Collaboration with immigrant parents in early childhood education in Slovenia: How important are environmental conditions and skills of teachers?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse how important are specific environmental conditions and skills of early childhood education (ECE) teachers as predictors of collaboration with immigrant parents. The study included 348 ECE teachers in Slovenia. The results revealed that environmental conditions (e.g., gender, level of education, job position, educational environment support) are important predictors of collaboration with immigrant parents. Male teachers, teachers whose job position is ECE teacher rather than assistant teacher, and teachers who have higher levels of education reported a significantly better collaboration with immigrant parents than female teachers and teachers with lower educational levels. Regarding ECE teacher skills, results revealed that interpersonal and professional skills (e.g., positive values, positive attitudes towards teaching immigrant children and perceived immigrant child misbehaviour) are important predictors of reported collaboration with immigrant parents in ECE. The results are of practical significance for ECE teachers, immigrant parents and ECE management staff.

Keywords:

• early childhood education
• teachers
• immigrant parents
• interpersonal skills
• collaboration

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Immigrant parents sometimes feel uncomfortable when they have to collaborate with kindergarten or school and some ECE teachers are more successful in collaboration with immigrant parents than others. In this study we examined specific conditions related to ECE teachers, that might be important in collaboration with immigrant parents. We found that male ECE teachers, teachers with higher education level, teachers with positive values and positive attitudes toward immigrants, report better collaboration with immigrant parents. These findings are important for managers when they decide who will work with immigrant parents and are important for ECE teachers to recognize that positive attitudes, positive values and higher education level enables teachers for better collaboration with immigrant parents.

1. Introduction

Collaboration with immigrant parents in early childhood education (ECE) is part of a social and school ecological framework that includes school, family, and community contexts (Christenson, 2004). When referring to collaboration with immigrant parents, we consider the partnership between kindergarten teachers and other professional staff and immigrant parents (family). This relationship should be collaborative and non-hierarchical, allowing parents and professionals to communicate, participate, and interact in order to improve and support optimal development of the child (Epstein, 2011; Ishimaru, 2020; Jensen, 2011). Partnership collaboration with immigrant parents should be an open space for learning, where parents learn from ECE teachers and their experiences, and vice versa (Christenson, 2004; Epstein, 2011; Jensen, 2011). Such a relationship is the foundation for true partnership and an effective collaboration with families and immigrant communities (Bates, 2005; Carlson & Christenson, 2005; Obeng, 2007; Smith et al., 2014). Collaboration with parents, when successfully implemented, can support numerous positive outcomes for immigrant children, including enhanced educational achievements, school readiness, social-emotional development, and the successful adjustment to a new cultural environment (Cun, 2020; Ishimaru, 2020; Kingston et al., 2013; Lahaie, 2008; Magnuson et al., 2006; McWayne et al., 2021).

However, research in education revealed several barriers regarding collaboration with immigrant parents that contribute to a significantly less positive impact (Hill & Torres, 2010; Sohn & Wang, 2006; Torres Fernandez, 2015; Turney & Kao, 2009). Parents of an immigrant child often have a poor understanding of the host country’s language. They are less aware of the prevailing norms in kindergarten and the host country’s culture in general, and, as a result, are less often involved and responsive at parent-teacher interviews and meetings (Souto-Manning, 2007; Van Laere & Vandenbroeck, 2017; Winterbottom, 2013). They often do not oppose advice and guidance due to poor participation at parent-teacher interviews and meetings (Ansari et al., 2018; Brain & Reid, 2003; Tobin et al., 2013). Even when such parents respond to the invitation, they prefer to be in the background as compared to other parents. When problems occur in kindergarten, they usually accept their responsibility but do not implement the agreement that could correct the child’s condition, which demonstrates a lower willingness to cooperate (Chan, 2011; Cottle & Alexander, 2014; Gregg et al., 2012; Marsh & Raimbekova, 2021; Tobin, 2020; Turney & Kao, 2009). Immigrant parents may also find it surprising when ECE teachers wish to actively involve them in the educational process, such as through active participation in parent-teacher meetings and parent-teacher interviews, as well as in carrying out activities, attending events, or carrying out home activities with the child, because they are not used to such collaboration in their home country (Gillanders et al., 2012; Jones, 2013; Tobin et al., 2013; Trumbull et al., 2003).

