Amber's case study

Stage One: Formulating my research question

Amber joined the RESPECT project for two reasons. First, she wanted to improve early childhood education ‘from the ground up’; and second, she wished to undertake further study at some stage and was attracted to RESPECT’s focus on research. Amber was concerned that teachers’ images of parents can lead them (consciously or not) to silence parents and to prevent them from participating in a Centre. For example, Amber regarded the parents she worked with as ‘well educated’, so she hadn’t considered how she wrote or talked to them about the program. However, a parent at her Centre had told her that her early childhood jargon can intimidate parents. Amber began to reflect on what she called ‘inappropriate expectations of parents’ and this led to her research question:

• How can I understand what families’ ideas/ideals are for their child - especially without them saying what I want to hear?