Home-School Partnership and Escola Familia: An Ecological Perspective

• In Event: Using Family-School-Community Partnerships to Enhance Early Literacy and Biliteracy

Abstract

Using an ecological perspective, we focus on the theory and practice of escola familia as a mesosytem to support young children’s motivation to read. The mesosystem refers to the reciprocal interaction that can occur when two micro-environments (e.g., home; school) work together towards a common goal to support a child’s learning (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 2006). In an exemplary Reggio-inspired early childhood centre, we found a Canadian counterpart to escola familia, a Brazilian public school for encouraging the presence of families within young children’s education. We conducted a two-year study with 45 of the Centre’s 3- and 4-year olds, their parents, educators and the administrators, exploring how its distinctive approach to partnering with families contributed to opening a child’s appetite for reading.

Authors

• Teresa Jean Strong-Wilson, McGill University

• George Carani, McGill University