Such barriers can be quite frustrating and stressful for the ECE teachers. They need support in the environment and in their professional development in order to cope with the situation and perceive their responsibility (Atiles et al., 2017). An additional barrier can derive from the teachers’ own perceptions, attitudes, and values. Research reveals that ECE teachers view immigrant children as problematic and situate the problem first and foremost in the child or parent, rather than considering how these children and their families enrich the kindergarten environment or seeing the children’s learning as their responsibility (Pulinx et al., 2015; Sirin et al., 2009; Souto-Manning & Swick, 2006; Van Laere & Vandenbroeck, 2017). It seems that teachers’ deficit beliefs in the learning capabilities influence their interaction with immigrant children, which in turn impacts negatively on the learning outcomes. Furthermore, there is often a tension between the perspectives of immigrant parents and ECE staff (Tobin et al., 2013). Teachers’ beliefs about students and immigrant families could hinder partnership collaboration if teachers conceptualise the family’s differences as deficits instead of strengths (Hoot et al., 2003; Jones, 2013).

Therefore, ECE teachers need support from the educational environment and professional background on the local level. This includes, for example, the appropriate level of education, working experiences in multicultural education, support of the colleagues and kindergarten management, support of education psychologist, enough didactical tools for teaching immigrant children, and bilingual children literature (Baum & Swick, 2008; Licardo, 2020). They also need the support of the larger community, through that of interpreters or translators, NGO’s, governmental institutions, immigrant education policy etc. (Gandara & Contreras, 2009; Janta & Harte, 2016; UNHCR, UNICEF and IOM, 2019). Both kinds of support needs can be addressed as environmental conditions. Research also indicates that ECE teachers’ interpersonal skills related to education in multicultural environment are important because they may perceive the barriers and situations in deficit terms, as children not being motivated or interested in learning or as parents not being interested in the child’s education and well-being (Jerlan & Friedman, 2005; Souto-Manning, 2007; Van Laere & Vandenbroeck, 2017).

The purpose of this research is to better understand the complex system of educational environments and the interplay between several variables that might influence collaboration with immigrant parents (ecological conditions and teacher skills). Our research hypotheses are: a) if teachers who have more work experience, a higher level of education, or better environment support regarding collaboration with immigrants, they will report better collaboration with immigrant parents, and b) if teachers who express higher positive values and higher positive attitudes towards immigrants, and who are more emotionally competent and perceive lower immigrant child misbehaviour, they will report better collaboration with immigrant parents.

With this framework, we want to research the collaboration with immigrant parents from a more complex perspective and determine the influence of several variables that might contribute to a better understanding of teachers’ competences in collaboration with immigrant parents, as well as how to better support them.

2. Methods

2.1. Participants and data collection

The participants (n = 348) in the study were ECE teachers (n = 185) and ECE teacher assistants (n = 163) in Slovenia. We address both groups as ECE teachers since both are professionals in ECE. The majority (95.7%) of them are female. Most of the ECE teachers had bachelor’s (50%) and master’s degrees (35.9%). Similarly, the majority of ECE teacher-assistants had an upper-secondary education for preschool education (71.8%), whereas all other assistants had a higher education level. In Slovenia, the minimum requirement for teacher assistants is an ECE upper-secondary education. The largest groups in terms of work experience consisted of participants who had 6 to 10 years of work experience (25.9%), 31 or more years of work experience (18.7%), up to 5 years of work experience (16.7%), and 16 to 20 years of work experience (14.4%). The age range of all participants was 18 years old to more than 56 years old. The four largest age groups consisted of participants between 36 and 40 years of age (32.8%), between 24 and 29 years of age (15.5%), 56 years of age or older (13.2%), and between 30 and 35 years of age (12.1%).

