Children at the Crossroads of Opportunities and Constraints - Collaboration between early childhood education and care centers and families: viewpoints and challenges

This empirical study, authored by Tanja Betz from the Gutenberg University Mainz and her team, provides insights into the relationship between early years institutions and the family, and thus into everyday interactions between professionals, children and parents. It examines the question of how the various facets of collaboration between the educational institution and the family are shaped, and which inequality-relevant factors are significant. The goal is to trace and pinpoint how the people who are directly involved in this field view collaboration, and to identify the various dimensions into which collaboration can be divided in everyday practice. This approach helps provide an empirical understanding of collaboration; something which has until now only been available to professional and political debate in rudimentary form.