The family involvement in different early childhood curricula and approaches in the world

DOI: 10.31704/ijocis.2018.002 Family involvement, an important element of effective early childhood education programs, is crucial for children's learning processes and development. With family involvement, while families have the opportunity of participating and contributing to their children's development and learning processes schools gain unique information about children's interests, needs and experiences. A positive cooperation to be developed between families and schools helps children to integrate home and school lives. The aim of this study is to present the current situation by reviewing the literature in terms of family involvement and discuss and compare the family involvement dimension of the Primary Years Program (PYP), Montessori, Reggio Emilia, Creative Curriculum and Te Whāriki programs, which are early childhood education programs and approaches around the world. For this purpose, a review study has been conducted. Article History: Received Revised Accepted Online 19 February 2018 21 May 2018 23 May 2018 30 June 2018


Introduction
Following the change in the perception of child in the world, childhood has started to be seen as a separate developmental period.Scientific research into childhood and child education has pioneered the development of contemporary programs and approaches in education.Developed and developing countries have aimed to implement reforms at the system level, create modern institutions and develop new programs and models in education for more quality and effective education (Karip & Köksal, 1996).Reynolds (1998) identified the eight principles of effective programs as follows: targeting children and families at high risk, initiating program involvement at early ages, providing comprehensive children development services, active and multidimensional parent involvement, child-centred program approach, teacher-children ratios, development of staff and teachers through continuous training, and systematic evaluation and monitoring.
Considering the entire life of an individual, some periods are considered as more critical than others in terms of development.The early years of life, called early childhood, are very important for the next life of the individual.Experiences offered the child in the early childhood will affect all aspects of the child's development in addition to his/her learning experience.The main objective of early childhood education is to develop and implement a quality education program considering the developmental characteristics and needs of children.Early childhood education, which cannot be left to coincidences, should be managed by serious, systematic and scientific organizations (Arı, 2003).In order to achieve the ideal objectives of pre-school education, studentcentred programs based on children's interests, needs, abilities and developmental characteristics should be designed besides improving the physical infrastructures of the pre-school education institutions and qualities of their teachers and this program should incorporate family involvement into the education (Düşek & Dönmez, 2012).To develop children's social-emotional skills, self-care skills, motor skills and cognitive and linguistic skills as a whole and to direct these skills towards their interests and abilities, family support is needed along with the quality pre-school education (Demirel, 2005).A quality early childhood program cannot yield intended results without family involvement.Morrison (1978) defined family involvement as a process which will eventually catalyse the potentials of families to explore family strengths and skills and to use them for the benefit of both themselves and their children (cited in Erkan, 2015).
The studies regarding family involvement suggest that children who have effective communication and cooperation with their parents and teachers are academically more successful in school life, can easily adapt to the school and show positive behaviours and attitudes more frequently compared to other children (Epstein, 2011;Henderson, Mapp, Johnson & Davies, 2007;Sheldon, 2003).Family involvement studies also contribute to early literacy, early improvement of mathematical skills and social-emotional development of the children (Van Voorhis, Maier, Epstein, Lloyd & Leung, 2013).Marcon (1999), who conducted a study on a group of fouryear-old children continuing in pre-school education from low-income families, stated that family involvement develops children's expressive language skills, academic skills, and playing behaviours positively.In a study conducted by Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta, Cox and Bradley (2003) based on teacher reports about 223 children, it was found that children whose families were participating in the education were more prepared for school than their peers, achieved higher success in language and mathematics and interacted with their friends more often.Studies show that family involvement significantly contributes to all aspects of children development.Temel, Aksoy and Kurtulmuş (2015) examined the family involvement studies in early childhood education in seven dimensions: family education activities, family communication activities, participation of parents in educational activities, individual interviews, home visits, participation of parents in management and decision making processes and family support program.Family education activities include educational meetings and conferences; family communication activities include phone calls, booklets, tape recordings, photos, announcement panels, newsletters, letters and correspondence, portfolio files, meetings, school visits, arrival and departure times, Internet and suggestions boxes.The participation of parents in school trips, materialmaking activities or daily activities such as language and music represents the participation dimension of parents in activities.Individual meetings cover providing information about the children's developmental tendencies, informing parents about children's strengths and weaknesses which should be supported and informing parents about special issues.With home visits, teachers have the opportunity to observe the home environment, home responsibilities and child-parent relationships of the child.In the involvement process of parents in management and decision-making processes, which is the final dimension, the opinions of the parents are consulted on new issues and those considered to be suitable are implemented (Temel et al. 2015).Early childhood programs and approaches around the world can give more importance to different dimensions of family involvement, or include different adaptations and implementations according to their philosophy, objectives and goals.
