Parental Involvement in Preschool

Parental involvement (most commonly mothers' involvement) in preschool children's learning is instrumental in children's educational success. However, parents' work and family commitments prevent most of them from being physically present in preschools and from being involved in their children's learning. An action research approach was used in a case study of Bell Nursery in order to improve the quality of parental involvement among a group of working parents. The High/Scope curriculum was used at Bell Nursery. During periods of 'Plan-do-Review', nursery staff observed that children often planned rich play activities that were connected to their home culture. Three action strategies were implemented to increase and evaluate parental involvement: (1) ask parents and children to plan together at home (2) observe children's play during 'Plan-do-Review' time (3) ask parents about their involvement through planning As a result of parents and children planning together at home, clearer plans of activity were produced. Plans were continued and developed at both home and preschool. Planning at home resulted in a regular pattern of interaction between children, staff and parents. Staff reported that planning at home produced 'living play' that was based upon children's own lives. Living play enabled staff to develop an improved understanding of their teaching role, but also made them fear losing control of the preschool curriculum. Parents thought that 3-year olds were too young for planning, but 4- and 5-year-olds were capable planners. Although parents said that they were more involved in their children's learning, they did not know what children learned from the plans. There are important theoretical and practical implications of this action research. Policy makers and teachers must be aware of the importance of culture and context in children's learning. The crucial influence parents have on their children's culture and context must be allowed to feature strongly in the preschool curriculum.