The participants were from different regions in Slovenia, including villages (n = 33, 9.5%), towns (n = 34, 9.8%), and cities (n = 281, 80.7%). They were recruited via e-mail or by personal contact from the researchers. The first phase of data collection was made with printed versions of the questionnaire, while the second phase of data collection was made online. The participants consisted of a convenient sample. Questionnaire was sent to all the kindergartens in Slovenia. They were informed about the purpose of the study and the voluntary nature of their anonymous participation and possible publications of the data. They had the opportunity to contact the researchers in case of questions and comments. Ethical committee of the Faculty of Education, Department of preschool education approved the research.

2.2. The instrument

The instrument was designed for the purpose of this study. It is a self-reported questionnaire for ECE teachers that examines demographic variables together with six measures. One measure addressed ecological conditions (SE—support from environment), three measures addressed interpersonal skills (TA—positive teacher attitudes, TV—positive teacher values, and EC—teacher emotional competences), and one measure addressed professional skills (PCM—perception of immigrant children misbehaviour) as independent variables. Lastly, another measure addressed teacher competences in collaboration with immigrant parents in ECE (CIP) as a dependent variable. For all measures, a five-point Likert scale was used. The measures were validated with an exploratory factor analysis to establish the discriminant validity of the constructs and to dismiss possible common method bias concerns. A principal component analysis (rotation method: oblimin with Kaiser normalization) in SPSS was conducted to reduce the larger set of variables that retain the most relevant information about their common variance. In general, the instrument as a whole exhibited appropriate internal consistency and the Cronbach’s alpha values for most of the dimensions were high (≥ .70), with a few dimensions presenting acceptable results below this criterion, as reported in Table 1 (Cortina, 1993; Taber, 2018). In addition, the measures’ component structure was considered of good quality, with factor loadings varying from medium to high level as described below.

Table 1. Means, standard deviations, reliabilities, and correlations of sum variables

	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. Support of Environment	2.98	0.63	(0.77)
2. Teacher values	4.75	0.35	0.25**	(0.61)
3. Emotional competences	4.06	0.39	0.01	0.16**	(0.73)
4. Teacher attitudes	3.55	0.78	0.25**	0.37**	0.19**	(0.70)
5. Perceived child misbehaviour	2.00	0.62	−0.15**	−0.23**	0.12*	−0.15**	(0.94)
6. Collaboration with immigrant parents	3.23	0.68	0.28**	0.30**	0.23**	0.35**	0.22**	(0.70)

The concepts (except demographic variables) are measured on a scale from 1 to 5. Higher scores reflect a greater extent of the measured variable. Alpha reliability coefficients of predictor and outcomes measures are shown on the diagonal.

*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01

2.3. Description of the measures and demographic variables

1) Demographic variables (DV) included gender (male or female), age (labelled by age group), years of work experience (labelled by year group), job position (ECE teacher or ECE teacher assistant), highest level of education (upper secondary, bachelor’s, or master’s degrees), and location of kindergarten (village, town, or city).

2) Support from the educational environment in working with immigrant children (SE) measured various resources and support options in the educational environment. The scale generated three components. Component 1 (α = 0.80) comprised four items that explained 41% of the variance with component loadings from 0.71 to 0.85. Component 2 (α = 0.76) comprised two items that explained 18% of the variance with component loadings from 0.85 to 0.90. Component 3 (α = .57) comprised two items that explained 13% of the variance with component loadings from 0.63 to 0.91.

3) Teacher values (TV) is a measure of how teachers are involved in supporting others and relating to them equally. The scale generated one component (α = 0.61) that comprised five items that explained 39% of the variance with component loadings from 0.54 to 0.74.

4) The emotional competences (EC) measure analyses the teachers’ ability to perceive, regulate, integrate, and understand their own emotions and the emotions of others. The scale generated six components. Component 1 (α = 0.90) comprised four items that explained 30% of the variance with component loadings from 0.68 to 0.93. Component 2 (α = 0.81) comprised three items that explained 13% of the variance with component loadings from 0.53 to 0.90. Component 3 (α = 0.81) comprised five items that explained 11% of the variance with component loadings from 0.48 to 0.75. Component 4 (α = 0.79) comprised two items that explained 8% of the variance with component loadings from 0.86 to 0.91. Component 5 (α = 0.71) comprised three items that explained 6% of the variance with component loadings from 0.55 to 0.81. Finally, component 6 (α = 0.68) comprised three items that explained 5% of the variance with component loadings from 0.67 to 0.78.

