Abstract

Educational researchers agree on the importance of fostering parental involvement in their children´s preschool education to enhance early childhood development and in many countries, is regarded as a strategic component of public policies aimed at improving the quality of early childhood education. However, this scholarly concsensus does not consider conditions associated with parental participation. Specialized research has identified several factors that may limit these possibilities based on the expected degree of parental involvement outlined in public policy, namely the types of interactions in which families and teaching staff should engage. However, since there is are many gaps in the information available in this area, shedding light on these issues may help improve parental participation as suggested by current institutional guidelines. The aim of this study is to propose a conceptual-methodological instrument –pragmatic in nature– that may be used by educational policy researchers and analysts, pre-school teachers, administrators and teacher-trainers to better understand conditions associated the involvement of parents with their pre-schooler´s education. It can be concluded that this type of local-level initiative could help teachers and school administrators direct and better manage parental participation, since they would be more insightful about the conditions affecting the parents and, thus, exercise better oversight, scope and management of institutional efforts aimed at improving parental involvement. Such considerationss may contribute to designing and implementing strategies consistent with parental participation policies promoted by many countries.

Keywords Public policies; Parental Participation; Early Childhood Education; Conceptualization