Page 51 - PSPS: A Training guide

Establish communication and partnership with parents or family members of
the child that has a language barrier.

Even when parents or family members cannot communicate in the official language, it
is essential for primary school teachers to establish communication with them and
involve them as partners in the development and implementation of the structured
plan for their child.

Parents are the first and most important educators of their children, they know their
children best, and can provide valuable information on their needs and interests, likes
and dislikes. Parents also need to understand that a structured plan for their child’s
transition is necessary and that the messages the child gets from both the teachers
and themselves needs to be the same. This message should model acceptance,
respect, and the same expectations, as well as providing a safe environment for the
child.

In order to make a child welcome in their new “big” school, it is equally important that
parents feel welcome. When parents feel welcome, appreciated and respected, a child
feels much safer at school and more motivated to learn. So, establishing a partnership
with parents of all children, bute specially of those who face a language barrier, is
really important.

It is also important to note that even when parents cannot speak the official language
and their child can, the child should never be put in a position to translate and enable
the conversation between the teachers and parents.

Establish a network of different stakeholders to jointly develop an
individualised transition plan for each child that has a language barrier.

A well-structured plan for enabling a successful, meaningful
transition of a child from preschool or home to primary school
is not a one-person task. In addition to preschool practitioners
who know the child and parents, often an education specialist,
child psychologist or play therapist needs to be involved.

Sometimes there may also be representatives from social services
that could help and NGO staff who know and work with these
children and parents in the community.

Teachers’ assistants from preschool, or community members of the
child’s family, especially those who also have or have had children starting primary
school, and representatives of NGOs working with the refugee/migrant/immigrant
families in the area, can all be of huge help in the provision of information,
communication with the child and parents and in the development of the welcoming,
safe and warm environment for the child and his/her parents.

Successful transition includes the development of a child’s sense of belonging–
belonging to the class and school. Therefore, it really does take a village to make it
happen.