Trend Two: Parents have a lot of Unrealized Power
By: Tarun Varma
Tags: Early Childhood Education, Insights, Covid 19, Perspective, Reflections

This article is part two of our four article series in early learning and childcare post covid. Read the introduction to the series here.

This crisis has forced a focus on the early years, particularly for parents of young children. The current pain felt firsthand by parents, while tough, also shines a spotlight on childcare, learning and early learning. Never before have educators engaged with parents at this scale before COVID-19; parents are so involved in their children's’ education, they are the teachers now. How can we systematically capitalise on this engagement with parents in a way that can last for generations?

“Can we capitalise on all that we have learnt and establish a contract with parents that can last for generations?” Maniza Ntekim, Eastern and Southern Africa Regional ECD Advisor, UNICEF

Parents have a lot of untapped power but they need to be enabled. Picture Credit: Second Sight

The problems with harnessing parent power in early learning:

There is no central place or source that parents of young children get their information about early learning, this is especially true for parents with children in the birth to three age group. Before the pandemic parents were typically reached through health systems, formal education systems and social welfare. However, this access is not equitable . Parents with children in the birth to three age group are lost between two systems; the healthcare system doesn’t give them the information they need to support their children outside of a health and nutrition perspective and they are not yet captured in the education system in most countries and teachers do not see this age group as part of their mandate.

. Parents with children in the birth to three age group are lost between two systems; the healthcare system doesn’t give them the information they need to support their children outside of a health and nutrition perspective and they are not yet captured in the education system in most countries and teachers do not see this age group as part of their mandate. There is an information and support gap for parents that starts during pregnancy. Different parents do not have the same access to information and support on how to support their child’s development in these crucial early years.

Early learning can seem expensive. In the UK, even parents who qualify for the highest subsidies from the government can still pay up to £800/month for early years education for their children. There are models in Scandinavia, France and Germany that provide basically free early learning at the point of provision as governments pay for it. The investment case to parents, society and to the child’s own life is not well made.

“The trinity of access, affordability and quality is an incredibly hard problem to solve.” Erica Mackey, Co-Founder, CEO, MyVyllage

There is no shared understanding among parents of what “high quality” early learning looks like. Some parents interpret “high quality” as children sitting at desks memorising the alphabet while others fully endorse play-based learning and Montessori, Reggio Emilia or Steiner models. As Erica Mackey, Co-founder and CEO of MyVyllage stated “the trinity of access, affordability and quality is an incredibly hard problem to solve.”

A way forward:

As someone who started an academy and moved to focus on the early years, Ed Vainker who features in our article on communications also mentioned the need for more alignment between health and education for the early learning age group. At a policy level, most people focus on school age children but that might be too late as some of the most crucial brain development has already happened. This birth to three age group needs more of our attention.

Traditionally, leaflets, support groups and parent classes have been good ways to start networks. Group classes for pregnant mothers have been a very successful model for middle to high income groups. Taking this model to lower income groups is one idea. Another interesting suggestion is conditional cash transfers: the more parent classes you attend, the more money you receive.

“When well done, early learning is cost effective and solves job creation, coverage of state led services and crosses over with health. The reach of early learning is an asset parents need to see as it informs a range of ballot box issues.” Vineet Bewtra