Report of research documenting, analysing and reporting on existing innovative and effective partnerships between schools and indigenous, most particularly, Aboriginal families and communities. Qualitative methods in the form of in depth interviews, in person and by telephone, were adopted for the research. Schools that were known to have successful partnerships were identified and encouraged to participate. The research was premised on the idea that people learn best from success stories and that schools would be inspired to emulate the partnership practices found to be successful in other similar schools.

This book challenges and offers an alternative to the imposition of best practices on communities by outside specialists. It tells of an unexpected partnership initiated by an Aboriginal tribal council with the University of Victoria's School of Child and Youth Care. The partnership produced a new approach to professional education, in which community leaders are co-constructors of the curriculum. Word of this "generative curriculum" has spread and now over sixty communities have participated in the First Nations Partnerships Program. The authors show how this innovative program has strengthened community capacity to design, deliver, and evaluate culturally appropriate programs to support young children's development.

This resource sheet reviews the available literature on what works in supporting the involvement of Indigenous parents in their children's education. In their review, Emerson et al. (2012:3) reported that positive parental engagement in learning improves academic achievement, wellbeing and productivity. This resource sheet identifies some of the key practices that have underpinned programs or practices for schools and early learning environments that have successfully engaged Indigenous parents with their children's education. [Introduction, ed].

Protecting the Promise is the first book in the Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies Series edited by Django Paris. It features a collection of short stories told in collaboration with five Native families that speak to the everyday aspects of Indigenous educational resurgence rooted in the intergenerational learning that occurs between mothers and their children. The author defines “resurgence” as the ongoing actions that recenter Indigenous realities and knowledges, while simultaneously denouncing and healing from the damaging effects of settler colonial systems. By illuminating the potential of such educational resurgence, the book counters deficit paradigms too often placed on Indigenous communities. It also demonstrates the need to include Indigenous Knowledges within the curriculum for both in-school and out-of-school settings. These engaging narratives reframe Indigenous parents as critical and compassionate educators, cultural brokers, and storytellers who are central partners in the education of their children. Book Features: A window into how and why Indigenous resurgence through (and sometimes in resistance to) education can happen.A narrative style of writing that builds accessible stories that are both relatable and connected to larger social issues.An interdisciplinary approach that has implications for pre- and in-service teachers and school administrators, as well as for the communities from which these stories originated.A teacher-friendly Afterword that offers lesson ideas for the classroom and companion questions to the short stories.

This open access book provides a critical, thought-provoking, and stimulating overview of theories applied worldwide to conceptualise collaborations between early childhood education and children's families. The book starts with a critical reflection on the colonial undertones of parental involvement (PI) and acknowledges a strong political will to improve this aspect of early childhood education and care. The chapters in the book describe and discuss various theories, including the cultural historical wholeness approach, Bronfenbrenner's ecology of human development, the theory of social capital, the theory of collaboration, family-school partnership models proposed by Epstein and Hornby, Bourdieu's social theory, the theory of practice architectures, the discourse/narrative theory, and posthumanism. By proposing the concept of more-than-parents, the authors aim to embrace both the diversity of intergenerational family configurations and the agency of materiality, artifacts, and the involvement of more-than-human actors.

Parents play a critical role in their children's development and learning. This resource sheet examines what we know about programs for Australian Indigenous families that effectively support parenting in the early years. It reviews parenting and home-visiting programs in general, and then focuses on the evidence for programs aimed at Indigenous families. It outlines what works, what doesn't, and what further research is needed. This resource sheet also discusses the promising practices and recommendations of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care.