Barriers To Children's Services Case Study
Critically discuss the barriers some parents may face in engaging with one area of children’s services. What role can practitioners play in overcoming some of these barriers?
Globally, there is a growing appreciation of the importance of engaging parents, carers and communities in working together with children’s services to improve the outcomes for children and young people. Whilst it must be accepted that the majority of parents will only want what is best for their child, there remain many barriers that potentially prevent parents from engaging with children’s services and improving their child’s chances of achieving their full potential. This essay will start by examining how the concept of different forms of capital as proposed by …show more content…
One of the most effective ways of doing this in a school setting is through the use of home visits. Meyer at al. (2011) conducted a qualitative study of teachers’ perceptions on the benefits of home visits. The study consisted of interviews with 29 teachers in the Midwest of the USA, in a school district with a higher than state average of free school meals (65.7% in 2006 as opposed to the state average of 42.2%). The findings indicated that home visits ‘opened the lines of communication’ and felt parents were ‘more willing’ (Meyer et al., 2011) to contact the school should an issue arise. However, teachers did report some parents were reluctant to schedule a home visit, possibly due to fear of being judged on their home conditions or parenting skills. The report did not make clear however, which group of parents failed to arrange a home visit, but in my own experience of arranging and conducting home visits to prospective Reception parents, it is often the most disadvantaged parents who fail to make an appointment and would most benefit from the opportunity to form a friendly and non threatening relationship with their child’s practitioner. Meyer et al. (2011) found that practitioners reported that home visits ‘resulted in parents playing a more active role in supporting their child’s learning’. …show more content…
and Goodall, J. (2008) ‘Do parents know they matter? Engaging all parents in learning.’ Educational Research, Vol. 50, No.3, Sept. 2008, pp. 277-289 [Online]. Available at http://www.tandfonline.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/doi/abs/10.1080/00131880802309424#.U10GIl5hdaE (Accessed 3 April 2014)
Leverett, S. (2014) ‘Parenting, practice and politics’ in Foley P and Rixon, A (eds) (2014) ‘Changing children’s services; working and learning together’. Bristol, The Policy Press/Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 93-142
Meyer, J., Mann, M.B. and Becker, J. (2011) ‘A Five-Year Follow-Up: Teachers’ perceptions of the Benefits of Home Visits for Early Elementary Children.’ Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 39, No. 3, August 2011, pp. 191-196 [Online]. Available at http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2e9fafec-cdf2-42fa-80d6-a59990565cc5%40sessionmgr110&vid=16&hid=105 (Accessed 31 March 2014)
Open University (2008) KE312 DVD Video’ ‘Saltley Cluster, Birmingham: Working with
Globally, there is a growing appreciation of the importance of engaging parents, carers and communities in working together with children’s services to improve the outcomes for children and young people. Whilst it must be accepted that the majority of parents will only want what is best for their child, there remain many barriers that potentially prevent parents from engaging with children’s services and improving their child’s chances of achieving their full potential. This essay will start by examining how the concept of different forms of capital as proposed by …show more content…
One of the most effective ways of doing this in a school setting is through the use of home visits. Meyer at al. (2011) conducted a qualitative study of teachers’ perceptions on the benefits of home visits. The study consisted of interviews with 29 teachers in the Midwest of the USA, in a school district with a higher than state average of free school meals (65.7% in 2006 as opposed to the state average of 42.2%). The findings indicated that home visits ‘opened the lines of communication’ and felt parents were ‘more willing’ (Meyer et al., 2011) to contact the school should an issue arise. However, teachers did report some parents were reluctant to schedule a home visit, possibly due to fear of being judged on their home conditions or parenting skills. The report did not make clear however, which group of parents failed to arrange a home visit, but in my own experience of arranging and conducting home visits to prospective Reception parents, it is often the most disadvantaged parents who fail to make an appointment and would most benefit from the opportunity to form a friendly and non threatening relationship with their child’s practitioner. Meyer et al. (2011) found that practitioners reported that home visits ‘resulted in parents playing a more active role in supporting their child’s learning’. …show more content…
and Goodall, J. (2008) ‘Do parents know they matter? Engaging all parents in learning.’ Educational Research, Vol. 50, No.3, Sept. 2008, pp. 277-289 [Online]. Available at http://www.tandfonline.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/doi/abs/10.1080/00131880802309424#.U10GIl5hdaE (Accessed 3 April 2014)
Leverett, S. (2014) ‘Parenting, practice and politics’ in Foley P and Rixon, A (eds) (2014) ‘Changing children’s services; working and learning together’. Bristol, The Policy Press/Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 93-142
Meyer, J., Mann, M.B. and Becker, J. (2011) ‘A Five-Year Follow-Up: Teachers’ perceptions of the Benefits of Home Visits for Early Elementary Children.’ Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 39, No. 3, August 2011, pp. 191-196 [Online]. Available at http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2e9fafec-cdf2-42fa-80d6-a59990565cc5%40sessionmgr110&vid=16&hid=105 (Accessed 31 March 2014)
Open University (2008) KE312 DVD Video’ ‘Saltley Cluster, Birmingham: Working with