Meeting in the middle? A study of parent–professional partnerships

‘Going the extra mile’: educational practitioners compensating for perceived inadequacies in the parenting of children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)

“…The participants were 15 educational practitioners; seven were employed in mainstream schools (six primary and one secondary), whilst the remaining eight worked at BESD schools (one primary, one mixed primary and secondary, and six secondary). This sample size was in line with previous IPA research in the area of education (O'Connor, 2008), where a smaller sample is necessary to ensure the researcher can 'do justice to each participant's account' (Smith et al, 2009, p. 327). In other words, it is essential to gain a detailed understanding of all participants' accounts, which makes data generation and analysis time-consuming, and therefore, a smaller sample is more appropriate (Larkin, Watts, & Clifton, 2006;Osborn & Smith, 2008).…”

Building Bridges in Teacher Education: Creating Partnerships With Parents

“…They mentioned that the communication necessary among professionals may also negatively impact the partnership with parents, especially when it becomes necessary for one professional to ''take sides'' between the parent and professional team member. Trust is the basis of an effective partnership, but trust building requires time, which is at a premium for both parents and professionals (O'Connor, 2008). Students mentioned that time may be a major issue in building trusting relationships and appropriately maintaining them.…”

“…As trust increases between parents and professionals, parents are more likely to have the confidence to participate in educational planning and professionals are more likely to consider parental input as valuable. This reciprocal interaction illustrates the ideal balance between cooperation and accountability that must be established in effective partnerships (O'Connor, 2008).…”

A review of parent–professional partnerships and some new obligations and concerns arising from the introduction of the SEND Code of Practice 2015

“…The consumer model conceives of the parent as a rational and informed decision-maker and the professional as a provider of information and supplier of the various provision options; and the dual-expert model highlights an equal valuing of parental expertise about the child and the complementary technical expertise of the professional, but retains distinct roles for professionals and parents (see, for example, Fredrickson & Kline, 2009;Gates & Atherton, 2007;Hodge & Runswick-Cole, 2008;Hornby & Lafaele, 2011;O'Connor, 2008;Todd, 2011). The expert model identifies parents as passive receivers of professional expertise; the transplant model seeks to utilise parental engagement and conceives of them as implementers of received expertise and advice; and the informant model characterises parents as providers of information to improve professional decision making.…”