Parent-Teacher Relationships among Low-Income Families

This paper examines parent-teacher relationships among parents with infants and toddlers. Through data gathered via brief questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, dyadic relationships between paired parents and early childhood educators were analyzed in order to identify the major themes of a typical parent-teacher relationship among ‘atrisk’ families. Through inductive analysis of the semi-structured interviews, three key themes of the dimensions of parent-teacher relationships and influences on these relationships were found. This paper focuses on one essential part of the three themes of parent-teacher relationships, communication, as well as factors that influence parentteacher relationships both positively and negatively. Findings show, overall, that parents and teachers have an understanding that open communication helps build effective, wellfunctioning relationships. Parents and teachers demonstrate a desire for open bidirectional communication as well as awareness that open communication is established through multiple communication strategies. The analysis suggests that parents and teachers of infants and toddlers felt their relationships were unique due to the extensive list of topics that parents and teachers discuss with one another, which exceeds the topics discussed by primary education teachers and parents. It was found that improvements should be made to center environments and staffing structures so that the greatest number of opportunities for parents and teachers to communication is possible. PARENTTEACHER RELATIONSHIPS 3 Parent-Teacher Relationships among Low-Income Families According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 2009) there is a shortage of high-quality childcare for children in their infant and toddler years. The early childhood years are recognized as being significant for the shaping of children’s futures and therefore high-quality childcare is essential (NAEYC, 2009). A major component of childcare, particularly during the infant and toddler years, is the coordination of care between the child’s home and school, and parent-teacher relationships are a critical component of this coordination. The National Association for the Education of Young Children suggests that meaningful relationships between teachers and families during children’s early learning years are linked to school readiness, later academic success in primary school, greater academic motivation, grade promotion, and socio-emotional skills (Halgunseth, Peterson, Stark & Moodie, 2009). Therefore, discovering the essential components that foster or hinder strong parent-teacher relationships is important to optimally support home-school connections. Parent-teacher relationships are vital as they allow both parents and teachers to better understand their children, or the children in their care, respectively, ultimately supporting children’s development (Reedy & McGrath, 2010). In the current literature there is a lack of sufficient research on parent-teacher relationships among children who are birth to toddler age, therefore a more in-depth exploration is necessary to provide additional insight into parental involvement, which correlates positively with pre-literacy skills in preschool age children (Arnold, Zeljo, & Doctoroff, 2008). In addition, understanding the relationships between parents and teachers of children in low-income families may assist childcare professionals to PARENTTEACHER RELATIONSHIPS 4 recognize the necessary improvements that need to be made in order to provide all children and families with optimal care. This study analyzes multiple parent-teacher relationships among low-income families with infants and toddlers in center-based childcare in order to identify the themes of relationships in such settings. Identifying themes will illuminate general areas in which parent-teacher relationships are excelling as well as areas that need improvement. Specific focus is placed on low-income families because families in poverty and/or with limited parental education are at-risk for negative child outcomes such as lower academic success and externalizing problems due to lack of resources and support (Nzinga-Johnson, Baker & Aupperlee, 2009). Gaining more insight on the dynamics of how parents, from a low SES background, work with teachers will be beneficial to help improve the learning environments of children in low-income families. Background Children have two major environmental influences in their lives: family and school. According to Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) these two arenas are central aspects of the child’s microsystem, which is defined as the relationships and interactions the child has with his or hers immediate surroundings (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The interactions between home and school (i.e., parent-teacher relationships) are part of the mesosystem. The mesosystem is the layer of the child’s life that provides the connection between the structures of the child’s microsystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The ways these two arenas interact with each other shape children’s development (Nzinga-Johnson et al., 2009). The dynamic between a child’s home life and school life depends on the primary participants in each arena, which are the parents and teachers (Nzinga-Johnson et al., 2009). Parents’ and teachers’ individual PARENTTEACHER RELATIONSHIPS 5 beliefs and values influence not only their interactions with each other but also the child’s outcomes (Nzinga-Johnson et al., 2009). Nzinga-Johnson (2009) conducted a three-year longitudinal study, analyzing teacher and family relationships and parental involvement among kindergarten children, and how factors such as race and socio-economic status (SES) altered these relationships. The results showed that both parents and teachers believed that the quality of the homeschool relationship influenced parental involvement regardless of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic factors. However, the self-identified race/ethnicity of participants did effect parental involvement among African American, Latino, and less educated parents, who tended to be less involved in school than White or more educated parents. One major limitation of this study was that parents were not asked to report on their perceived level of parental involvement or provide insight as to why they were not involved in their child’s education (Nzinga-Johnson et al., 2009). Participants were asked to report on their perceptions of their relationships by filling out questionnaires, teachers were asked to fill out a twelve item scale about perceived family involvement and a seven item scale on their perceived relationship with parents. Parents were asked to fill out one five-item scale on their perceptions of their relationship with their child’s teacher. These questionnaires are helpful for gaining a general idea of the nature of parent-teacher relationships, however, further research needs to be done to explore parent-teacher relationships in a more thorough and in-depth manner, one that attempts to capture the day-to-day interactions among teachers and parents. The majority of studies that have explored parent-teacher relationships have focused on families with preschool age or older children. Therefore, research on parent-teacher relationships for infant and toddler PARENTTEACHER RELATIONSHIPS 6 age children is also essential, as these are the very first parent-teacher relationships many families form and they may set the stage for later relationship patterns for school-age children. A childcare center setting differs from a formal primary education setting in many ways. One of the main differences includes parent-teacher communication (Reedy & McGrath, 2010). Teachers in a primary education setting communicate with parents primarily via handwritten notes or email; face-to-face communication is left for scheduled conferences, typically occurring two to four times a year (Reedy et al., 2010). In contrast, childcare settings allow for daily communication between parents and teachers twice per day, at pick up and drop off (Reedy et al., 2010). Reedy et al. (2010) created a model of effective communication for parents and teachers in a childcare setting. The data collected to create this model consisted of a two phase process in which childcare center directors were interviewed during phase one and the common themes that emerged from those interviewed were used to modify a questionnaire that was distributed to center directors in phase two. Reedy and colleagues identified a three part continuous model that emphasizes (1) continuous and ongoing communication, (2) open, bidirectional communication, and (3) education and competence for staff. Although Reedy and McGrath’s communication cycle serves as a beneficial guide for appropriate communication strategies for childcare professionals, gathering information from center directors may not provide the most accurate picture of communication practices between parents and teachers. Additional research that focuses on understanding parent-teacher relationships directly from parents and teachers can provide more specific detail. For example, one line of research could ask about the effective communication strategies and PARENTTEACHER RELATIONSHIPS 7 practices that are taking place within parent-teacher relationships and how these relationships are working. Parent-teacher relationships are ideally seen as a partnership where the parent and teacher work collaboratively in order to fully foster the child’s growth and development (McGrath, 2007). Previous research has shown for some families, partnerships like this are difficult to form because of the lack of parental involvement in the early childhood years due to the inability to develop mutual open communication or overall understanding (McGrath, 2007). McGrath conducted an observational case study on parent-teacher relationships in a