Parent-teacher cooperation in early childhood education – directors’ views to changes in the USA, Russia, and Finland

ABSTRACT

This article aims to show how parent-teacher cooperation has evolved over the past two decades from the perspectives of child care center directors in the USA, Russia, and Finland. When analyzing the phenomenon of educational cooperation in the studied contexts, it can be noted that significant societal changes have affected parenting and early childhood education as an institution and consequently the educational cooperation between parents and teachers. Today, parents have more information about early childhood education and its importance to child development. The value of childhood was seen to have grown in each national context. The changes in educational cooperation were closely tied to the political, societal, and cultural changes in each national context.

KEYWORDS:

• Educational cooperation
• change
• cross-cultural research
• focus group
• case study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.