New Practices of Interacting with Parents of Preschool and Schoolchildren in Finland

Abstract

The article considers how the pre-primary and primary institutions abroad put their aims in collaboration with parents in the changing situation of children’s upbringing and education. The main contents of such activity is to inform, to consult, to involve them into the educational process and extra-curricular occupations, as well as to help families in need. Parents participate in the decision-making; they take into account the children’s opinions whenever it is possible. The article demonstrates how to ensure the basics of the effective communication between parents and educators and gives examples how to organize events for families with children. It speaks about the new directions in working with parents that are developed in Finland and in the world. It reports the results of the Interreg Baltic project, which took place in 2015—2017 in Latvia, Finland and Estonia and was oriented towards cooperation with the Russian-speaking parents whose children become bilingual.