Positioning in relationships between parents and early years practitioners

ABSTRACT

Early years care and education have been high on British political agendas. This includes partnership working between early years practitioners and parents. Yet, more research is needed to examine how childcare staff engage with parents and vice versa. This study addresses the role of position and positioning in parent–practitioner relationships, through two small-scale studies. Study 1 is a quantitative study with two groups of early years students (N = 74); study 2 is a qualitative study with parents and early years practitioners, drawing on ‘synthesised’ discourse analysis as a methodological framework. Although exploratory, in both studies parents are positioned as the infant's first and foremost educators. In addition to this, parents are positioned in terms of deficiencies, in relation to their priorities, and background. At the same time, practitioners are positioned as supportive and willing to cooperate. More research is needed, with a view to empowering both early years practitioners and parents.

KEYWORDS:

• Positioning
• parent-partnerships
• engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on Contributor

Dr Wendy Sims-Schouten is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Continuing Studies at the University of Portsmouth where she specialises in research on positioning, mental health and critical realism. Her research and publications include the development of a critical realist discourse analysis framework studying motherhood and female employment, as well as positioning in relation to early years practitioners. Current projects include research on young care-leavers, bullying and the validation of a proposed mobile phone application, and issues concerning teenage pregnancies and mental health.