Although there are studies analyzing early childhood programs and approaches individually in the literature (Aslan, 2005;Çamlıkaya, 2007;Güler & Yaltırık, 2011;Inan, 2012;Korkmaz, 2005;Mutlu, Ergişi, Ayhan & Aral, 2012;Oğuz & Köksal Akyol, 2006;Weiss, 2013), there are also a few studies that examined the approaches together.The study conducted by Tuncer (2015), examined Open Education, Waldorf, Montessori, Reggio Emilia, Primary Years Program, High Scope and Head Start programs and approaches in terms of their plans and practices, the roles of teachers, features and materials of the pre-school education and compared them with MEB 2013Preschool Education Program. Yaşar-Ekici (2015) analyzed Reggio Emilia, High Scope, Waldorf and Montessori approaches comparatively in terms of theoretical basis, the educational environment and the role of teacher.
As a result of literature review, it has been found that there are many studies carried out on the different dimensions of the approaches.However, these studies have not included family involvement.From this point forth, the dimension of family involvement in Primary Years Program (PYP), Montessori, Reggio Emilia, Creative Curriculum and Te Whāriki programs have been comprehensively analyzed and compared in this study.It is believed that the comparative analysis of family involvement dimensions of different early childhood programs and approaches will significantly contribute to the literature.Moreover, by explaining family involvement of different approaches in details will provide a guideline for pre-school teachers, researchers, program developers and policymakers to provide quality services for children and their families and will contribute to the development of quality pre-school education programs.
In this study, a literature review was conducted by examining the relevant national and international literature for the purpose of analyzing the family involvement aspects of the Primary Years Program, Montessori, Reggio Emilia, Te Whāriki and the Creative Curriculum which are among early childhood education programs and approaches.Fink (2009) defines literature review studies as the evaluation and synthesis of the existing sources and documents by researchers by using systematic and explicit methods.There are several types of review articles.The review article can identify a phenomenon, rearrange an existing theory, or create a new one.Regardless of the type of review, the objective is to organize, integrate and evaluate previous studies by scrutinizing the literature to clarify a specific problem or subject.Such articles do not follow a standard format as in research reports.It consists of introduction, body and conclusion sections instead of introduction, methodology, results and discussion parts.The introductory section should specify the basic structure and purpose of the article.The introduction is of great importance as it is supposed to attract readers' attention (Morrison, 2004;Weed, 1997).

Family Involvement in Early Childhood Education Programs Abroad
The literature review of the family involvement dimension of early childhood education programs and approaches examined in the study are as follows:

Primary Years Program (PYP)
The PYP, which was developed by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) in Switzerland in 1968, defined the importance of family involvement as support of the family for the school in every aspect.In this program, students, parents, teachers, other school personnel and administration are the stakeholders of school community.Schools regularly contact with parents to inform them about the events in the school to encourage parental support (IBO, 2014).Parents are informed and participative in Primary Years Program.It is very important for families to know the system and develop similar approaches at home for the effectiveness of the program.A student who questions, analyzes and reaches a conclusion at school should take part in the decision-making process at home by demonstrating these skills; otherwise, his/her acquisitions cannot be transformed into behaviours and stay limited merely with activities at school.This objective of the program is to create family environments which, in general, have improved the ability to think together and the skills of reasoning in family life.The activities carried out by children are shared with their families during portfolio days (Çamlıkaya, 2007).
