Working With Parents in Early Years Settings (Achieving Eyps)

144 Pages·2009·0.83 MB·English

by  Ute Ward

EYPS WORKING WITH PARENTS PT_gk.QXD 26/5/09 18:03 Page i
A C H I E V I N G
E Y P S
Working with
Parents in
Early Years
Settings
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A C H I E V I N G
E Y P S
Working with
Parents in
Early Years
Settings
Ute Ward

Series editors: Lyn Trodd and Gill Goodliff
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First published in 2009 by Learning Matters Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Learning Matters Ltd.
© Ute Ward
The right of Ute Ward to be identified as the author of this Work has been asserted by her
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 84445 268 2
Text design by Code 5 Design Associates Ltd
Cover design by Phil Barker
Project management by Swales and Willis
Typeset by Swales and Willis
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Learning Matters Ltd
33 Southernhay East
Exeter EX1 1NX
Tel: [phone]
[email protected]
www.learningmatters.co.uk
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Dedication
For my parents
Für meine Eltern
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Contents
Foreword from the series editors ix
About the author and series editors x
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction xii
1
The role of the parent in a child’s life 1
2
Parents and what we think about them 10
3
The child–parent–EYP triangle 20
4
Partnership working: involving parents in
your setting 32
5
Partnership working: when parents are not in
your setting 51
6
The learning partnership 74
7
When partnerships get difficult 95
8
Beyond the triangle 108
vii
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Contents
Conclusion 117
Appendix 1: answers to self-assessment questions 119
Index 124

viii
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Foreword from the series editors
This book is one of a series which will be of interest to all those following pathways
towards achieving Early Years Professional Status (EYPS). This includes students on Sector-
Endorsed Foundation Degree in Early Years programmes and undergraduate Early
Childhood Studies degree courses as these awards are key routes towards EYPS.
The graduate EYP role was created as a key strategy in government commitment to
improve the quality of Early Years care and education in England, especially in the private,
voluntary and independent sectors. Policy documents and legislation such as Every Child
Matters: Change for Children, DfES (2004); the Ten Year Childcare Strategy: Choice for
Parents – the Best Start for Children HMT (2004), and the Childcare Act, 2006, identified
the need for high-quality, well-trained and educated professionals to work with the
youngest children. The government’s aim – restated in the 2020 Children and Young
People’s Workforce Strategy (DCSF, 2008) – is to have an Early Years Professional (EYP) in
all children’s centres by 2010 and in every full day care setting by 2015, with two
graduates in disadvantaged areas.
This book is distinctive in the series in that its particular focus is on children in the context
of their families. The reader is left in no doubt of the author’s commitment to working
with parents in her own practice. The book acknowledges the parent as the child’s first
teacher and explores how positive relationships can be developed between parents and
practitioners through the work of the Early Years Professional. Ute Ward has taken into
account new initiatives such as the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners as well as
drawing on established auth orities on the subject of ‘Working with Parents’. Her intention
is to challenge the reader to reflect on his or her attitudes towards parents and to gain
essential self-knowledge, understanding and inter-personal skills.
The reader will find helpful links made to other key responsibilities for Early Years
Professionals such as how to support transition and to take into account the context of
the local community. Case studies and self-assessment questions are used to focus on the
practice of Early Years Professionals. This enables the reader to consider how to meet the
EYP Standards in full by modelling excellent practice while promoting and encouraging it
in colleagues.
Lyn Trodd and Gill Goodliff,
May 2009
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About the author and series editors
Ute Ward
Ute Ward has been involved in the Early Years sector for the past 19 years as a parent,
volunteer, play group assistant and play group leader. Recognising the vital role parents
play in a child’s life she moved to working more directly with adults first as a development
officer and tutor for the Pre-school Learning Alliance and then for four years as
Community Involvement Co-ordinator in a Sure Start Local Programme. In November 2007
Ute became manager of a phase 2 Children’s Centre and is now also developing a phase 3
Children’s Centre.
Lyn Trodd
Lyn Trodd is Head of Children’s Workforce Development at the University of Hertfordshire.
Lyn is the Chair of the National Network of Sector-Endorsed Foundation Degrees in Early
Years. She was involved in the design of Early Years Professional Status and helped to pilot
the Validation Pathway when it first became available. Lyn has published and edited a
range of articles, national and international conference papers and books focusing on self-
efficacy in the child and the practitioner and also the professional identity and role of
adults who work with young children.
Gill Goodliff
Gill Goodliff is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Awards for Early Years at the Open University

where she has developed and chaired courses on the Sector-Endorsed Foundation Degree
and as a Lead Assessor for Early Years Professional Status. Her professional work with
young children and their families was predominantly in the voluntary sector. Her research
interests centre on the professional identities of early years practitioners and young
children’s spirituality.
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