Positive partnerships with families are built upon warmth and trust. When educators and families have a positive partnership, they can work together to meet children’s needs and support their development.
Positive partnerships between educators and families are also important because the way adults interact and communicate with each other demonstrates to a child how they should behave with other people. When a child sees kind and respectful relationships around them, they are more likely to be kind and respectful with other people as well. Therefore, role-modelling positive interactions with families should be vital to your work in early childhood education and care services.
By the end of this topic, you will understand:
- How to describe the key aspects of positive partnerships with families
- How to support families’ choices and decision-making
- How to demonstrate respect and understanding for families from different cultural backgrounds
- How to observe and reflect upon experiences to improve your relationships with families.
There are four (4) key aspects central to having positive partnerships with families:
- Family-centred care – This is a way of working with families that involves sharing knowledge, building on strengths and engaging in shared decision-making.
- Good communication – This is the foundation of a trusting relationship. When people trust each other, they can be open and honest about their feelings. When educators can communicate openly and honestly with families – and vice versa – they can work together to support children and each other.
- Empathy – This is the ability to ‘put yourself in someone else’s shoes’ and imagine what they are feeling. Empathy helps people feel connected to each other and accept different points of view. Some of the ways you might demonstrate empathy for parents and families include being kind and understanding, especially when people are stressed or going through a difficult period, and making an effort to understand other people’s circumstances and experiences.
- Respect for diversity – This is important because it makes it easier for families to trust you and share information, communication needs and expectations with you. Having trusting relationships with families will help you develop educational programs that build on children’s background and strengths, and support parents in their parenting role.
You can apply similar principles when working with professionals from other sectors, such as child and maternal health nurses, allied health professionals and early childhood intervention specialists.
Example
Here is an example of a policy and procedure regarding the interaction with children and families from the Little.ly Early Learning Centre.
Tip
When interacting with professionals from other sectors:
- Be open and honest
- Share relevant information and knowledge
- Try to understand the other professional’s point of view – ask them questions to gauge their concerns, views and perspectives
- Respect the other professional’s point of view, even if you do not agree
- Aim to build trust
WATCH
The following almost 6-minute video explains how to build partnerships effectively with families:
Check your understanding
Reflect on your own levels of empathy and answer the following self-reflective questions:
- What helps you empathise with someone who is facing a challenge or difficult issue?
For example:
- looking at the challenge from their point of view
- remembering a time I was in a similar situation
- considering how the person might be feeling and how this could lead them to respond to a situation.
- In what situations is it difficult for you to empathise with people?
For example:
- when a person’s behaviour is different to my morals and values
- when I think a person is ethically incorrect
- when a person has breached a legal requirement
- when a person has caused someone I care about pain or harm.
- How can you be more empathic in your everyday interactions with parents and families?
For example:
- actively listening to them when in conversations
- reflecting on their situation and how it might make them feel
- asking questions and getting to know about their family and culture and background
- finding connections and similarities between them and me
- putting myself in their shoes and asking myself ‘How would I feel in that situation, and how would I respond to it?’
- reminding myself, we are all human and make decisions and choices that do not have to be agreed upon by everyone
One of the foundations of positive partnerships with families is valuing and respecting different points of view.
As an educator, you have specialised professional knowledge that you can use to support children’s development. Parents and families also have expertise: They are experts on their own children and their own life circumstances. In a positive partnership, an educator and a family combine their knowledge – the educator’s specialist expertise and the family’s personal expertise – to discuss potential options for the child.
It is important to support families’ choices and decision-making processes. By doing so, you are showing that you respect and acknowledge their expertise and knowledge, even if you do not share their point of view.
You can support families’ choices and decision-making processes by:
- Not making assumptions about what they ‘need to know’ – ask parents about their goals and what information they are looking for
- Listening to parents carefully when they ask questions – acknowledge that they may be feeling anxious about something relating to their child’s health or wellbeing
- Providing support without judgment – talk about working on an issue together, rather than placing responsibility or blame on the parent
Some strategies you can implement at your education and care service are:
- Local community boards where you can provide information for local community links to help families access resources and organisations
- Community box, where families can donate materials and cans of food for families that may be in need
- Information packs about different organisations and resources that families can access, like inclusion support etc
- Creating parent groups for families to interact with one another and connect
- Inviting organisations and companies offering support to come into the service for information nights etc., to help connect families with them.
When communicating with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, it is important to show respect and understanding for beliefs, practices and views that differ from your own.
You can do this by:
- Being conscious of the potential to make assumptions based on stereotypes
- Making a conscious effort to learn more about cultural differences through your own self-directed learning and through professional development opportunities
- Observing families to get a sense of what they are comfortable with
Asking families questions to find out what they value, believe and expect.