5) The teacher attitudes (TA) measure examines positive attitudes towards immigrant children, such as how teachers believe that immigrant children can be successfully integrated in lessons. The scale generated one component (α = 0.70) that comprised four items that explained 54% of the variance with component loadings from 0.71 to 0.73.

6) Perceived immigrant child misbehaviour (PCM) measures teacher’s perception of immigrant children behaviour in various possible negative expressions. The scale generated 5 components. Component 1 (α = 0.93) comprised seven items that explained 47.92% of the variance with component loadings from 0.52 to 0.87. Component 2 (α = 0.83) comprised five items that explained 7.47% of the variance with component loadings from 0.52 to 0.92. Component 3 (α = 0.85) comprised five items that explained 6.79% of the variance with component loadings from 0.53 to 0.70. Component 4 (α = 0.74) comprised three items that explained 5.85% of the variance with component loadings from 0.65 to 0.71. Component 5 (α = 0.66) comprised two items that explained 5% of the variance with component loadings from 0.62 to 0.70.

7) Collaboration with immigrant parents (CIP) measures collaboration of ECE teachers with immigrant parents in terms of teacher’s competences in parent-teacher partnership. The scale generated three components. Component 1 (α = 0.71) comprised three items that explained 35.43% of the variance with component loadings from 0.61 to 0.91. Component 2 (α = 0.81) comprised two items that explained 21.61% of the variance with component loadings from 0.90 to 0.91. Component 3 (α = 0.64) comprised three items that explained 15.70% of the variance with component loadings from 0.37 to 0.86.

2.4. Analyses

The proposed hypotheses were first tested using both a correlation matrix (Pearson correlation coefficient) and a hierarchical regression analysis (HRA) with the mean variables taken from each measurement in SPSS. When entering predictor variables for collaboration with immigrant parents (CIP) into the regression model, control variables were entered in the first step (i.e., gender, age, years of work experience, job position, and level of education). Support from the environment (SE) was entered in the second step, and interpersonal variables with one professional skill (TV, EC, TA—as interpersonal skills, PCM—as professional skill) in the third step. In the HRA, we wanted to specify how predictor and outcome variables are connected via linear regressions in our model .

3. Results

3.1. Descriptive statistics and correlations

Descriptive statistics, correlations, and Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities are presented in Table 1. In the following interpretation, in addition to the correlation matrix, we also describe the descriptive statistics for mean variables that are not presented in the Table 1.

Descriptive statistics indicate that ECE teachers perceive medium support from their environment (SE, M = 2.98; SD = 0.63) when working with immigrant children. The highest mean value in SE is for the support and assistance of counselling services in kindergarten (M = 3.19; SD = 1.18). On the other hand, from the mean values of SE individual items, we can conclude that teachers need more immigrant children’s literature (M = 2.58; SD = 1.00), more support from interpreters and translators (M = 2.72; SD = 1.16), more support from governmental institutions (M = 2.74; SD = 0.75), and more support from NGOs that work with immigrants (M = 2.99; SD = 1.13). Support of environment positively correlates with teacher values (r_SE-TV = 0.25, p < 0.00), teacher positive attitudes (r_SE-TA = 0.25, p < 0.00), and collaboration with immigrant parents (r_SE-CIP = 0.28, p < 0.00). There is also significant negative correlation between SE and perceived child misbehaviour (r_SE-PCM = −0.15, p < 0.00), which indicates that teachers who have more support from the environment perceive behavioural or emotional difficulties among immigrant children less often.

The teacher values measure is the highest rated variable (TV, M = 4.75; SD = 0.35). Mean values for TV indicate that ECE teachers highly value moral values and ethical behaviour; for example, the highest value is related to the importance of teaching children about honesty and responsibilities (M = 4.95; SD = 0.29) and the importance of equitable treatment and everyone having equal opportunities (M = 4,82; SD = 0.63). Teacher values positively correlate with emotional competences (r_TV-EC = 0.16, p< 0.00), positive attitudes towards immigrant children (r_TV-TA = 0.37, p < 0.00), and collaboration with immigrant parents (r_TV-CIP = 0.30, p < 0.00). The strongest negative correlation is between TV and perceived child misbehaviour (r_TV-PCM = −0.23, p < 0.00), which indicates that teachers who express high moral and ethical values will less often perceive immigrant child misbehaviour or will interpret such behaviour in a different way, with broader understanding of educational context and values.

