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children’s lives in Northern areaschildren’s lives in Northern areas

Seija Järvi:Seija Järvi:

Parents’ participation in early Parents’ participation in early childhood education serviceschildhood education services

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Basic questions in the article

• What do the parents think about the day care services

• What kind of ideas do they have to improve these services?

– According to many studies, parental involvement contributes

significantly to children's learning.

• But are there also other aspects in parental involvement, such as

the increasing demand for active and participatory citizens?

– This article is based on on-going research in which the focus is

parents’ participation in early childhood education services

within the chancing welfare state framework in Finland.

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children’s lives in Northern areaschildren’s lives in Northern areas

• As parents, the intensity and diversity of communication forms during the process of day care depends, of course, on many reasons, specifically on the level of participation and collaboration with the staff and other parents.

• Our preferences and needs as well as our underlying personal characteristics and experiences do certainly affect our willingness and ability to participate.

• But there is also another side, the structure and practices in which we are or aren't participating in some activities. This article concerns especially that side.

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• In The Finnish National Board of Education’s (FNBE) vision the learner’s perspective, participatory citizenship and sustainable development are the starting points for all operations. At the same time, the demand for evaluation on the national, regional, municipal and local levels has increased.

• With the increasing need to evaluate social impacts and good practices arise the demands – to develop greater civil society involvement and improve the

quality of public services.

• Could and should the parents be the resource not only for improve services and increase society’s social capital but also to implement children’s rights as representatives of their children?

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• The article presents also briefly the Peer interview - a method developed by Anna-Leena Välimäki because peer interviews are used in data collection in this study.

• Although it is rather a tool (to collect qualitative data and to implement 5th generation’s evaluation) than a method, we can easily notice how well it fits into the customer-oriented and participatory citizenship -approach in public strategies and welfare services.

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Peer interview -methodPeer interview -method

• Evaluation Generations:• 1th generation: behaviorism, measuring,

quantitative results• 2nd generation: individuals -> organizations,

programs• 3th generation: objectives and values, costs• 4th generation: stakeholders oriented,

participative, pluralistic• 5th generation: empowerment, self evaluation

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• Peer interview

rather a tool (to collect qualitative data and to implement 5th generation’s evaluation) than a method

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Why it is needed and actual right now

• A customer-oriented approach to public strategies and welfare services – increasing empowerment and involvement

• Participatory citizenship

• The need of methods which reflect the importance of experience-based knowledge

• Increasing need of policy assessment• The necessity of co-operation between different

participants

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How it works

• The main purpose of peer interview is the same as in focus groups and other forms of qualitative interviewing but – it is more a reflective dialogue between two or more participants

than a traditional research interview

• In research method use, people reflect dialogically on chosen themes

• The researcher is not present but – all material is sent and directions are given in letters before the

interview– further directions may be given by telephone

• Participants themselves choose the place and record or write down their discussions

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• As a research tool, peer interview is light, quick and economical

• In evaluative use and the improvement of welfare services, people

– reflect dialogically on chosen themes,

– discuss their experiences of services,

– reflect the goals and quality standards of services and

– after the process select the correct policies to improve services and to produce the better practices

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To Whom

• People who – use the welfare services or – who work in the area and have a lot of tacit knowledge and ideas

how to improve these services

• The method is also – an available and innovative tool for decision makers and any

other stakeholders

• It makes it possible – to combine top-down and bottom-up approaches through the

evaluation process and – to produce best practices which are also sustainable and

efficient

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How it is used

• Anna-Leena Välimäki has developed the method in the 1990s

• Seija Järvi (2003) has considered how to use peer interview as an evaluation tool and is now using the method in her doctoral thesis which is focusing on the participation of parents in day care services

• Tiilikka (2005) has used the method in her doctoral• thesis ”Mothers' conceptions of education and assessments of good

day-nursery education”

• The method has been used successfully in research of municipal day care service and it is also applied to evaluating regional co-operative work between public, private and civil organizations in special education

• The dialogical peer process is a reflective model to produce information about how the impacts of social policies and social services are experienced by the service-users, staff and decision-makers

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Social Domains and Relationships (Layder 1998)Social Domains and Relationships (Layder 1998)

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• The theory part of my thesis is about how the system elements (the chancing welfare concept in Finland) affects to the life world (parents participation in their children’s educare services)? (top-down)

• the data is about what kind of aspects there are arising from the parents to improve the educare system and how they wanted to participate? (bottom-up)

• The article will concern mainly the concept of participation in welfare services

THANK YOU!