Participating, documenting and learning: possible educational alliances between families and Ecec services

Positive relationships between families and ecec services are essential for children, parents and educators; these relationships are generally acquired through conscious and responsible choices made by each individual educator and their working group. In choosing the perspective of collaboration, partnership and coeducation, parents and educators become, first of all, partners that share the responsibility for educating children for their well-being, learning and future. In this sense, the most important and difficult challenge for early childhood education and care system is to make parents part of the service, near children and in dialogue with educators, finding ways for promoting reciprocity, cooperation and co-planning. The participation of families in the service is part of a broader participatory dimension that characterizes the identity of the service as a whole: this dimension highlights the idea and potential participation of all actors involved in ECEC services (children, educators, parents, family figures), but also the community surrounding these services. Pedagogical documentation - as a practice for reflection and democracy - can be taken as a particularly valuable opportunity for family participation.