Vol 10 Issue 2
FOCUS ON: Supporting parents during the cost-of-living crisis
IN THIS ISSUE:
- How early years practitioners can support the care of young children living in poverty.
- Supporting parents with empathy and compassion
- Vulnerable pupils in Tanzanian schools
- Experiences of homeless women
- Fathering and poverty
- Triple P for Baby
Author: Alexandra Sewell, Co-editor
Author title: Senior Lecturer in Special Educational Needs, Disability, and Inclusion
Description: Editorial on supporting parents during the cost of living crisis issue
Description writer: Senior Lecturer in Special Educational Needs, Disability, and Inclusion, School of Education, University of Worcester, UK
Author: Stuart Busby
Author title: PhD student, University of Exeter, UK
Description: This article draws from research literature, my personal observations and an interview with an Academic Officer from Tanzania to understand how schools in the region are supporting early child development during the disruption to learning caused by the cost-of-living crisis. It strives to understand whether Tanzanian education policy has provided a successful response to the challenges caused by increasing levels of poverty. This article argues that, despite the positive reception of the Tanzanian government’s education policies, schools’ responses to the country’s cost-of-living crisis are variable and still predominately determined by their local context and factors such as the quality of individual leaders.
Description writer: PhD Student
Author: Mandy Duncan, Deputy Head of School (Research), School of Education, University of Worcester, UK
Author title: Deputy Head of School (Research), School of Education, University of Worcester, UK
Description: Evidence suggests that poverty poses risks to children’s long-term health, education and social outcomes. The birth of a child brings additional costs and reduces parent and caregiver’s participation in the labour market leaving families with young children particularly vulnerable to economic stress. This is currently exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis which has come close on the heels of the pandemic and its associated lockdowns. This paper reviews current evidence on the challenges of parenting and caring for young children in poverty and explores how practitioners can support parents to achieve good outcomes for their children. Practitioners can best support families by forming empathetic and nonjudgemental parent-practitioner partnerships which are based on mutual recognition and respect for the contribution each makes towards the child.
Description writer: Senior Lecturer in Special Educational Needs, Disability, and Inclusion, School of Education, University of Worcester, UK
Author: Angela Hodgkins & James Boddey,
Author title: Angela Hodgkins: Senior Lecturer, University of Worcester, UK, James Boddey: Director, Busy Bodies Childcare Ltd, UK
Description: The aim of this article is to provide guidance and strategies for professionals working with children and families during the current cost-of-living crisis. Currently, there are many families living in poverty in the UK and around the world and the need for support is significantly higher than it has been for decades. Professionals working with children and families are in a good position to support families, so we give practical advice on ways to do this. An important underlying principle is to do so with empathy and compassion, which is something that professionals in the early childhood field are skilled in demonstrating. A consequence of this emotion work is the impact on professionals, the emotional burden often resulting in stress or burnout. Early childhood settings need to ensure that they are doing all they can to support those who are supporting others.
Description writer: Angela Hodgkins: Senior Lecturer, University of Worcester, UK, James Boddey: Director, Busy Bodies Childcare Ltd, UK
Author: Joanne Smith
Author title: Senior Lecturer in Education and Inclusion, Owner of a Private Day Nursery
Description: This position piece discusses the implications of the current UK proposals regarding the relaxing of adult to child ratios in early years settings, for children aged two years old. It is taken from the position of a private day nursery owner who also advocates for inclusive education. An exploration of the current context in terms of the cost-of-living crisis and the potential impact on early years settings is introduced. Then a brief historical overview of Early Education development, including key policies is discussed. Finally, I highlight the conflict between being a business owner, struggling with the increased costs of staffing and the ethical dilemma of still providing high quality childcare during the cost-of-living crisis.
Description writer: Senior Lecturer in Education and Inclusion, University of Worcester, UK; Owner of a Private Day Nursery (age 0-4) in Worcestershire, UK.
Author: Anna CT Gordon, Caroline Mitchell
Author title: Anna CT Gordon: EBI Clinical Primer, Caroline Mitchell:General Practitioner and Senior Clinical Lecturer
Description: This study was dependant on inclusive cross-sectoral working, from conceptualisation to dissemination and implementation. We describe interviews conducted with 11 women who had experienced pregnancy and homelessness in Sheffield (England), and the impact of this study on local policy. All women described ‘cycles of trauma’ beginning in childhood, contributing to low health literacy, mental illness, and addiction. Pregnancy offered much-desired intimacy and responsibility, and women unanimously wanted to “do the best” for their children. This was a strong motivator to ‘get clean’ and engage with healthcare. However, pregnancies magnified an underlying mistrust of practitioners due to fear of child loss to social services. We discuss the impact of fear on engagement with healthcare and ways to improve engagement with healthcare for this population. We also discovered and discuss a dangerous lack of postnatal care and the impact of this on both mothers and their children.
Description writer: Anna CT Gordon: EBI Clinical Primer, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research, Bristol Medical School, UK, Caroline Mitchell: General Practitioner and Senior Clinical Lecturer, Academic Unit of Primary Medical Care, University of Sheffield, UK
Author: Hannah Morgan
Author title: Child, Community & Educational Psychologist
Description: Parents’ beliefs about their ability to perform effectively as a parent, referred to as parenting self-efficacy (PSE), are associated with child behaviour, socio-emotional functioning and academic achievement, as well as parenting competence and functioning (Jones & Prinz, 2005). PSE has received extensive attention within numerous fields but only a small number of studies have attended to the impact of parents’ interactions with their environment and research exploring parents’ actual lived experiences of PSE is missing from the literature. This research adopted a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach to explore how PSE emerges and develops in first-time parents. Nine participants engaged in a single semi-structured interview with the researcher via a virtual platform. Demographic information relating to the parents and their children was collected and used to inform theoretical sampling to ensure a range of diverse perspectives and experiences were reflected in the data. Three cycles of data collection, coding and analysis were conducted; use of NVivo qualitative data analysis software supported the coding and analysis process. The findings offer new ideas to existing conceptualisations of PSE that are based on actual lived experience and highlight the role of parents’ interactions with the environment on how PSE emerges and develops. This research will be of interest to services and practitioners that support young families; researchers and professionals who are interested in early child development or the transition to parenthood; and parents themselves.
Description writer: Community & Educational Psychologist, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
Author: Alina Morawska, Michael Herd, Caitlin Jackson
Author title: Alina Morawska: Associate Professor, Michael Herd: Psychologist and Deputy Head of Training, Caitlin Jackson: Program and Evidence Support Officer
Description: The importance of the first three years of a child’s life for their long-term development is wellestablished. For new parents, the transition from pregnancy to parenthood is an exciting and daunting time, with many parents feeling inadequately supported. This is especially true for parents with additional vulnerabilities, such as socio-economic disadvantage, mental health challenges, infant health problems, relationship conflict, and social isolation. The presence of these factors in the perinatal period can have cascading negative impacts on both parents and children across parental mental health, parenting quality, household functioning, and infant social, emotional, behavioural, and motor development. Few programs exist that address the multiple challenges involved in raising an infant, and there is a lack of evidence for interventions that support parenting skills and confidence. This article provides an overview of Triple P for Baby, a perinatal parenting program designed as a comprehensive, preventative, group or individual support for parents at the transition to parenthood.
Description writer: Alina Morawska, Associate Professor Parenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Australia, Michael Herd, Psychologist and Deputy Head of Training, Triple P International Pty Ltd, Caitlin Jackson, Program and Evidence Support Officer, Triple P International Pty Ltd
