The heart of Early Childhood Education is in partnering with families to help children learn and grow. At First Circle, you may find yourself disagreeing with a parent who feels their child’s care could be handled differently. As a program and as professionals, we want to be open to receiving feedback and suggestions as we strive to improve ourselves. When a family raises a question about their child’s care, there are several possible outcomes:
The educator clarifies details of the issue in question and no changes are made.
There is room for improvement or alternate strategies, so the family, classroom staff, and Admin work together to develop an improvement plan. The plan is implemented over time, and all parties help it evolve. If the concern arose from a First Circle staff member not following policy, the staff member immediately undertakes corrective counseling and/or training.
On rare occasions, we can’t successfully collaborate with a family because our philosophies differ too much. Or there may be a disconnect between the family’s goals for their child’s care, and the realities of First Circle’s program or group care in general. In these cases, our professional responsibility is to support the family’s right to find a more suitable school or childcare arrangement [see CONNECTION: Departure].