The emotional competences measure is the second highest rated variable (EC, M = 4.06; SD = 0.39) with mean values for individual items varying between 3.40 and 4.51. The highest individual items for EC are related to the teachers’ perception and integration of emotions, such as items like “I can describe my emotions” (M = 4.32; SD = 0.64), and “When I’m satisfied, I usually do more than I planned” (M = 4.40; SD = 0.70). The lowest means for EC are for items that correspond to regulation of emotions; for example, “I make conscious effort to reduce negative emotions” (M = 3.80; SD = 0.72), and “When seeing that anger doesn’t benefit me, I try to consciously get rid of it” (M = 3.86; SD = 0.83). Teachers’ emotional competences positively correlate with positive teacher attitude (r_EC-TA = 0.19, p < 0.00), perceived child misbehaviour (r_EC-PCM = 0.12, p < 0.00), and collaboration with immigrant parents (r_EC-CIP = 0.23, p < 0.00).

Teacher attitudes towards immigrant children are rated at a medium level (TA, M = 3.55; SD = 0.78), varying between 3.00 and 4.06. These mean values for TA are not as high as expected or as they should be, according to the recommendations in the literature and educational policies regarding teacher attitudes (Janta & Harte, 2016). The highest mean value is teachers’ positive attitude regarding teaching immigrant children and their abilities to adapt to a new educational environment; for example, “Guided activities can always be successfully integrated with immigrant children” (M = 4.06; SD = 0.82) and “Immigrant children adapt quickly” (M = 3.77; SD = 0.71). The lowest mean value is for teachers’ attitude related to language learning. The fact that few teachers believe that the use of child’s primary language should be encouraged (M = 3.00; SD = 1.27) called our attention. The result of standard deviation for this item, however, indicate there are some differences among individual teachers in the sample. In addition, TA positively correlates with all other variables, with the exception of perceived child misbehaviour, as mentioned previously.

Perceived child misbehaviour is the lowest rated variable (PCM, M = 2.00; SD = 0.62). The variable mean values are quite low, varying between 1.42 and 3.85, which indicates that there are not many occurrences of emotional or behavioural difficulties among immigrant children as perceived by ECE teachers in this sample. The highest mean value is the item related to social integration and learning: “The child participates in activities” (M = 3.85; SD = 0.90), “The child joins the group himself” (M = 3.59; SD = 1.05), and “The child has difficulty concentrating on the activity” (M = 2.46; SD = 1.13). The lowest mean values indicate that specific difficulties such as aggression rarely occur; for example, “The child gives offensive nicknames and intimidates others (M = 1.39; SD = 0.57), “The child is intrusive to peers” (M = 1.64; SD = 0.87), and “The child is physically aggressive (hitting, pushing, kicking, spitting)” (M = 1.72; SD = 0.91). In addition to all other correlations mentioned previously, PCM negatively correlates with teacher attitude (r_PCM-TA = −0.15, p < 0.00), which is expected since teachers who have positive attitudes towards immigrant children probably make efforts to support the child in coping with anxiety, respecting the rules, social integration, and other difficulties typical for early childhood like sleeping, eating, communication, etc. (Tobin, 2020).

Finally, collaboration with immigrant parents (CIP) is perceived at a medium level (M = 3.23; SD = 0.68), with mean values varying between 2.78 and 3.84. The highest mean value is for the items, “I involve the parents of immigrant children in activities throughout the year” (M = 3.84; SD = 1.10), “When working with immigrant parents, I have the support of management” (M = 3.67; SD = 1.08), and “I involve parents of immigrant children in activities at the beginning of the year” (M = 3.66; SD = 1.27). The lowest mean values for individual items are, “To make it easier to work with immigrant parents, I also learn a few words in their language” (M = 2.78; SD = 1.30) and “There are problems with parents of immigrant children because of the cultural differences” (M = 2.32; SD = 1.13). Collaboration with immigrant parents positively correlates with all other dimensions (SE, TV, EC, TA, PCM). All reported significant correlations are at a low and moderate level, varying between 0.22 and 0.35 (p < 0.00), the strongest being with teacher positive attitudes towards teaching immigrant children (r_CIP-TA = 0.35, p < 0.00).

