Partnership as type of cooperation between preschool teachers and parents

The paper, titled Partnership as type of cooperation between preschool teachers and parents, is comprised of two parts: a theoretical and an empirical part. The theoretical part describes the types of cooperation between preschool teachers and parents, presents the partnership model of cooperation and the importance of cooperation, examines its formal frameworks and discusses other models of cooperation. We also focus on how to plan a partnership and explain obstacles and advantages in establishing a partnership model of cooperation. Moreover, we investigate communication between preschool teachers and parents in the partnership model of cooperation as well as the degree of its effectiveness. The empirical part of the paper presents the results of the research, obtained by conducting a survey. We were interested in what types of cooperation with parents the interviewed preschool teachers establish and how often, we determined what the preschool teachers expect from the cooperation with parents and whether they are familiar with the elements of the partnership model of cooperation. What is more, we also examined whether the preschool teachers are acquainted with the rights of parents. The results show that the preschool teachers establish all of the stated forms of cooperation with parents (parent-teacher conferences, office hours, communication upon children's arrival or departure, written messages and informal meetings), the most frequent of which are communication upon children's arrival or departure and written messages. The results also show that the preschool teachers are well aware of the partnership model of cooperation, that they expect the parents to consider the model and that they are well acquainted with the rights of parents