An early learning program designed to change the way parents interact with their children is improving the children’s communication skills and increasing parent confidence, according to a Catholic Education survey.
The preliminary results are a promising outcome for the newly established Supported Playgroups in Catholic Education program. It showed 75 per cent of families taking part in the pilot reported their children are communicating more since attending the playgroup and 77 per cent noticed their child is more curious.
The survey also found every second parent has increased the amount of playing, talking and reading they do with their children and 66 per cent said they sing more with their children.
Catholic Education South Australia early childhood adviser Tina Adamo says singing is important for a child’s development. “Singing is associated with oral language development so it is very important for children,” she says.
She says the program helps parents to be more engaged with their children’s learning. “The development of learning partnerships between educators and families is very significant and it can help parents to become even more engaged in their children’s learning.”
The pilot program is part of Catholic Education’s strategic initiatives to provide early learning. Up to 23 schools joined Supported Playgroups in Catholic Education in 2016, involving about 1000 children, predominantly aged between two to three years. A further 17 schools have joined the program this year.
Ms Adamo says Catholic educators are “re-imagining childhood”, fostering the core belief that “children are of inestimable value”. “We believe that it is important to establish emotionally secure and cognitively, sensory, socially and spiritually rich foundations for children’s learning,” she says.
“Supported playgroups are facilitated by an educator. They provide parents and carers with opportunities to focus on literacy and numeracy learning in children’s play as well as ideas to try at home.”
This content was originally published in Advertiser feature on May 6 2017
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The Butterick children are no strangers to hardwork on their family’s Mid North farm, feeding its droves of animals and helping prepare for the annual grain harvest.
