying “parents are their children’s first teachers”? Well, that saying is true as parents are truly first educators of their children which is the reason behind children behaving so alike to their parents. Parents not only influence their children’s behaviour but also their way of thinking and perceiving the world around them. Parents also shape the relationships which are built and established in their children’s life.
But, let’s extend our discussion to include the whole family and how family engagement supports children early learning. First and foremost, let’s get to know more about family engagement. So, what is family engagement?
According to Jan McCarthy (2012), family engagement is defined as a family-centred, strength-based approach to establishing and maintaining relationships among family members. It also involves accomplishing goals together. In early childhood education, family engagement includes learning programmes and activities that invite participation of families. An early childhood learning programme that prioritizes family engagement will make sure a strong, positive, and close-knit relationship is built between the families, educators, and school staff. Therefore, family engagement does not only involve family members, parents, and children. It takes into account the teachers, school staff, society, and larger organizations that are committed in providing meaningful learning experiences for early learners.
Through family engagement, learning does not feel entirely disconnected from home. Parents will become fully aware and play a role as active participants in supporting their children’s learning in school. This is how family engagement helps to strengthen a child’s early learning without having to place all the expectations on the parents. It is about working together to make sure learning is seamlessly integrated at home.
So, in what ways does family engagement help to improve one’s early learning?
- Balancing Parent and Teacher Expectations
When early education centres engage with families instead of just focusing on the children, the school staff and teachers are able to gather crucial information about what is expected of them in educating the children. To the surprise of many, the expectations and goals of teachers might not match those of the parents. This results in disappointment being expressed during parent-teacher meetings as parents feel that teachers are not doing their best, whereas teachers are left unaware of what the goals that the children need to achieve in the classroom.
Let’s face it, all parents are different. Some parents expect their children to be able to read and do simple math equations as early as four years old. While other parents are happy enough if their children have strong motor skills at four years old. Knowing this, family engagement is truly important in early childhood education because it places both teachers and parents on the same page.
- Improving Quality of Learning at Home
Family engagement provides countless opportunities for both teachers and parents to improve their own understanding and delivery of education for their children. Family engagement activities at school such as Mother’s Day, Parenting Workshops, and Open Days invite parents to the school and allows them to interact with those who are responsible for their children’s education. The exchange of ideas and opinions among parents and teachers will be useful in improving what parents should know when educating their children.
It also provides parents with support in terms of ideas, suggestions, and advice on how to strengthen home learning for their children. Family engagement engenders parents with the knowledge and skills to carry out learning which extend beyond the classroom.
- Trustworthy Relationship
Of course one of the key benefits of family engagement towards early childhood education is how it helps to build a trusting relationship between the teachers and the parents. When parents constantly engage with their children’s teachers, they are more likely to trust them. This will come in handy when teachers provide feedback and comments to the parents about their children’s progress. Smooth-sailing interactions between teachers and parents will prevent unwanted misunderstandings that will inevitably affect the child’s learning experience in school.
Overall, family engagement does not only involve family members but also the rest of the community. In early childhood education, family engagement means establishing connections among educators, parents, and children to transform conventional early learning into a continuous and meaningful one.
