Training and support for practitioners

 

"This kind of work calls for an informed workforce, which is able to work responsively within agreed sets of aims to prevent the social exclusion of children and their parents."

Evangelou et al, Supporting Parents in Promoting Early Learning 2008

Poor communication and relationship skills on the part of practitioners have been identified as barriers to parental involvement. Training and support for practitioners is clearly an important part of tackling this barrier.

Findings from the ELPP and PPEL projects showed that practitioners valued the training they received and that it was vital in changing their attitudes towards parents:

Impact of training on practitioners

 

Re-focusing on parents as partners not clients

One of the chief outcomes of the training was a shift in practitioner attitude. Instead of perceiving parents primarily as vulnerable clients, practitioners started to see them as partners in children's learning. The focus on the primary importance of learning at home and helping parents to enjoy their children also serves to move the focus from 'parents helping teachers' to 'parents as parents' in their own right.

"Before any of the training I was very nervous about working with parents; I was very much going in to talk to the children and just kind of ignore the parents. But now I'm more confident, and I think because of the training I've received, I've got more knowledge now about how to do it."

Trained teacher who joined a new ELPP team and took part in PEEP and ICAN training

 

Clear understanding of what to do that helps

Both parents and practitioners reported a real transformation in the ways in which practitioners communicated with parents about their children's learning. Understanding the research evidence about the importance of the home learning environment and brain development in the early years gives practitioners a clear and common purpose in their work with parents.

"I think perhaps it has made us seize opportunities a bit more, where in the past … there might have been opportunities – but as the volunteers hadn't accessed the training, it wasn't at the forefront of our mind as much. I suppose they feel more confident in suggesting something with a family …. than they would have done before."

Home-Start organiser

 

Ability to make informed responsive decisions

The dual focus in early home learning services on engaging socially excluded parents at the same time as preparing them to support their children as learners requires practitioners to have the flexibility and skill to respond to different needs and situations.

All training to involve parents in their children's early learning focuses on giving practitioners a set of knowledge, attitudes, skills and resources that they can use flexibly in their work with individual families.

"Their lives are chaotic, hectic and change a lot. You don't know what you're going to be faced with each visit. Each week it can be something else. So basically if there's something going on that's happened in that week which is really awful in their life like rats running across the beds, then they're not going to sit and do sticky and colouring with the children really. But they might sit and read books all together … just calming things."

Early years practitioner

"Well we've certainly taken on the PEEP methodology in a big way, but we've adapted it quite considerably in the way that we use the materials and I can quite honestly say that's often on a group to group basis. You know what works well for each group."

Early years practitioner

 

Enthusiasm and motivation

A common theme among practitioners who have undertaken generic training such as PEAL or programme-specific training is the sense of 'not being able to wait to put it into practice'. A real thirst for knowledge and understanding was very evident in the ELPP evaluation, regardless of professional background.

"The volunteers love it... And some of the volunteers have come back after some of the training and they've gone to see a family and they've come back here so excited about what they've done and what they've achieved."

Early years manager

Given the varied professional backgrounds of staff working with parents in the early years, training plans need to take account of the different starting points and learning requirements of practitioners. A menu-based approach comprising three key elements can be helpful in meeting different learning needs:

Training to involve parents in early learning diagram

A range of Icon: Acrobat PDFprogrammes and resources are available to provide training in these three elements.

Making the most of training

Changing the ways in which practitioners interpret their work and providing them with tools and resources to engage parents as effective partners in their children's learning can lead to lasting change in attitudes and ways of working.

The ELPP evaluation showed that there were particular factors that contributed to the successful embedding of training.

Key factors for sustaining the impact of training

  • A 'whole setting' approach, training every practitioner to work in partnership with parents to engage them in their children's learning as part of their role. This integrates parental involvement into every activity and has a much greater impact than specially trained staff delivering discrete programmes to parents.
  • Embedding learning through supervision, focused staff meetings to discuss case studies or review progress and buddying or mentoring by more experienced staff.
  • Developing cross organisational training and practitioner forums to disseminate good practice and ensure a common understanding of, and approach to, early home learning.
  • Building parent involvement in children's early learning into the induction training of new staff.
  • Recognising and addressing outstanding training needs that may be impeding service development, such as training in outreach, multi-agency teamwork or project management.

 

"The really crucial bit is buddying them up with a setting where their practice is more advanced, going out and having a look and discussing with practitioners who are doing it."

Head of Early Years

 

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Last updated: 3rd December 2009 at 04:12:19