3.2. Teachers’ ecological conditions and skills as predictors of ECE teacher collaboration with immigrant parents

Table 2 presents the results of HRA in three steps: entering demographic variables representing professional background in step 1, support from the educational environment in work with immigrant children and families in step 2, and the interpersonal and professional skills of ECE teachers in step 3.

Table 2. Hierarchical multiple regression for mean variables for collaboration with immigrant parents reported by ECE Teachers

	ECE teachers’ reported collaboration with immigrant parents
	Model 1			Model 2				Model 3
	B	β		B	β			B	β
Step 1: Demographic variables
Gender	0.57**	0.17**		0.56**	0.17**			0.65**	0.19**
Age	−0.01	−0.02		−0.03	−0.10			−0.02	−0.07
Years of working experience	0.07*	0.22*		0.13**	0.42**			0.07*	0.21*
Job position	0.16	0.12		0.21*	0.16*			0.26**	0.20**
Level of education	0.12*	0.14*		0.25**	0.29**			0.21**	0.25**
Location	−0.08	−0.08		−0.14*	−0.13*			−0.06	−0.05
ΔR^2		0.07**
Step 2: Support of Environment				0.44**	0.41**			0.27**	0.25**
ΔR^2					0.14**
Step 3: Teacher predictor variables
Teacher values								0.48**	0.25**
Emotional competences								0.02	0.01
Teacher attitudes								0.25**	0.29**
Perceived Child Misbehaviour								0.31**	0.28**
ΔR^2									0.18**
Total R^2		0.07**			0.21**				0.39**
F for ΔR^2		4.10**			60.08**				24.59**

Hierarchical regression analysis (HRA) was conducted with the ECE teachers’ collaboration with immigrant parents as an independent variable. As illustrated in Table 2, demographic variables (DV) entered in the first step accounted for 7% of variance, with gender (male), years of working experience, and level of education acting as the strongest predictors for collaboration with immigrant parents in this step. HRA indicates that male teachers who have more experience and bachelor’s or master’s degrees perceive better collaboration with immigrant parents. Interestingly, although there were few males in the sample (4.3 %), results indicate that male teachers report better collaboration with parents. Support from the environment (SE) that was entered in step 2 accounted for 14% of variance, with SE a strong and positive predictor of collaboration with parents. The explained variance with specific ecological conditions (DV and SE) in step 2 accounts for a total of 14%, with gender, years of work experience, job position, level of education, and environment support acting as strong positive predictors of teachers’ competences for collaborating with immigrant parents.

In the third step, ECE teachers’ skills for working with immigrant children were entered. They accounted for 18% of explained variance (step 3); the explained variance with specific ecological conditions (DV), support of educational environment (SE), and teachers’ skills (TV, EC, TA, PCM) accounted for 39% of variance in total. These results may be considered practically significant. The strongest positive predictor among interpersonal skills are positive teacher attitudes towards teaching immigrant children, followed by perceived immigrant child misbehaviour and teachers’ values. The results indicate that ecological conditions are slightly less important predictors, as compared to teachers’ interpersonal and professional skills. Results in step 3 indicate that level of education, years of experience, and job position (teachers vs. assistant) are significant predictors too, which is not a surprise since these factors have a direct impact on teachers’ competence development over time (Licardo, 2020). Support of the educational environment is also an important predictor in collaboration with parents. However, considering all factors, the strongest predictors are related to interpersonal skills (TA, TV) and professional skills (PCM), whereas teachers’ age, kindergarten location, and emotional competences are not important predictors regarding collaboration with immigrant parents.

4. Discussion

The educational environment and various related interactions create a complex system of relations and specific outcomes. The purpose of this study was to better understand the influence of specific variables that might be important, according to the literature and educational policies in many countries that deal with immigrant children and families in ECE (Matthews et al., 2015). Specifically, we aimed to analyse perceived collaboration with immigrant parents by ECE teachers. The study revealed that specific environmental and ecological conditions, together with specific ECE teachers’ interpersonal and professional skills, are important predictors of perceived collaboration with immigrant parents in ECE.

