Understanding Family Diversity and Home - School Relations: A guide for students and practitioners in early years and primary settings

A child'¬"s family background is one of the central factors that can determine a child'¬"s capacity to achieve in their Early Years and primary education. Early years settings and schools need to embrace the diverse nature of family life and must understand how to work effectively, knowledgably and sympathetically with the families of their pupils. This essential text will help students and those already working with children to understand both theoretically and practically, what may constitute a '¬Üfamily'¬" and how to build relationships with a child'¬"s family so the setting or school is working in partnership with the home environment to support the best possible learning. It will help the reader to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of their professional practice in education, and chapter by chapter explores the issues associated a wide range of non-traditional family settings, such as: Mixed race families Immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker families Step-families and step-parenting Gay and lesbian families Families and disability, including mental health Families and adoption Fostering and children in care Families living in poverty Families and bereavement The authors engage the reader with the voice of the children and families they are working with through the use of case study examples throughout, and provide reflective activities to help the reader consider how to develop their practice in relation to the insights this book has provided. This book is a unique road-map to understanding pupils'¬" backgrounds, attitudes and culture and will be essential reading for any student undertaking initial teacher training, post-graduate qualifications or as part of a practitioner'¬"s professional development.