Parents support the learning process of students in Primary Years Program.It is important to inform parents about what happens in the class and school.Teachers can ask for evidence on the children's learning at home environment to help parents be informed about what happens in the school.Sharing the works of children throughout the year helps to improve the communication between children and families for the development of learning and acquisitions.Parents are invited to school to exchange opinions on the works of students, which gives them the message that their comments and opinions are valuable.Communication between teachers and parents can be in the form of written notes, telephone calls, meetings, and conferences.Conferences are held where children can talk about the research topics they chose.Parents get an idea about the learning process of their children by participating in such conferences.Additionally, the program organizes meetings for parents.Parents are informed about their children's learning process, needs and school curriculum in these meetings.The exhibitions organized at the end of the school year are an important indication of integration of students and parents into the program.The year-end exhibition is a product of a large collaboration.Parents contribute to the evaluation process with teachers and children through exhibitions (IBO, 2002).

Montessori Approach
Family involvement plays an important role in this approach developed by Maria Montessori in the early 20th-century in Italy.In order for children to fully benefit from Montessori education, it is important for parents to understand the purposes of pedagogy and to support their children's holistic development.The quality and level of cooperation with parents vary from country to country in this approach.For instance, parents are invited to schools to observe and contribute to their children's learning and development in the United Kingdom.Furthermore, parents contribute to the learning process of their children by providing teachers with some information about their activities at home (Isaacs, 2012).Many Montessori schools offer training programs to the families.In this approach, training programs based on the Montessori philosophy are developed and parental involvement programs in learning process are prepared for parents (Danişman, 2012).According to Villegas and Biwer (1987), family involvement in the program aims to facilitate the integration of different ages in the class, the development of academic skills, and to improve the positive attitudes of the families towards the school (cited by Temel & Toran, 2017).The school regularly communicates with families about their children's academic, physical and social development within the scope of the program.This communication usually takes place in the form of family-teacher meetings and written reports (Korkmaz, 2005).Additionally, practitioners working with the young age group inform parents about the daily routines of their children such as sleeping patterns, dietary habits, toilet habits, and participation in activities on a daily basis (Isaacs, 2012).In order to create a positive school atmosphere, it is aimed to go beyond cooperative relationship with families to establish quality relationships between the school and families (Korkmaz, 2005).Strategies such as regular meetings, school journal, special days, family training programs, admissions of new families, open board meetings, yearbooks, and cooperation with family associations have been implemented during the studies conducted for this purpose.

Reggio Emilia
The Reggio Emilia approach, developed in Italy by Loris Malaguzzi after World War II, regards families as educational partners.Home and society should be recognized as important learning environments in children's lives.Coordination between teachers, parents, and children are highly valued and the concept of 'learning group' is considered as a very important aspect of the Reggio Emilia approach (Giudici, Rinaldi & Krechevsky, 2001).Parents are children's first and constant educators.The collaboration between practitioners and parents in early childhood has a positive influence on children's development and learning.Rinaldi (1985) lists the opportunities of family involvement as class meetings, small group meetings, individual parent-teacher meetings, themed meetings, meetings with a specialist, study sessions, laboratory work, holidays and celebrations (cited by Şahin, 2017).Bennett (2001) states that parents can also participate in the training program by making various arrangements in the learning environment (planting trees in the garden, preparing materials for the class, etc.).According to the approach, there are important messages behind showing respect towards parents as partners.Parents can positively contribute to children's learning and development by providing permanent and comprehensive learning settings.Parents have the right to play a central role in deciding on the care and education of the child at all levels.Successful relationships between parents and teachers have beneficial and long-lasting effects on children's education.Teachers should pay attention to the information given by parents about their children.In the Reggio Emilia approach, "Parental Rights" concept defines what parents can expect from the school and vice versa.It also underlines that parents should be a part of the school structure, rather than only playing a limited role in a certain part of the school structure.The school is aware of its responsibility to show parents how they understand and evaluate the children (Thornton & Brunton, 2009).
