Introduction
Parent involvement is an essential condition for the effective educational progress of any child, and this is especially the case for the early childhood age category (Ainscow et al., 2013; Colker, 2008). To improve my understanding of the parent involvement standard, I aim to connect a progressive specialist in early childhood education.
A Summary of Building Family and Community Relationships
The chosen standard is “building family and community relationships” (NAEYC, 2010). This standard implicates the candidate’s understanding that the involvement of a child’s parents and supporting community is “essential for successful early childhood education” (NAEYC, 2010, par. 1). One also possesses the key competences for building respectful and reciprocal relations with families and communities (NAEYC, 2010, par. 1).
This competence was chosen because I have noticed a trend by the families and communities to transition the educational responsibilities of teachers and schools alone. In such conditions, a teacher should know how to impact the mistaken way of thinking and engage the student’s support system into the educational process (Carol Vincent Research Fellow in Education Policy 2013).
Knowing more about this standard will help me in my professional life by improving my students’ performance. To illustrate, if I reach out to one of my student’s parents regarding the problem of reading skills improvement, the parents will help me improve the state of affairs with the problem through collaboration because constant practice presents great results. As for my personal life, the skill of building quality partnerships is an important competence for me because it will help in whatever goals I will set for my future.
For instance, if I learn how to speak about a student’s problem with the parents, then I will be able to implement this skill in helping my cousin to provide help to her child. The knowledge of this standard will also help me to become a better children’s’ advocate by providing insights into building interpersonal relations. For example, the skill of building relations will help me reach the people in authority positions.
List of Questions
- How do you build essential knowledge about your students’ families in communities? The rationale for this question is my interest in the person’s experience in the field.
- How do you utilize the collected knowledge in building respectful and reciprocal relations with parents? The rationale for this question is my interest in learning how knowledge is utilized in practice.
- How do you evaluate the effectiveness of the build relationships? This question intends to collect data on how other professionals measure their effectiveness in the field.
- What measures do you implement if you are not satisfied with the quality of the relations built? I ask this question to learn how others cope with difficulties.
- What special strategies do you utilize for cooperating with the parents from troubled families? I take up this question to collect more data to enhance my ability to advocate on behalf of children.
Contact Information with an Explanation for the Request
To collect the needed data, I will contact Nina Richards, who is the teacher of the year 2015 in the early childhood age category in one of the schools in our local community. In the accompanying email request, along with the questions, I will explain my rationale for connecting Nina, which is the research project’s focus of interest in questioning the progressive specialists in the field.
Conclusion
In conclusion, parent involvement is essential for achieving the best outcomes in early childhood education. Studying the leading specialists’ experience in this field will help facilitate my professional growth.
References
Ainscow, M., Beresford, J., Harris, A., Hopkins, D., Southworth, G., & West, M. (2013). Creating the conditions for school improvement: A handbook of staff development activities. London: Routledge. Web.
Carol Vincent Research Fellow in Education Policy. (2013). Parents and teachers: Power and participation. London: Routledge. Web.
Colker, L.J. (2008). Twelve characteristics of early childhood teachers. Beyond the Journal. Young Children on the Web. Web.
NAEYC. (2010). 2010 Standards for initial early childhood professional preparation. Web.