PARENT EDUCATION: CURRENT STATUS

The current status of parent education is critically examined in terms of contemporary definitions, programs, methods, potential audiences, research problems, and issues in leadership. Résumé Cet article fait Ie point sur l'éducation des parents. Il s'agit d'une analyse cri-tique portant sur les définitions courantes, les programmes et les techniques d'inter-vention, les populations cibles, les problèmes de recherche et les questions relatives au leadership. Educational programs for parents have existed in the United States since the early 1800's and there has been an uninterrupted expansion of such programs since about 1880 (Croake & Glover, 1977). In Canada, the St. George's School for Child Study which was founded in 1925 became involved in parent education and later prepared outlines for discussion groups along with bibliographies for parents and leaders (Stern, 1960). From these beginnings, there has been an increasing pro-liferation of programs, books, films, and other educational materials for parents which vary considerably in the assumptions and theoretical frameworks on which they are based as well as in the fundamental concepts and procedures which they promote. Requests for reprints should be sent to Sharon E