Practical implications

The findings of this dissertation reveal an interrupted flow in PI practices. Early childhood educators from both Turkey and Finland agree on the importance of PI and recognise the benefits; however, they also report high levels of insufficient PI practices. Through these findings, this study provides some practical implications, some of which would be applicable to both countries, whereas some would be only suitable for one of them.

One of the issues raised by this dissertation is the hypothetical distance between early childhood educators and parents. Hindman et al. (2012) claimed that the most commonly preferred PI type among teachers is receiving parental support for the child’s learning at home, while the least preferred one is involving parents in decision-making. In the Finnish context, according to Alasuutari (2010), Finn- ish early childhood educators have a high level of competence in their profession based on the fact that they are trained in the field of ECEC. On the other hand, while they consider themselves experts, they may overlook the importance of parents’ knowledge about their child. Hujala et al. (2009) added to this claim by stating that Finnish early childhood educators tend to conserve education as their expertise and perceive parents as passive components in their child’s educational journey. The situation is quite similar in the Turkish context. Sabancı’s (2009) findings reveal that teachers favour learning at home as a PI type over including parents in decision-making. This trend further strengthens the territorial division between educational institutions and homes.

In order to overcome this separation, the first thing to achieve would be eliminat- ing titles such as ‘father of A’, ‘mother of X’, ‘teacher’, or ‘administrator’. After the participants are stripped to their first names, social gatherings would create an appropriate environment for information flow. These social gatherings would also enable deeper understanding of the home and school cultures. With these social gatherings, the aim should be to create a platform based on equality.

Teachers often assume the role of distributor of knowledge and consider parents as receivers because they think that they are the ones with training and parents need their expertise (Karlsen Bæck, 2010b). Even though this assumption is cor- rect up to a point, it may also create a risk of undermining the significance of the immediate relations of children with their surroundings (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). This new approach, as an addition to the classic parent-teacher meetings, would keep teachers and parents on the same level, free from their assumed roles to al- low them to connect with each other on a different level: a level where they learn about each other’s way of thinking, culture, and understanding.

In addition to informal social gatherings, in-service training sessions would be beneficial, based on the findings of this dissertation. Even though the results reveal a high level of professional self-confidence among both Turkish and Finnish early childhood educators, further analysis showed a lack of coping strategies in challenging situations, such as in multicultural encounters or convincing unwilling parents. PI is a fluid concept; it requires different approaches for different parents, neighbourhoods, ethnicities, and cultures. It is unreasonable to build parental collaboration with every individual based on a Western mindset without considering what others’ values are. In order to support educators in these tough situations, in-service training sessions, constructed more like a workshop rather than theoretical lectures, might be beneficial. The preparation of these in-service training sessions could include tailored activities prepared according to teachers’ requirements along with a pre-prepared package regarding common troubles.

Even though these in-service training sessions would benefit early childhood ed- ucators who are already employed in ECEC institutions, there is a need for mul- ticulturally oriented PI courses in teacher-training programmes, based on the findings of this dissertation. With increasing globalization, there is a high degree of mobility, which is creating diverse cultural settings for education profession- als. Without thorough training on how to deal with multicultural settings, educa- tors might fail to give due consideration to parents from other cultures unwilling for PI activities (Gunn-Morris & Taylor, 1998). According to the findings of this study, although Finnish early childhood educators showed high levels of self- confidence in their work, they also mentioned how their PI practices were nega- tively affected by cultural differences, namely, language differences and differ- ences in ideas on education and the upbringing of children. Such obstacles may only be overcome by becoming familiar with different cultures and how to de- velop strategies in multicultural settings where there might not even be a com- mon language.

The final practical implication drawn from this dissertation is the issue of lack of time. The results deriving from this study show that lack of time is not only caused by the active lives of parents but also by parents’ and educators’ over- loaded work schedules. Working life is becoming more taxing and time- and en- ergy-consuming, inevitably affecting parenting behaviours (Malinen et al., 2017). This issue needs to be addressed at two levels: the place of parenthood in work life and support for early childhood education and care institutions. Regarding parents’ work life, the results show that they cannot be involved in their child’s ECEC because when the child is at day care, they are working. This implies that parents’ cannot use a day or some hours off from work to attend PI practices. As a social welfare state, one of the long-term practices in Finland for decades has been to provide support for the well-being of children and families. Under this practice, Finnish family policy enables both mothers and fathers to take different types of work leave to care for their children. However, this policy seems to overlook the importance of the parents’ role in early childhood when the child is in day care. Educators’ lack of time, on the other hand, seems to be the result of increased workloads due to budget cuts and increased numbers of pupils in the groups. According to educators’ self-reported reasons for insufficient PI practic- es, they choose to focus on learning activities with children over PI because, with the limited time and energy they have, they want to make sure the children are taken good care of. Considering that they regard PI as an important aspect for children’s development, with increased resources, smaller child groups and more trained staff, their PI practices might improve.