How to involve families in the educational learning process. Practical examples from preschool multicultural environments

There is a growing need to involve families in the educational learning processes. Research reveals that the most effective educational programs for preschool children are those that involve parents in their learning processes (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Bryan & Henry, 2012). This article focuses on practices utilized in preschool settings to enhance the involvement and support of families by taking into account children’s overall development and learning within a multicultural background (McWayne, Melzi, & Mistry, 2022). Classroom examples are presented that extend to the children’s home environment along with tools and practices used to actively involve the family in the learning process. The aim is for children and adult experiences to be presented and used in a context where these experiences are valued. The first two practical examples concern the creation of a digital newspaper by children and educators and the digital classroom co-created by educators, parents, and children utilizing multimodal forms of communication. The third involves parental participation in a radio project, where the focus is on transferring socio-cultural elements from home to school and vice versa whilst highlighting the musical culture and experiences of all participants. It is believed that the tools and practices that were utilized in this paper could inform practice and address the difficulties that foreign and native families may have by encouraging their active participation in the learning process. The aim is for children and adult experiences to be presented and used in a context where these experiences are valued as the UN focuses on the sustainable development goals of ‘’leaving no one behind” (UN, 2016) via the recognition of the development of the society through inclusivity (von Heimburg, Langås, & Ytterhus, 2021). Classroom examples that extend to the children’s home environment in addition to tools and practices used to actively involve the family in the learning process. Based on Gregoriadis et al. (2023) in recent years literature views family as ‘a wholefamily learning environment’ and points out how practices that are carried out at home enable children’s learning and development.