Parent perspectives second installment: The way of teaching

I am pleased to say that by now, Friday, I'm completely recovered from the jet lag that turned my feet to cement and the insides of my head to straw. I've had two full nights of sleep where I haven't woken at two in the morning with the feeling that it was time for breakfast or lunch. I'm back! 

To continue my writings on parent perspectives, below are some of the comments that parents made regards the teaching practice and philosophy of the outdoor nurseries.

Auchlone 

"You can see how ideas just evolve. There will always be different things developing for the children and the ideas come from the children"

"It's not this pristine environment. The children can get dirty, muddy and it's ok"

"The things they do are just useful, like making soup. They're not making some ridiculous easter bonnet nonsense. It's useful stuff. It's not done for them, they all learn about this together. They're involved from the beginning of the process. Not just a stir. They are totally involved. And half the time the teachers don't know what they're doing either. I love that. They'll get there and they'll all work out together what they're going to do, they'll trial things. Like, let's see what happens when you dye eggs with beetroot and nettles. There's such excitement form discovering things for yourself."

Boldon

"The way they shape them as kids will impact them as they get older. If they grow up being told don't do that, don't do this, well it doesn't give them a chance to think about their decisions. Here they are given confidence. The  learning development phase up to five is the ideal learning time."

"When we first started here the staff were so supportive of him and me, constantly keeping me updated and asking what can we try now, what do you think, how do you think it's working. Giving me the odd phone call to reassure me that he was ok"

"There are great relationships. The staff are so approachable, we are on first name terms and when we arrived that first time they Introduced this as our home. Sue told us it was going to be the children's home. I was so excited. This is a second home to them and to me. All the children know who I am and while there's a professional balance, I'm noticed as a person and welcomed."

"We can come here as a family and watch them play. I'm quite emotional about it. I love it here. I'm excited to come through this door every morning"

Secret Garden

"It's important to me that she can just be. She's got opportunities to be in tune with nature like I did when I was little."

Cowgate:

"I feel really fortunate that he has such a magical place to go where he can learn so much and not even realise it."

These words are straight from the parents that I interviewed. They were from all different walks of life and had often had previous experience with regular nurseries. Their support for each centre is a strong indication of the impact that these nurseries have on families. I was greatly impressed with what parents knew about early learning and that this type of freedom, autonomy, connection to nature was in their children's best interests. I know that many of the nurseries work very closely with parents. In the case of Boldon, parents are invited to workshops to learn about the learning that their children will be engaged in. At Auchlone parents are often invited to social functions at the centre. 

It's got me thinking about the ways we invite parents to be involved in our preschools, and by involved I don't mean the usual attendance at meetings or volunteering in the garden. I mean real, authentic involvement. The comments above indicate to me that parents are in tune with the teaching philosophy of the nurseries I visited, even to the extent of seeing them as a second home. 

So my question for you today is this. What sort of involvement do your parents have in your preschool? Do they know about the philosophy enough to believe in it as you do? What can we be doing to engage parents in what we do?