Partnerships Critical Reflection Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Early Childhood

Practice Principle 2: Partnerships with Professionals

Introduction to Partnerships Critical Reflection

Collaborations and partnerships are extremely beneficial for children as it helps in the overall development of their perspective. The early environments and interaction settings of child are some of the most significant instances. From building attention span to confronting them with impulse control, collaborative play completely enhances the learning process of kids. The sense of shared knowledge and new experiences contribute to the growth process of the child in the best manner possible. Various studies have shown how collaborations helps children and their families, across diverse backgrounds. During childhood, the educators and tutors of a child are the first people outside family with whom the family collaborates to invest in the education of the child. It is from this relationship that a sense of trust and security is developed as the parents can rely on them to educate their child. Through this report, the reflections on partnerships and collaborations in early childhood will be discussed.

Mutuality and Reciprocity in Parent Teacher Relationship

APA: Rouse, E., & O'Brien, D. (2017). Mutuality and reciprocity in parent–teacher relationships: Understanding the nature of partnerships in early childhood education and care provision. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(2), 45-52.

Aim: to understand the nature of partnerships in early childhood education and provision of care.

Participants: the study investigated the nature of expectations the parents had form the teacher and how the teachers responded to these expectations.

Research context: In the Victorian years learning and development framework and the Early years learning framework, partnership is referred to as a practice withing these frameworks. They both suggest the collaboration that takes place between the family and the professionals about the model of working together to inculcate and work towards the learning capabilities of young children from different backgrounds (Rouse 2017).

Main findings: to gain an insight into the parent – teacher partnership, numerous semi formal interviews were conducted. 60 parents were called but only 4 turned up. The main findings from this the study indicate towards the need for reciprocity and mutuality in order to build a good partnership that will benefit the young child. Even the teachers participated in these interviews and they equated the level of partnership to amount of willingness the parents had. The findings reveal how shared efforts and working as team are the ways in which the child could feel secure in the new learning environment. The availability and willingness of the parent to get involved in the education and training of the child plays a very important role as it helps in making approach towards learning feel more consistent for the child. The study explains how just dropping their kids off at the school and checking their homework once in a while is not the solution. These partnerships require actual investment of time by both the parents and the teachers.

Limitations: the scope of the study is limited as only 4 of the 60 parents turned up. Therefore, this cannot be indicative of particular demographic. Also the study provides extremely limited options for a better understanding of the educators side of the story that can actually be used to create a professional change in attitudes.

Conclusion: in order to create a successful partnership, notions of reciprocity and mutuality must be present. They have to reflect and analyse which of the characteristics are and behaviours are mandatory in order to make a partnership work. Teachers must go beyond their roles to examine the nature of the partnerships to reflect on how they can create such an environment with the help pf the parents for the ideal development of the child (Pushor d 2012).

Encouraging Reflective Practice with Future Early Childhood Teachers to Support the National Standards

APA: Lemon, N., & Garvis, S. (2014). Encouraging reflective practice with future early childhood teachers to support the national standards: An Australian case study. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 39(4), 89-94.

Aim:  To understand the impact of using the video and reflective template used by educators to enhance their understanding of children in their early childhood.

Participants: The participants of this study are pre service teachers.

Research and Context: Pre-service teachers were invited to view videos and then complete the carefully developed template based on Blooms’ revised taxonomy (Krathwohl, 2002) which was designed to prompt higher order thinking for reflection.

Main findings: The study nudged pre-service teachers from merely observing to properly analysing and reflecting on their methods after views the videos of children in their early childhood. On watching the video and then thinking critically about them helped in enhancing their understanding about children. Through the template, reflection on personal growth nudged them into higher levels of analysis that is extremely crucial for developing quality education care (Miller, Cable & Devereux, 2005). The reflective template helped them develop a sounder understanding of the child development needs.

Limitations:  The self-reported data from pre service teachers is of a small sample size that cannot provide appropriate understanding. It has only provided a small insight into exploring effective teaching methods that will help build good partnerships. More evidence is required in order to enhance the understanding and knowledge that will propel change in real time.

Conclusion:  the study helped in establishing a connect between theoretical understanding and practical context for pre service teachers. The reflection helped them understand the significance of development of skills required for quality education care for children in their early childhood (Lemon, N., & Garvis, S 2014).

Trust, Empathy and Time

Relationship building with families experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage in early childhood education and care service

APA: Roberts, W. (2017). Trust, empathy and time: Relationship building with families experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage in early childhood education and care services. Australasian journal of early childhood, 42(4), 4-12.

Aim:  To study the behaviour of early childhood educators through qualitative research and help in developing an understanding about the various factors that help in development of quality education care.

Participants: In this research, early childhood educators and professionals (ECEPs) were interviewed about family engagement, relationships, partnership, collaborations and communication needs, and how these might be enhanced by professional development.

Main findings:  this research study revealed how improving the educational outcomes can change the cycle of disadvantage for children and their families from various diverse backgrounds. It also helped in exploring the various ways of education care that can be important and effective for children in order to build trust and effective partnership. Moore and Skinner (2010) identified relational and interpersonal barriers that align with this paper’s research findings about perceptions, beliefs, values, insensitivities to culture, judgemental and unsupportive attitudes, and families’ feelings of mistrust and disempowerment. To overcome these, it is essential that staff have the necessary capacity, skills, time and resources for engaging parents (Axford et al., 2012).

Limitations: The data presented can be deemed as subjective at times.

Conclusion:  The research study revealed how Relationships-based family engagement requires skills in communication, a humanitarian and value-based approach in which trust, empathy and time play a large part (Roberts, W. 2017). Each of these factors must be recognised and utilized to form a common ground between all the stake holders that can help them implement effective education care for children.

References for Partnerships Critical Reflection

Axford, N., Lehtonen, M., Kaoukji, D., Tobin, K., & Berry, V. (2012). Engaging parents in parenting programs: Lessons from research and practice. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(10), 2061–2071.

Roberts, W. (2017). Trust, empathy and time: Relationship building with families experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage in early childhood education and care services. Australasian journal of early childhood, 42(4), 4-12.

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). (2011). Introducing the National Quality Framework. Retrieved 1 June, 2016 from www.acecqa.gov.au/national-qualityframework/introducing-the-national-quality-framework

Lemon, N., & Garvis, S. (2014). Encouraging reflective practice with future early childhood teachers to support the national standards: An Australian case study. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 39(4), 89-94.

Rouse, E., & O'Brien, D. (2017). Mutuality and reciprocity in parent–teacher relationships: Understanding the nature of partnerships in early childhood education and care provision. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(2), 45-52.

Pushor, D. (2012). Tracing my research on parent engagement: Working to interrupt the story of school as protectorate. Action in Teacher Education, 34(5–6), 464–479

Wilson, A. (2020). A Study of Empathy and Teacher Self-Efficacy Among Preservice Early Childhood Educators.

Moore, T. G., & Skinner, A. (2010). Background paper: An integrated approach to early childhood development. Paddington, NSW: The Benevolent Society.

Retrieved from www.rch.org.au/ uploadedFiles/Main/Content/ccch/TM_BenSoc_Project_09.pdf

Rouse, E., & O'Brien, D. (2017). Mutuality and reciprocity in parent–teacher relationships: Understanding the nature of partnerships in early childhood education and care provision. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(2), 45-52

Miller, L., Cable, C., & Devereux, J. (2005). Developing early years practice. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 212–218.

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