Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which parents talk about their participation in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), and the factors that, according to them, promote parental participation. Although parental participation has been studied to an extent as regards children’s academic attainment, up-to-date knowledge on the broader phenomena related to parental participation is lacking. The data were collected from a Finnish ECEC center that has a long tradition of encouraging parental participation in its operational environment in municipal ECEC center and were analyzed through the Social Capital Index. The results provide targeted knowledge on what tools could perhaps be functional in supporting parental participation. The findings indicate that the feeling of participating and being active is strongly influenced by the feeling of connectedness to and within the ECEC community among parents, children, and ECEC educators. The opportunities, structures, and traditions that enable parental participation are essential.

摘要

本文研究了父母谈论其参与幼儿教育和护理（ECEC）的方式，以及据此促进父母参与的因素。尽管已经对儿童参与程度进行了一定程度的研究，但仍缺乏有关与父母参与有关的更广泛现象的最新知识。数据来自芬兰的ECEC中心，该中心具有鼓励父母参与市政ECEC中心运营环境的悠久传统，并通过社会资本指数进行了分析。结果提供了关于哪些工具在支持父母参与中可能起作用的有针对性的知识。研究结果表明，父母，孩子和ECEC教育者与ECEC社区之间以及在ECEC社区内部的联系感强烈地影响了参与和活跃的感觉。父母参与的机会，结构和传统至关重要。