4.1. Environmental conditions as predictors of collaboration with immigrant parents

Among demographic variables, important predictors indicate that male teachers, teachers whose job position is ECE teacher (rather than ECE teacher assistant), teachers who have more years of experience, and teachers who have a higher level of education (bachelor’s degree or higher) report significantly better collaboration with immigrant parents. These results are of practical significance for ECE management staff which are responsible for staffing in the kindergartens and rethinking which ECE teachers are more competent to work in the kindergarten groups with higher educational complexity and demands. In Slovenia, bachelor’s degree is requirement for the job position of ECE teachers and upper secondary education level is requirement of ECE teacher assistant (Act on Kindergartens (Zakon o vrtcih), 2005). Nevertheless, educational policy across the global north should strive to ensure the best possible staff working in ECE, ideally the requirement should be master’s degree which would ECE teachers made equal by education level to primary/elementary education teachers (as in Portugal). Promotion for gender balanced staff in ECE seems important as better gender balance correlates to better work (Anker, 2001). The reality regarding gender distribution in ECE staff in Slovenia (Statistical Office RS, 2021) as in many other countries is that ECE female employees (97.21%) significantly outnumber men.

Furthermore, teachers who report better environment support for working with immigrant children and families (e.g., assistance of counselling service in kindergarten, support from interpreters/translators to work with immigrant families, support from the Ministry of Education and other governmental institution in terms of policy and guidelines, enough bilingual literature for children, and didactical tools) also report better collaboration with immigrant parents. These results confirm that environmental conditions are an important part of teacher support and their professional background which is consistent with other research studies (Christenson, 2004; Janta & Harte, 2016; Jensen, 2011; Matthews et al., 2015). Specifically, in this research sample, results indicate that ECE teachers need more immigrant children’s literature, more support from the interpreters and translators, more support from governmental institutions, and more support from NGOs that work with immigrants, as suggested also in several other studies and reports (Baum & Swick, 2008; Licardo, 2020; UNHCR, UNICEF and IOM, 2019; Urban et al., 2012).

4.2. Interpersonal and professional skills of ECE teachers as predictors of collaboration with immigrant parents

The correlations between teacher collaboration with immigrant parents (CIP) and interpersonal skills (teachers’ values, positive attitudes towards teaching immigrant children, and emotional competences) reveal that all correlations are significant and positive. The strongest correlation is between CIP and teacher positive attitudes towards teaching immigrant children. These results indicate that ECE teachers should improve their attitudes toward immigrant children, attitudes toward collaboration with immigrant parents and should be aware of attribution theory pitfalls, which is of practical significance for ECE teachers, their professional development and for immigrant parents (Fiske & Taylor, 1991; Weiner, 2003, 2010). The attribution theory explains how the teachers’ attributions of the child’s behavior shape teacher’s behavior toward the child and vice versa (Pianta, 1999). There is substantial research regarding attribution theory with regard to academic expectations and behavioral expectations which suggests that teachers treat children more negatively when teachers perceive those children as having difficulties (Dobbs & Arnold, 2010; Natale et al., 2009; Andreu in Rapti 2010), further research on attitudes related to immigrant parent collaboration and possible correlations with actual collaboration with parents, could explain these processes even more.

From the mean values for individual items (CIP), we can conclude that collaboration with immigrant parents should improve since mean values are quite low, between 2.78 and 3.84, with the majority of items below 3.50. In regard to interpersonal skills, important predictors indicate that teachers who have more positive attitudes towards teaching immigrant children and teachers who have more positive values both report better collaboration with parents. This is significant for ECE teachers and immigrant parents and consistent with other studies which besides similar findings above, also emphasize the need for improvement of collaboration with immigrant parents (e. g. Ansari et al., 2018; Brain & Reid, 2003; Carlson & Christenson, 2005; Pinkus, 2005; Souto-Manning & Swick, 2006; Tobin et al., 2013; Trumbull et al., 2003; Van Laere & Vandenbroeck, 2017).

