Family, School, and Community Partnerships: Nurturing and Empowering All Young Children - Paperback

by Pradnya Patet (Author)

Family, School, and Community Partnerships: Nurturing and Empowering All Young Children focuses on the interwoven relationship of family, school, and community in the life of a child, from birth to age eight. Students are encouraged to develop culturally responsive mindsets as they practice active listening, give mindful responses, maintain composure, and develop empathy--important skills that allow early childhood educators to be successful in creating strong and positive relationships with parents/guardians and the community in the best interest of the child. Each chapter begins with an Introduction followed by Consider This questions for students to ponder and discuss. Theory into Practice and Implications for Early Childhood Practitioners help students apply theoretical information when they enter a classroom. Invitation to Act activities present students with ideas to get involved locally and advocate for children in meaningful ways. Trending Topics, based on significant news articles, help students understand the evolution of society and the relationships among family, school, and community. What's Your Mindset? and What's Your Personal Theory of Practice? challenge readers to inspect and address pre-conceived biases that could affect their teaching.

• The content aligns with NAEYC and DAP industry standards, with callouts to the standards in each chapter opener; full correlation guides are available in the online instructor resources.
• ​The author uses a nesting metaphor to emphasize the joint relationship of family, school, and community that shelters, nurtures, and empowers children to thrive.

Author Biography

Pradnya Patet is passionate about preparing early care and education professionals to work with young children and their families and currently leads the Early Childhood Development Program at Brightpoint Community College in Chester, Virginia. She earned a B.A. in Psychology and an M.Sc. in Child Development and Family Relations from the University of Mumbai in Mumbai, India, and a Ph.D. in Family and Child Development from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. She is a proud mother of a teenager who nurtures, challenges, and inspires her to view the world with multiple lenses. With more than 25 years of experience in the field of early childhood education as a teacher educator, professional development facilitator, and childcare director she has come to appreciate and value relationship-based pedagogy, practice, and leadership. She teaches with the conviction that experiential learning empowers pre-service teachers to discover their potential and make a difference by applying their learning to the real world. With much of her scholarly work focused on teachers' reflective inquiry and the design of early childhood spaces for optimal learning and living, she is dedicated to helping early care and education professionals to engage in practice that creates and sustains a sense of community through responsive interactions, thoughtfully planned environments, and the whole-hearted acceptance of the intricate connection between families, schools, and communities. She is the recipient of the Mortar Board Top Ten Professor's Award; the Dean's Award for Collaboration; the Gauri Char Scholarship for excellence in work from the University of Mumbai; and earned a place in Who's Who Among America's Teachers.