Family engagement with Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centres is widely recognised as beneficial to children’s development and learning. And in many ECEC systems cooperation with families is one of the key goals. But the extent and nature of that cooperation varies significantly across countries and regions. While keeping parents or guardians informed about daily activities is common, there are few opportunities for families to contribute to classroom or playgroup decisions, or to participate in decision-making processes in many ECEC settings. The odds of parents or guardians being actively involved in shaping policies, activities, curricula or teaching practices is fairly low.
Arguably, some parents – perhaps many – like it that way. They can drop off the kids and get on with their day. However, a wealth of evidence shows that involving parents in ECEC daily routines is beneficial to all.
Parents and guardians bring unique insights into their children’s needs, cultural backgrounds and learning styles. When ECEC staff and families collaborate, it promotes trust, mutual respect and shared responsibility for children’s development. And when parents actively engage, for example through reading, playing and talking to their children at home, they reinforce the benefits of ECEC. All of this helps children develop language, emotional regulation and social skills. At the same time, it empowers parents, making them feel valued and heard.
So should policymakers be concerned about the relatively low levels of parental engagement in some systems? According to OECD TALIS Starting Strong data, fewer than 30% of leaders in Finland, Israel, Japan and Sweden report that parents or guardians have frequent opportunities to contribute to decisions at the pre-primary level. In contrast, more than 60% of leaders in Denmark, Norway and Türkiye report involving families frequently.
This limited involvement is due to several barriers. Firstly, time constraints are a big issue. Meetings or activities do not take place because they conflict with parents’ work schedules or require ECEC staff to be available outside their normal working hours. Language issues can also make discussions with families tricky, particularly in multicultural or multilingual communities.
In other ways, however, ECEC staff regularly engage with families. Encouraging parents to play and help their children learn at home is relatively common amongst ECEC staff, topping 90% in many countries surveyed. In pre-primary settings in Morocco, Spain and Türkiye, it is even more common than keeping parents informed about children’s daily activities. And in some systems home visits are part of a strategy to build connections between home and ECEC environments for children, strengthening relationships and empowering families to support their children’s development. However, these require dedicated time and proper training to ensure meaningful engagement outside the ECEC setting.
A majority of leaders in pre-primary settings in Chile, Colombia and Türkiye report home visits take place at least occasionally. But elsewhere they are rare. For example, more than 90% of leaders in Denmark and Sweden say home visits never take place in pre-primary settings.
Despite these challenges, the OECD recommends using approaches that promote collaboration and include everyone. A part of this is reframing parental engagement as a core part of early education and care, rather than an add-on. By using digital tools, flexible ways of communicating, and practices that respect different cultures, ECEC settings can help make it easier and more inclusive for families to get involved. Joint goal-setting and shared decision-making between ECEC staff and families has numerous positive benefits.
The economics are also compelling. A modest investment in parent-focused initiatives could help reduce the need for costly interventions later in a child’s education. As children spend considerable time with their parents in the early years and throughout childhood, engaging parents from the early years may be one of the most cost-effective policy levers available.
This blog is based on a chapter from the TALIS Starting Strong 2024 Insights and Interpretations brochure: talis3s2024-insights-interpretations.pdf.
The Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS Starting Strong) assesses the issues impacting early childhood education and care (ECEC). In 2024, it surveyed the ECEC workforce in under-3 settings and in pre-primary settings, which typically care for children aged 3-6, in a total of 17 countries and subnational entities.