Introduce
What is the difference between involvement & engagement?
Parental involvement refers to parents taking part in activities defined by the professionals or setting, e.g. attending a parent course or helping on a nursery trip.
Parental engagement suggests an active involvement of parents in supporting their child’s learning and developmental journey. This could include engagement in learning at home through encouragement, support and reading with their children, applying ideas learnt on a parenting course, effective communication between home & an early years settings.
Develop
From involvement to engagement
What does it look like to move from involvement to engagement? Here are some ideas:
- Listening to parents
- Supporting families to establish home environments to support children’s learning and development
- Information and ideas shared with families
- Including parents in decision making and planning
- Identifying and integrating resources and services to strengthen early years settings, family practices and child development.
Reflect
Stop and Reflect: Consider the following questions…
– What do you understand by the terms ‘parent involvement’ and ‘parental engagement’?
– Where would you place the parents that you interact with in your role on the continuum between ‘involvement’ and ‘engagement’?