Promoting power parents in children’s early education
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) sets children up for life: it lays the foundations on which they can achieve success in terms of education, well-being, employability and social integration. Providing support to parents to help them engage with their children’s early education can further extend the benefits of quality ECEC efforts. In Ireland, the Childhood Development Initiative(opens in new window) (CDI) works to support both children and parents during those first important years at school, with a specific focus on families experiencing poverty or social exclusion.
Powerful Parenting
Based in Tallaght, in Dublin, the CDI has developed the Powerful Parenting model(opens in new window) which provides a dedicated Parent/Carer Facilitator (PCF) within the neighbourhood’s ECEC services. “The PCFs work with parents to identify needs, offer one-to-one and group support, and coordinate with relevant education, health and social services,” says Catarina Leitão, who undertook a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellowship at the CDI. The aim of her project, called PEAR_EC, was to study the Powerful Parenting model, examine its impact on families and how it can inform ECEC policy. To get a better understanding of the model’s impact on families and children, Leitão compared parents receiving support from the model (the intervention group) with parents who did not (the comparison group). Parents from both groups completed an online questionnaire which included standardised tools to assess the parents’ relationships with ECEC practitioners, their home learning environment and their levels of stress. The project did not find any significant differences between the intervention and comparison groups, and impacts did not vary by family characteristics such as parents’ educational level, income, ethnicity and household constitution. “Since the intervention and control groups were not equivalent in all the observed background characteristics, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the impacts,” explains Leitão. However, other aspects of the project reinforced the relevance of integrating support for families within ECEC services. Interviews with parents, PCFs and ECEC managers focused on which characteristics of the Powerful Parenting model are the most helpful for parents and children. Their answers revealed that tailored support adapted to families’ needs and activities involving both children and parents are among the most valuable features of the model. “Parents described Powerful Parenting as a bridge between home and preschool,” says Leitão. One of the key benefits of the model highlighted by parents is that it improves their access to relevant information and allows for flexible support to each family’s unique needs.
Lessons from Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic introduced a host of new challenges for all families. Leitão and colleagues carried out a study(opens in new window) in the context of the PEAR_EC project to get a better understanding of the pandemic’s impact on families living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Among their findings, it emerged that parents’ stress during this period had a negative impact on their children’s behaviour and emotional management. Importantly, the study also reinforced previous research indicating that social support, childcare services and schools provide an important nurturing environment for both children and parents. “Research on the pandemic’s short- and long-term effects helps us better understand the needs and resources of families. The perspectives and experiences of children, parents and practitioners are critical to informing effective policy and practice aimed at supporting families,” says Leitão. She hopes the project’s findings will inform approaches to ensure greater access to more inclusive parenting support services during children’s early school years, especially for families in vulnerable situations, in the context of the recently launched national model of parenting support in Ireland.