EEC 312 Collaborating with Families with Young Children

3.0 Credit(s) DPDS

This course focuses on developing an understanding of strategies to engage in socially-just partnerships with families across early childhood contexts including preschools, childcare settings, Part C/early intervention, and other home visiting programs. Students will challenge the ways in which dominant White, middle-class and heteronormative American ideologies about family structure and child-rearing practices, including language and literacy practices, influence educational policy, including special education law, and federal and state early childhood programs (Head Start and Early Head Start, early intervention). Students will investigate power dynamics inherent in family/practitioner relationships and the potential for those power dynamics to result in deficit-based, oppressive family engagement practices. Family-Centered Practice will be offered as a practice modality to assist students in avoiding oppressive family engagement practices. This course is open to all students and required for students in the Early Education and Care major. Three lecture hours per week.