2 Culture, Engagement, and Partnership
Like families, organizations (schools, clinics, agencies, etc.) have cultures. Often, an organization’s culture is rooted in dominant societal norms. By this we don’t mean one set of societal norms, but the norms reflected in the broader community where the organization exists. The dominant culture may be different on one side of a school division relative to another where each neighborhood is homogeneous, but different. For example, a predominantly white, Protestant Christian community on one side of town often has a different culture than a predominantly Latino and Catholic community located just a few miles away. However, dominant societal norms may be perpetuated by professionals in a building who represent yet a different background from the community they serve. For example, we know that the majority of educators in the U.S. come from white, middle class, Protestant backgrounds. If that demographic is reflected in the school serving Latino and Catholic families, then children may experience cultural incongruity between home and school experiences. Family involvement aims to assimilate families into organizations’ cultures through one-directional communication and invitations to attend events on the school or agency property. Family involvement–as opposed to partnership–is a missed opportunity to collaboratively develop learning opportunities that build on, and align with, families’ funds of knowledge.
Engagement does not necessarily lead to partnership. Meaningful engagement comes from a deep understanding of the families’ cultures and their needs. A true partnership brings together both sources of knowledge (professionals and families), while working towards the common goal of supporting each child as they grow.
We have one caveat to mention here. Partnership does not mean that each individual has final say over every piece of content, every intervention strategy, or every interaction. Rather, partnership means that each person is heard and a final path is constructed taking all priorities into consideration.
Every interaction with a family should do three things:
- Strengthen the relations among children and important adults;
- Invite families to collaboratively engage with you, the clinician or educator, through two-directional communication; and
- Empower the family to engage with clinicians and educators and to support learning at home.
Trust serves as the foundation for this work. Without trust, strong relationships falter. Hoy and Tschannen-Moran (1999) defined trust as, “an individual’s or group’s willingness to be vulnerable to another party based on the confidence that the latter party is benevolent, reliable, competent, honest, and open” (p. 189). Throughout this text, we will return to this foundational understanding of our work engaging and partnering with families, building on it in each section.
