Models of collaboration between parents and educational professionals in kindergartens

This paper titled Models of Collaboration between Parents and Educational Professionals in Kindergartens first defines cooperation, states some of its synonyms, describes its significance, intention and conditions for formation as well as it presents the beneficial effects it has, the persons involved and their role in the on-going process. Furthermore, factors that may affect the process or hinder the formation/the maintenance of a quality relationship are mentioned. For a better understanding of the cooperation between professional workers and parents, we conducted an overview of history, through which we noticed the changes doneand detectedthe progress that was made in the field of relationship between professional workers–kindergarten teachers–and parents. The latter express satisfaction regarding the established mutual relationship, which partly contributes to how the quality of work of the entire educational institution is perceived. Since we are aware that the cooperation between kindergarten teachers and families is obligatory and necessary, we stressed the content of some laws and acts: what is more, we especially focused on the key document that defines the program and the execution of the pre-school education–Kindergarten Curriculum, a more precisely stated principle of cooperation with parents. Lastly, we briefly presented the models of cooperation between professional workers and parents, which are–as it can be deducted from the title of the paper–our main topic. The management, client and partnership models of cooperation are described. The empirical part stems from our goals and examines what is the parents' opinion on the significance of cooperation with the kindergarten and on conditions that are required for the formation of a quality mutual relationship. Furthermore, it investigates what the situation in the field of cooperation is–which model of cooperation is the most common–and to what degree the parents are satisfied with the established relationship with the kindergarten teacher. Based on the interpretation of the results, we concluded that the parents are considerably satisfied regarding the cooperation with the professional workers; however, some parents still see the potential for improvement or the enhancement of theirrelationship