Journal

Running Head: Journal 1

Learning Partnership

Annette Williams

ECE 672 Personnal Management & Staff Development for Early Childhood Administrators

April 5, 2020

Dr. Guevara

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1

1. April

date goes last [Frank

Guevara]

Journal 2

Learning Partnerships

Mentoring for professional development goes beyond just building respectful and

trustworthy relationships with adults. It is assumed that once a relationship has been built,

early childhood teachers are left to handle the dilemma of putting their effort into practice

(Stormshark et al. 2016). This may not be true since such partnerships not only help to

enhance professional development but also establish professional boundaries basing on

culture among many other factors. One reason for this partnership is the fact that however,

many teachers may be experienced, they need support to help them effectively take up the

roles they have been assigned to do. Adults are better placed to provide this support,

showcasing their special abilities, personal as well as professional guidance for the teachers.

Through established relationships, mentors can offer the support that these teachers need.

Partnerships become more comfortable with teachers and vice versa, making children

appreciate the fact that important people in their life are working together. This enhances

children’s learning due to a perfect environment characterized by a healthy teacher-parent

relationship. This partnership also helps teachers and mentors to establish expectations and

formulate strategies that can help them achieve the set objectives and expectations. Mentors

may not have trained as teachers but are in a better position in society to understand the

societal expectations of their children in academic and other facets of life. Through

partnerships, mentors and teachers brainstorm together, do consultations and come up with

effective strategies that enhance professional development.

Lastly, partnering with adults helps to achieve learner’s needs more effectively.

Mentors act as watchdogs who review the learning process and can help comb out. In case of

any challenges, mentors always come in to help and address them. They are also the first

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1

2

1. effective strategies

this is a key difference

[Frank Guevara]

2. can help comb out.

I'm not sure what you mean

here? [Frank Guevara]

Journal 3

people to point out any mistakes that could affect the learning process and do not hesitate to

talk with teachers and find positive ways of solving emerging problems.

I have observed parent involvement in family-school partnerships. In this case,

parents are involved in the academic lives of their children by taking part in their activities.

There are four patterns in parent involvement. The first one is home-based involvement,

whereby parents initiate activities at home that can promote the child’s learning. There is also

school-based involvement where parents visit their children in schools, make calls to

teachers; attend school events like prize-giving ceremonies. The last pattern is community

base involvement which implies that parents are involved in their children’s activities outside

the home and the school. Such places include movie shops, art galleries, a church or a

community library.

Parents act as a primary resource in the learning and development of their children.

Home learning exemplifies learning and has a great impact on academic success (Mapp and

Kutther, 2013). Parents and the society are also advocating for better educations for children

by implementing effective strategies and building healthy personal and professional

relationships that help enhance the learning experience through sharing of ideas and support

of teachers and learners.

This relationship is also faced with some barrier which may limit the partnerships

from realizing the best results, despite evidence of positive impacts. Research shows that

there is less teacher training in terms of preparedness for family-school relationships. There is

also poor in-service education which seems to be side-lined in most learning institutions.

There is also a notable lack of collaboration among professionals in embracing family-school

partnerships.

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1

1. parent involvement in

family-school

partnerships.

but you were supposed to

discuss strengths and

challenges of a specific

mentoring relationship

[Frank Guevara]

Journal 4

References

Mapp, K L & Kuttner, P.J(2013) Partners in Education: A Dual Capacity-Building

Framework for family-school partnerships

Stomshark, E.A, Brown, K.L., Moore K.J., Dishion, T., Seeley, J., & Smolkowiski, K. (2016).

Going to scale with family-centered, School-based interventions; Challenges and

future directions

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