ECE303 ASSESSMENT 2

Introduction
The definition of curriculum has been evolving through time, however it essentially
introduces and helps students adapt to a set of norms, knowledge, and skills for the
continuance of the society and is influenced by social, cultural, and political factors
(McLachan, Fleer & Edwards, 2018). The implementation of curriculum requires not only
teaching particular things in particular ways, but also largely depending on interactions with
children and intentions of educators (Mac Naughton, 2003). Even though the application of
knowledge and skills in teacher’s education appear to limit questioning and inquiry
(Gibbons, 2011), it is still extremely important for educators to be reflective and raise
questions and issues on the early childhood curriculum by understanding and analysing the
curriculum, as well as recognising their own position, in order to improve the quality of the
curriculum and optimise students’ learning based on their own teaching practices with the
integration of theories and researchers (MacNaughton, 2003).
This discussion paper will first introduce the background of a curriculum issue, which is
Educator-Parent relationships, to inform and explain the relevance and importance of this
issue in early childhood contexts. Next, positions on the chosen curriculum issue will be
discussed to recognise the predominant tendencies of each position, and implications on
each position on the curriculum issue will be presented to locate the positive impacts,
shortcomings and challenges on the early childhood curriculum. Finally, my own position on
the curriculum issue will be identified and justified with literatures.
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Curriculum Issue
Background of issue
Working with children who are in the early childhood setting not only involves working with
children, but also involves working with their parents or guardians, even extended families
(Hughes, Lawrence, Campbell & Page 2003). Research has shown that it is very beneficial for
all parties involved – parents, children and educators - to have meaningful and positive
relationships with each other and benefits may include encouraging children in their
learning that lead to positive outcomes, increasing of parental involvement in children’s
learning and positively influencing parents’ perception on the quality of care their children
are receiving from educators (Knopf & Swick, 2007). Even though it has become common
knowledge for early childhood professionals to have respectful and collaborative
relationships with families, and all families agree that having a partnership with educators is
beneficial , it can be difficult to establish and maintain these relationships with children’s
families and caregivers due to several reasons that are related to parents’ and educators’
perception on parent-teacher relationships (Beining, 2011), which will be explained and
analyzed below.

Teachers’ perception
First of all, studies have shown that educators are unsure of how to respond to the
complexity of family structures properly in regard to how much collaboration can occur
(Beining, 2011). Traditional family models which contains two parents with one or more
children has been found less common nowadays than diverse or blended families (Beining,
2011). It could be confusing for educators to differentiate roles of different family members
or unrelated guardian caregivers thus producing doubt and confusion on educator about
how much collaboration can occur with each. Moreover, studies have also shown that
relationship building with parents or caregivers for educators is not equally consistent with
each parent or caregiver, as there are some families thateducators feel easier to engage
with, some are more challenging. However, as to educators, there are some who are better
at building relationships with families, some who may find it more difficult (Schärer, 2018).
Furthermore, all early childhood educators see the “open-door” policy as an important
strategy to facilitate better communication with familiesHowever, there is ambivalence
found in educators’ reaction if educators do meet the demands of families, as educators feel
interrupted when entering conversations with families which could be time consuming in
limited working time (Schärer, 2018). Last but not least, Schärer’s research (2018), has
shown that early childhood educators wish to be seen as professionals and wish to be
respected, valued and appreciated. Some educators do not see themselves as partners of
parents, rather experts who have the need to teach parents or caregivers the appropriate
ways to interact with their children (Schärer, 2018).

Parents’ perception
Many parents have stated that their opinions and suggestions on important issues are rarely
sought and discussed with educators in regard to their child’s schooling when early
childhood educators appear to understand parents’ perspectives and think that they’ve
already established meaningful relationships with parents and caregivers (Knopf & Swick,
2007). This indicates that there is a need for early childhood educators to communicate with
parents in an ongoing way about their perceptions on issues and policies and to recognize
and value family involvement. Moreover, several studies have shown that parents’
perceptions of the quality of care their children are receiving are highly influenced by trust
in the teachers, as parents do not perceive their children having quality care when parents
distrust the educators of their children (Knopf & Swick, 2007). This indicates that parent-
teacher interactions do not stop when both parties are friendly enough, the experience of
teacher-parent interactions need to be empowering to both parents and their child to
create positive and meaningful engagement. Finally, parents have diverse values and
opinions on the involvement of their children’s learning Some parents consider their
involvement in schools as their responsibility and it’s important and necessary for them to
be present in school-based activities. However, some parents consider showing up at
school-based activities frequently could show that they distrust in the ability of educators
(Knopf & Swick, 2007). This indicates that parents wish to be understood and respected by
their differences to avoid misunderstanding and conflicts between teachers and parents.