Portals of Promise : a Transforming Beliefs and Practices through a Curriculum of Parents

Working with parents is a significant aspect of educators’ roles, yet it is rare to find curriculum in teacher education programs designed to prepare individuals to consider, in philosophical, theoretical, and pedagogical ways, who they will be in relationship with parents and why. Schools, therefore, remain hierarchical structures in which parents are marginalized in relation to decisions affecting teaching and learning. This book begins with Pushor’s conceptualization of a “curriculum of parents,” a curriculum which explores beliefs and assumptions about parents, a vision for education in which educators work alongside parents and family members in the learning and care of children, and a desire for reform. She describes a curriculum of parents, in the form of three graduate teacher education courses, which she lived out in relationship with students. Graduate students then capture their experiences immersed in this curriculum – what they each took up, how it shaped their knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and how they lived it out as they returned to their classrooms, schools, and early learning centres. This book is a storied account of their intense immersion in a curriculum of parents and the resulting impact living that curriculum has had on who they are in relation to parents and families. It is an honest and vulnerable account of their shared and individual journeys. They puzzle over the complexities and the successes of their work and the resulting impact. This is not a book of best practice, but an invitation to other educators to consider, as they did, what they do and how it could be different. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Front Matter....Pages 1-3 Bringing into Being a Curriculum of Parents....Pages 5-19 Planning and Living a Curriculum of Parents....Pages 21-55 It is All Relational....Pages 57-66 A Practicum Journey to Parent Engagement....Pages 67-82 Front Matter....Pages 83-85 Welcoming from the Inside Out – Authentic Hospitality....Pages 87-91 Beyond the Classroom Walls....Pages 93-101 Love is a Babe....Pages 103-106 Parents....Pages 107-116 Front Matter....Pages 117-119 Invite, Wonder, and Connect....Pages 121-129 A Boy, His Snake, and Their Story....Pages 131-140 Rethinking Curriculum, Rethinking Practice....Pages 141-153 Front Matter....Pages 155-157 Challenging Hegemonic Notions of Family....Pages 159-172 Seeing Families’ Lives, Hearing Families’ Stories....Pages 173-192 Rethinking Practice....Pages 193-203 Front Matter....Pages 205-207 Looking Inward, Letting Go....Pages 209-217 Stories of Families....Pages 219-234 Feeling it in our Hearts....Pages 235-243 Back Matter....Pages 245-248