WATCH
The following 2-and a half minute video shares some practical strategies that educators can implement to learn about a child’s family culture:
Older children can also share things about their own culture. The following 5-minute video is an example of older children sharing their family traditions:
One way you can work towards improving or enhancing your relationships with families is to reflect upon your own experiences when communicating with professionals – when you were in the position of the person seeking out or receiving advice, the same position a parent or carer of a child is in when they interact with you.
Think
Recall a time when you trusted a professional – such as a doctor or counsellor – and felt able to share your thoughts and opinions openly and honestly.
- What did the professional do to make you feel you could trust them?
- Can you apply any insights from those interactions to your own relationships with families?
Another approach to improving or enhancing your relationships with families is by observing your colleagues interacting with families. You can reflect on what you learn from these observations and consider how you can apply those insights to your own practice.
Example
Reflect on how you think educators would communicate with a parent and consider the following questions:
- How does their body language demonstrate openness and honesty?
- How do they demonstrate empathy for parents who are going through difficult situations? What do they say and do to show empathy?
Now think about what you can apply to your own practice when interacting with families:
- What are you doing well, and what can you improve upon?
- Do you inspire openness and honesty from families? Is your body language open and welcoming?
- Do you encourage shared decision-making? Do you ‘pay lip service’ to the concept of shared decision-making, or do you genuinely work towards shared decisions with families, even if that process might be difficult?
Once you have reflected upon your experiences and your observations of your colleagues, you should have a better understanding of the skills you need to improve or enhance. You can use these insights to identify opportunities to enhance your skills – opportunities might include professional development, coaching or mentoring. With the guidance and input of your supervisor, you can then develop an action plan for enhancing your skills.
Check your understanding
Identify a communication skill you would like to improve or develop in your work life. This can be a skill you are already practising or a skill you would like to develop before commencing placement.
It could be a skill relating to communication with children, families, colleagues or other professionals. It could relate to managing your anxiety in specific situations, working in partnership or understanding how to build positive relationships with people with different viewpoints.
Now identify at least TWO opportunities you could pursue to improve or enhance that skill.
You could take a short course or complete a coaching exercise or mentoring opportunity. These opportunities may be available through a private training organisation, a lead agency or a free online course provider, or they could be offered in your workplace (e.g. coaching from a senior staff member).
Develop a draft action plan of how you might pursue the two opportunities. Include descriptions of the opportunities, along with the cost and time required.
The communication skill you want to improve or develop could be:
- attending
- demonstrating empathy
- summarising
- managing your emotions
- active listening
- questioning.
Here are some ways to improve active listening, for example:
| Opportunity 1 | Engaging in reading and watching videos on Mind Tools website. This website provides a seven-minute article about active listening and how to apply it. There is also a video called ‘Improve Your Listening Skills With Active Listening’.
Cost: $0 |
| Opportunity 2 | Make a commitment to have a mindful conversation with someone every two to three days, where I am actively using active listening techniques. At the end of the conversation or at the end of the day, I will use a journal to reflect on how I applied the techniques, strengths, challenges and benefits.
Cost: $3 for journal and pen |
Use the following questions to check your knowledge. You can check the correct answer by clicking on the 'Answer' button:
1. What are the four (4) key aspects central to positive partnerships with families?
- Family-centred care: This is a way of working with families that involves sharing knowledge, building on strengths and engaging in shared decision-making.
- Good communication: This is the foundation of a trusting relationship. When people trust each other, they can be open and honest about their feelings. When educators can communicate openly and honestly with families – and vice versa – they can work together to support children and each other.
- Empathy: This is the ability to ‘put yourself in someone else’s shoes’ and imagine what they are feeling. Empathy helps people feel connected to each other and accept different points of view. Some of the ways you might demonstrate empathy for parents and families include being kind and understanding, especially when people are stressed or going through a difficult period, and making an effort to understand other people’s circumstances and experiences.
- Respect for diversity: This is important because it makes it easier for families to trust you and share information, communication needs and expectations with you. Having trusting relationships with families will help you develop educational programs that build on children’s backgrounds and strengths and support parents in their parenting role.
2. What are some strategies you can use to support families’ choices and decision-making processes?
You can support families’ choices and decision-making processes by:
- not making assumptions about what they ‘need to know’ – ask parents about their goals and what information they are looking for
- listening to parents carefully when they ask questions – acknowledge that they may be feeling anxious about something relating to their child’s health or wellbeing
- providing support without judgment – talk about working on an issue together, rather than placing responsibility or blame on the parent.
3. What are some strategies you can use to demonstrate respect and understanding for families from diverse cultural backgrounds?
You can do this by:
- being conscious of the potential to make assumptions based on stereotypes
- making a conscious effort to learn more about cultural differences through your own self-directed learning and through professional development opportunities
- observing families to get a sense of what they are comfortable with
- asking families questions to find out what they value, believe and expect.
