What is a parent/carer partnership?

It is well established that the role of a child’s main caregivers at home – parents, carers or guardians – is paramount to a child’s development and wellbeing. They are the ones who spend the most time with their children and understand them like nobody else. They are the experts on their littles ones and, by harnessing the power of working in partnership with parents/carers, educators can begin to build special relationships of their own.

What is a parent/carer partnership?

Parent/carer partnerships in the early years refer to the relationship that early education and care professionals develop with the main caregivers of children within the setting. Just as we develop unique relationships with the children in our care, it is important that our partnerships with their grown-ups follow the same path.

An effective parent/carer partnership can be referred to as a ‘Triangle of Trust’ – a three-way relationship between the child, main caregivers and theearly education and care professional. This model helps to demonstrate the part that each person plays towards the common aim of doing the best for every child. By positioning the child as an equal in this partnership, we are inviting their voice to be heard and the partnership is an inclusive one ‘with’ the child, rather than ‘about’ them.

Why is a parent/carer partnership important?

Research shows us that, whilst a high-quality early education and care setting (such as a nursery or childminder) has a significant impact on a child’s later outcomes, the home-learning environment is the most significant factor to enable children to thrive. This makes it even more important that we understand the home environment (such as the family culture, interests and wider circumstances) to know how best to support our entire triangle of trust.

Keeping things accessible to encourage a parent/carer partnership

Parenting is a full-time job, with no lunch breaks and certainly no annual leave. Things can get chaotic, and moments of developing partnership can often fall to the wayside during a rushed drop-off or a forgotten reply to your key child’s latest learning journal update.

To maximise communication, think about how you can make opportunities to engage more accessible to all.

• Offer ‘parent/carer evenings’ on multiple occasions and at different times of the day to help those who might struggle to attend.  
• If you don’t already, encourage children to come along to these events, opening up the space for those without other childcare provision.
• Try to send any information that requires a response in advance, with a follow-up post for those who have not got back to you. This creates more time and space to get the responses you need.

Make the most of the settling-in period to support the establishment of a positive partnership

Whether a child is starting at a setting for the first ever time, or moving to a new setting from a previous provision, the settling-in process is one that supports both child and parent/carer to feel welcome, understood and safe.

Stay and play sessions offer not only a way to reassure children in the transition, but also a space for practitioners to ask the grown-ups about family life and unique interests, routines and interests to best meet the child’s needs.

Taking time to review each day with a new starter is also crucial. We all know that it can take time to learn what works best for each child and providing more space for detailed handovers allows you to ask questions to understand them better every day.

Build bridges around the learning children are doing

Particularly with younger children, it can be difficult for those at home to draw out information on the things their children have been up to during the day. Whilst learning journals are great for highlighting key activities, they limit the kind of interaction a parent or carer can have to just ‘seeing’.

Why not provide an activity to take home that allows the child to extend their learning in setting, but at home? This encourages a parent/carer to interact and get involved in ‘doing’ too!

Key takeaways

Every family is unique, with their own strengths and struggles – a lot of which aren’t visible at the nursery door. Be mindful of this if you have parents/carers who appear ‘less engaged’ in the daily communication – just because we don’t see a typical reaction of engagement, it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested.

It's always important to acknowledge that, when a parent/carer drops their child off in the mornings, they are handing you the most precious part of their world. Let’s make sure we do everything we can to keep them involved, understood and respected in their child’s daily lives, even when they can’t be there.