Family Partnerships
A partnership is where the program and household can work in unity for the good of the child. Often families and programs have different perspectives about what they want for children. It is important to build partnership with trust, good communication and agreed upon goals.
For educators it is important to be able to hear and understand family concerns through the family point-of-view. To do this you need first to build a relationship with the family that takes deep active listening. That means checking in, sometimes scheduling a conversation without children present to be able to give full attention to the conversation, and acknowledging when the child is experiencing growth and development as well as when things aren’t going so well. When listening to or observing families, another piece in the puzzle is understanding and honoring cultural diversity. It is another piece of where a family may be coming from.
It may be helpful to list your goals and concerns for children and then compare that with what family members tell you about what they want or are concerned about. That can give you common ground to start conversations, especially challenging ones. Remember we not only educate, we must be open to being educated by our families.
The Following are some helpful hints for using the Anti-Bias Goals as they relate to partnering with families.
Identity - Building trust, exchanging goals and information. Family Questionnaires that give information about family traditions, things they do together as a family are a good way to start. This allows us to get to know a bit about each family’s identity, what they think is important for us to know. Always include a way for the families to tell the program what they would like their child to gain from the program.
Diversity - Exposing children to the diversity in the classroom community creates an environment where children feel that they belong. Provide opportunities for families to share their favorite things. It doesn’t have to be a holiday. It can be slides of a vacation or a favorite recipe. (Brainstorm ways you can bring diversity into your classroom that matches the children in your program.)
Justice - Developing good communication systems helps families feel they have input without judgment or ridicule. Some schools have a room mom who reaches out to other classroom community families to make them feel welcome and offer support. Make sure that families that are busy or have long hours have ways to have a voice. (Brainstorm other ways family voices can be heard in an equitable way).
Activism - Building fairness and trust. Communication is a two way street. How you approach families is important and makes a difference. Are there issues in the school community that you can support each other’s work on? Are there issues you can work together on in the larger Community? What are ways to get families involved?
Solid family partnerships are built on good communication practices, mutual respect, and shared goals for the children. Using the Anti-Bias Goals is one tool for nurturing these partnerships.
This article is part of our Fall 2023 Newsletter. See all articles.
