Beliefs of parents of preschool children about literacy: facilitative and conventional approaches

ABSTRACT

In the present study, we investigated the grouping of Greek parents of preschool children according to their beliefs about literacy by using a mixed-method approach. The sample included 147 parents of preschool children attending the 13 public kindergartens in the town of Pyrgos, in Greece. The participants completed a paper survey and 20 of them participated in semi-structured interviews, as well. The results revealed that parents could be categorized into two groups according to their beliefs about literacy: Facilitative and Conventional. Facilitative parents have a more holistic orientation, concerning literacy acquisition, while Conventional parents have a more skills-based orientation. The findings give an insight into parents’ beliefs about literacy and emphasize the importance of the congruence between home and school literacy. Implications and limitations are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Literacy development
• parents’ beliefs
• parents’ literacy practices
• facilitative and conventional parents
• preschool children

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.