Teachers carefully listen to the words parents have chosen to describe their children, especially at the beginning of the program.This information given by parents will help to prepare the appropriate environment and support for the children in order to adapt to the educational environment and benefit efficiently from learning experiences.Parents and children attend the acquaintance meetings and acquire information about the school before the beginning of kindergarten.This approach expects teachers to pay attention to cultural differences and create a learning environment where all children can receive positive messages.Some parents may have difficulty in understanding the approach; in this case teachers should be aware of the fact that these parents may need more encouragement and support.
Teachers should inform parents about the layout of the classroom environment, what has been done in the learning environment and what happened that day.In this approach, documentation has an important role.Parents arriving at the end of the day to get their children will receive a diary that includes photos taken by the teacher throughout the day and recorded child comments.In this way, parents might begin to talk with their children about their activities in the kindergarten on that day.Moreover, portfolios or other products that children prepared individually or as a group are shown to parents on their arrival and departure times and these products are sent home at regular intervals (Edwards, 2002).In this approach, it was emphasized that by giving an ID card which includes photographs of the employees, the building plan, and typical day-trips to the parents, parents would feel like a part of the environment.Parents participate in group meetings with teachers, workshop trainers, and pedagogues to discuss and share ideas on projects and topics related to the class.Parents also play a role in the management of centres by participating in early childhood councils (Thornton & Brunton, 2014).

Creative Curriculum
The Creative Curriculum was developed in the United States in 1979.According to this program, home and school are two important worlds of the child.Children interconnect these two worlds every day.If a positive and respectful communication is established between home and school, the child would feel safe.However, if the relation between the family and school are severed due to lack of interest, understanding or cooperation, the child will be negatively affected.A teacher who believes in the role of the family in children education and is aware of what the child can accomplish with family cooperation can establish a right partnership with the family.The Creative Curriculum has addressed five issues that are significant for teacher-parent cooperation.These are getting to know families, hosting families, communicating with families, establishing partnerships with families in child learning and guiding them when the families have difficulties.Within the scope of getting to know families, the program emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural differences of the families and differences that may affect school relations such as different family structures, differences in personality and characteristics of parents, differences in the education level of parents, socioeconomic status and health problems.It is underlined that getting to know family members is a prerequisite for the child's development and during this process family members should not be generalized or labelled.
According to the program, the initial communication with the family is crucial.The first meeting with the families provides the teacher with great benefits to recognize the parents and establish positive relationships.The first contact with family members may be in the form of a home visit or a meeting during the school register.To obtain information about the family during registration, the school may ask the family to fill out forms or might ask parents some questions during the meetings.It can be useful to identify families with special talents and interest during registration for better communication with children in the classes.Home visits are of paramount importance in the program.Parents feel more comfortable in their own environment than they do at school.Home visits at the beginning of the school year are the first step of connecting school and home for a child who doesn't have not any previous experience in school settings.The program underlines that teachers should inform the families before the visits to decide on the time together.Teachers should encourage parents to talk about themselves by asking questions and they should aim to get to know parents not to judge them.According to the program, hosting families is important to make parents feel a sense of belonging to the program.Introducing the setting and program created at school may cause parents to feel that they belong to the process and play a role in the program.The environment should carry positive messages.Teachers can create a pleasant environment to host the families.Post and suggestion boxes can be placed at the class entrances for each family.Reading sources can be recommended for parents.A notice board can be created to announce program events.When a child participates in a program for the first time, parents wonder what their children will learn.The "Parental Guide to Pre-school Education" is offered to parents in the Creative Curriculum.The content of this guide which describes the philosophy of the program and its aims for the child is briefly explained to the parents and they are asked to read it later.The families are invited to the class to share their interests, how they have spent the day, and the expectations of the first day of the school.However, "Letters to the Families" at the end of each session of the Creative Curriculum explains what the children will do, how the teacher supports the children, and how families can help this process at home.
