An exploration of parental involvement during the Early Years

This focus of this thesis was to explore parental involvement in the Early Years.

This was achieved firstly though a Systematic Literature Review of the effectiveness of emotion-based parenting interventions at improving child outcomes.

The rationale for this review was based on the recent focus on social, emotional and mental health of children and young people, both in the most recent Code of Practice and the government green paper for children's mental health provision.

This review demonstrated that there is some promising evidence for the effectiveness of these parent interventions on child outcomes.

The Empirical Paper details a qualitative research study in which parental experiences of parent partnerships within the Early Years are explored.

Specifically, the researcher interviewed 6 parents of children with SEND attending an Early Years setting in an Outer London Borough.

Research findings demonstrate that parental perceptions about Early Years staff heavily influence their experiences, and where these experiences were negative, staff attitudes and language as well as communication style and perceived commitment to parents' children played a role.

For example, several parents reported feeling blamed for their child's difficulties and this often related to behaviour management strategies and inclusion.

Parents who reported positive experiences felt that their role as expert was valued and their involvement was sought after.

Implications for practice and potential future research are discussed.

Finally, the Dissemination and Impact paper (Chapter 4) offers critical reflections on the dissemination and impact of psychological research.

This chapter explores how psychological knowledge obtained via research can be transferred into effective practice and gives specific detail regarding the dissemination of this thesis research.