Browsing by Author "Ruuska, Johanna"

A small childs life is effected mostly by the most important microsystems in his life which are family and day care and their collaboration. Parental activity enables collaboration, educational partnership and having an influence on the affairs of children in day care between parents and day care personnel. It also allowes peer support for parents and strengthens the sense of community. Community is defined by interaction and the relationships between its members, a sense of belonging, functionality, taking part in and striving for a shared goal and an enduring organisation. Parental collaboration can have a function as such enduring organisation. The purpose of this research is to describe what parental collaboration is like from the parents perspective. This research also aims to describe, analyse and interpret the wishes and hopes the parents have for this collaboration and the meanings it gets. The research was partisipated in by 29 parents of children in day care from three day care centers. The material was gathered by an enquiry. The analyse of the material was directed by theory and it was approached by classification and through making themes both via the means of qualitative content analysis and in parts quantifying. The results of the research tell that the answerers thought that parental collaboration was sensible and its central actions were having an influence on the everyday life in day care, arranging occasions, fund raising and advertising, informing and getting new members. The parents saw activities aimed for the children as most valuable functions arranged through parental collaboration. Parents wishes for the action concerned the activity of both the parents and the association, timetables, events, enabling resources, informing and getting children heard. When the meanings that the parents gave to the functions of parental collaboration were examined four themes were found. They were communality, working for childrens benefits, collaboration between parents and day care personnel and the collaboration on city level. The parents experienced that they could make an effect on their childrens early childhood education moderately. They experienced their own activity as an important factor. The parental collaboration in day care context did not get great meaning in parents making relationships between each other or making them deeper.