Another important component of the family involvement dimension of the Creative Curriculum is communicating with families.The trust between teachers and parents develops over time and relies on experiences gained through a positive and respectful framework.Just as in other programs, teachers in the Creative Curriculum have the opportunity to communicate informally with parents during arrival and departure times every day.In addition to the informal communication, there are also official ways to communicate such as daily or weekly newsletters, telephone calls, e-mail, Internet, class website, appreciation notes, diaries and automatic telephone messaging systems.Furthermore, not only parents but other family members can also be included in the program.Grandparents can devote more time than parents, participate in a program by reading books, teaching games, and helping special activities in the class.
Parents can participate in the program by making various arrangements or additions to the learning centres.They can share their cultures (cooking events, presenting artistic objects, singing, storytelling, etc.), their professions or skills.Teachers organize meetings with parents to provide information and share programs.During the meetings, families express their evaluation on the program and contribute to the improvement of the program.The teacher also provides solutions to the families having various problems and being under stress.As a result, the families know that the sources of the program are open to them for the solution (Dodge, Colker & Heroman, 2008).

Te Whāriki
The Te Whāriki program was developed in 1996 by the New Zealand Ministry of Education.Collaboration is a fundamental concept in the early childhood philosophy of New Zealand.Te Whāriki emphasizes the central position of parents.This program deems the family as one of the collaborators in early childhood education.It aims to expand children's knowledge by maintaining a strong connection between family, school and the environment (Zhanq, 2013).Te Whāriki's early childhood services include play-oriented and community-based kindergartens administered by both teachers and parents.According to Te Whāriki program, children learn and develop when their culture, their knowledge and the society they live in are internalized and when the adults in their lives support them by working together.It is important that teachers and parents develop meaningful relationships and respect each other's aspirations and expectations for the development of children.Children's learning and development are facilitated when culturally appropriate means of communication are used and when the parents, people, and society participated in the curriculum.In this program, cultural diversity and different family structures are respected.The teacher should have information about the families of the children in order to reflect these structures properly in the program.
How the family is treated is important for the success of children in their first years.Parents and students are welcomed.Activities such as a shared lunch, trips or outdoor activities enable parents and teachers to gather.It is essential for teachers to work closely with parents to support the transition of children to the school environment and to communicate regularly with parents about their children's changing interests, needs, and development.The program has a reference library where teachers can inform the parents about nutrition, physical activity and growth of their children.The portfolios, which include children's photographs, products, teacher observation records and children's learning stories provides parents with opportunities both to get an idea about their children's learning process and to contribute to the process with their own observations and recommendations.When programs are planned, the needs and opinions of early childhood providers, teachers and parents are taken into consideration in order for children to receive quality education and services (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 1996).

Discussion, Conclusion and Implications
It is seen that family involvement in early childhood contributes to the child's overall development, supports the child's readiness for school, enhances positive behaviours, and contributes to the future academic success in the school (Epstein, 2011;Henderson et al. 2007;Rimm-Kaufman et al. 2003;Sheldon, 2003).Considering the significant benefits of family involvement for children; family involvement seems to be an important dimension of a successful and effective program.In general, although there are minor differences in the extent of family involvement depending on the philosophy and principles of the programs, it is seen that all the programs analyzed have considered family involvement as an important dimension of their programs.All programs include family involvement activities that will strengthen family-school communication and collaboration, such as family meetings, individual meetings and portfolios including photos of children, teacher's observation records, and children's learning stories.Although the objectives of the programs vary according to the approaches and philosophy of the programs, all programs accept the family as the first and most important educator of the child (Temel & Toran, 2017).
