Cooperation between Parents and Preschool Institutions through Different Concepts of Preschool Education

Abstract

This paper analyses the importance, role, and methods of cooperation between parents and preschool institutions through the different concepts of preschool education and different educational approaches and formal frameworks. Through educational approaches, the authors ana-lyse how cooperation affects the implementation of preschool education in alternative educational approaches, such as the Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia approaches, and Slovenian public preschool institutions. They envisage that different educational approaches in preschool education perceive the importance and role of cooperation with parents differently and conclude that there are various models of cooperation, which can be demonstrated through a theoretical analysis of the afore-mentioned alternative preschool approaches. In their view, partnership promotes a shared commitment to the quality realisation of educational goals; it also develops understanding and an ethos of openness in the relationship between all actors in the process of care and education of preschool children.