When the variables were inserted in the HRA, it was surprising that teachers’ emotional competences were not a predictor for collaboration with immigrant parents, despite finding a significant correlation between the variables in the first analysis. This result suggests that EC loses its impact on CIP when other variables are included in the analysis, thus reinforcing the importance of analyzing data from different perspectives and methods and especially including variables from different levels of complexity (Goldstein, 2007).

5. Conclusion

Environmental conditions and support of the educational environment are important predictors in collaboration with parents; however, the strongest predictors are related to interpersonal skills (TA, TV) and professional skills (PCM). Therefore, the professional and interpersonal skills of ECE teachers, such as positive attitudes towards immigrant education and positive values related to immigrant education and emotional competences should be developed through reflective practice and ongoing professional development (Bleach, 2014; Peeters & Sharmahd, 2014).

We can conclude that support of the educational environment is also important for the development of ECE teachers’ competences in collaboration with immigrant parents, and presume synergy of both interpersonal skills, professional skills, and environment support could result in more efficient coping with barriers of immigrant parents’ collaboration mentioned in the introduction (Ansari et al., 2018; Brain & Reid, 2003; Hill & Torres, 2010; Jones, 2013; Marsh & Raimbekova, 2021; Sohn & Wang, 2006; Souto-Manning, 2007; Tobin, 2020; Tobin et al., 2013; Van Laere & Vandenbroeck, 2017; Winterbottom, 2013).

Support needed is a) on the level ECE teachers professional development, b) on the level of local support in terms of translators or interpreters, support of kindergarten counselling service, kindergarten management, enough didactical tools and bilingual literature and c) on the level of national support in terms of educational and immigrant national policy, governmental institutions, NGOs and other important institutions. Policy makers should keep in mind focus should be in teacher education and teachers’ professional development, ECE staff gender balance, collaboration with immigrant families and immigrant education policy (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2019; Matthews et al., 2015; Rashmita et al., 2008; UNHCR, UNICEF and IOM, 2019).

Author statement

The research reported in this paper is important for understanding the complexity and specific conditions in the process of collaboration between ECE teachers and immigrant parents. Understanding is important to overcome the barriers which exist, such as parents’ difficulties in getting integrated to the host country prevailing culture, language, lower responsiveness in interviews and meeting, lower willingness to cooperate etc. Environmental conditions and support of the educational environment are important predictors in collaboration with parents; however, the strongest predictors are related to interpersonal skills and professional skills. Support needed is a) on the level ECE teachers’ professional development, b) on the level of local support in terms of translators or interpreters, support kindergarten management, enough didactical tools and bilingual literature and c) on the level of national support in terms of educational and immigrant national policy, governmental institutions, NGOs and other relevant institutions. Policy makers should focus their efforts in teacher education and teachers’ professional development, collaboration with immigrant families and immigrant education policy.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Faculty of Education University of Maribor Slovenia

Notes on contributors

Marta Licardo

Dr. Marta Licardo is professor at University of Maribor, Faculty of Education, Slovenia. She is Head of the Department for Preschool Education at the Faculty of Education. Her research interests are pedagogy, didactics, social sciences in ECE, inclusion, education of children with special needs and immigrant children. She is country coordinator for European Early Childhood Education Research Association for Slovenia. She leads or participates in several projects on national and international level related to her research interests. In the past three years she participated in over 10 funded projects (see more here: https://pef.um.si/en/kontakt/10693/). In 2019 she has been as host professor at University of Oulu, Finland and in 2017 as host professor at University of Split, Croatia.

Lais Oliveira Leite is Psychologist with Master in Education. During Bachelor Degree, she was granted with research fundings by Scientific Initiation Program (PIBIC/UFC) and Tutorial Education Program (PET/UFC/SESu), and was also scholarship holder of exchange programs, such as Sciences Without Borders Program - Psychological studies at the Universität Tübingen, Germany. She is currently doing her PhD studies about student teacher professional agency. Her research interests comprehend teacher professional development, teacher education, and quantitative research methods. She is a part-time project researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, Philosophical Faculty and a part-time education consultant for the Finnish company Eduix Ltd.