Collaboration with immigrant parents in early childhood education in Slovenia: How important are environmental conditions and skills of teachers?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse how important are specific environmental conditions and skills of early childhood education (ECE) teachers as predictors of collaboration with immigrant parents. The study included 348 ECE teachers in Slovenia. The results revealed that environmental conditions (e.g., gender, level of education, job position, educational environment support) are important predictors of collaboration with immigrant parents. Male teachers, teachers whose job position is ECE teacher rather than assistant teacher, and teachers who have higher levels of education reported a significantly better collaboration with immigrant parents than female teachers and teachers with lower educational levels. Regarding ECE teacher skills, results revealed that interpersonal and professional skills (e.g., positive values, positive attitudes towards teaching immigrant children and perceived immigrant child misbehaviour) are important predictors of reported collaboration with immigrant parents in ECE. The results are of practical significance for ECE teachers, immigrant parents and ECE management staff.