The Primary Years Program emphasizes family's knowledge on the system and their comprehensive support for the school.According to the program, it is very important for families to have a good knowledge of the system and develop similar approaches at home for the effectiveness of the program.A student who questions, analyzes and reaches the conclusion at school takes part in the decision-making process at home by using these skills.Exhibitions, where children share their work at the end of the school year, are an important aspect of family involvement for the Primary Years Program (Çamlıkaya, 2007;IBO, 2002).According to the family involvement understanding of the Montessori program, contacting regularly with parents about the academic, physical and social development of children or their situation during the day is an important aspect in the program.
In the Montessori approach, informing families about the program facilitates the integration of different ages in the class and the development of academic skills and also develops positive attitudes in families towards the school.Montessori schools aims to establish quality relationships between school and family.Family involvement activities include regular meetings, school newspapers, special days, family training programs, new family admissions, open board meetings, annuals and cooperation with family associations (Danişman, 2012;Temel & Toran 2017).In the Reggio Emilia approach, "Parental Rights" concept defines what parents can expect from the school and vice versa.It also underlines that parents should be a part of the school structure rather than playing a limited role in certain part of school structure.The approach underlines the importance of documentation.Through documentation, parents can have an idea of what their children are doing at school with a diary which includes photos taken by the teacher throughout the day and recorded children comments (Edwards, 2002;Thornton & Brunton, 2014).The Creative Curriculum integrates families into education by using a variety of methods in order to enable parents to understand, evaluate and support their children's development.Families take responsibilities for providing materials for the program, sharing their cultures (cultural material, clothing, food, songs, stories, picture sharing, etc.), sharing their professional experience or skills, participating in an activity and designing a program (Dodge et al. 2008).The Te Whāriki program, as other programs, considers the family as one of the partners in early childhood education.According to Te Whāriki program, children learn and develop when their culture, their knowledge and the society they live in are internalized and when the adults in their lives support them by working together.In this program, cultural diversity and different family structures are respected (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 1996;Zhanq, 2013).
When the programs and approaches are evaluated together, it can be seen that the common features of Reggio Emilia and the Creative Curriculum are home visits, inviting the families and various arrangements of parents in the class to contribute to the learning process.While experience sharing and interactions with parents at school are emphasized in all approaches, the Reggio Emilia approach is a step forward compared to the other programs with its documentation system and the Primary Years Program stands out by its year-end exhibitions.The Primary Years Program and the Montessori approach underline the families' understanding of the program for the efficient implementation of the program.In terms of cultural differences, Reggio Emilia, the Creative Curriculum and Te Whāriki give importance to the acceptance of the cultural structures of the families by educators and the positive treatment towards the families in order to ensure children's highest level of development and progress.
When schools develop their own educational programs, the quality and efficiency of their programs will increase if they use different family involvement studies of early childhood education programs and approaches.In this context, all stakeholders should work in cooperation to develop a family involvement dimension of a quality preschool education program.Curriculum designers and educators need to analyze family involvement studies of different early childhood education programs and approaches in details and incorporate the suitable ones for their own culture, for children and for their families into their programs.Schools and educators should be provided with the necessary infrastructure and equipment.Legal regulations for the education policies of a country should be implemented by the decision makers and law makers of the education ministries of the countries.The development of early childhood education programs of good quality supported by the effective implementation of school, family and community cooperation should strengthen the educational policies of the countries.Early childhood education programs in the world should be considered within the cultural context of the children and the family.Effective family involvement in the program should be ensured and programs should be planned and implemented within the social policies achieving social inclusion.Quality family involvement activities result in raising children who are fair, responsible, happy, in good physical and mental health condition.Those children also have equal education opportunities.In this way healthy, happy and productive families are formed.These families also provide important contributions to the development and improvement of the society.