Yarning space: Leading literacy learning through family-school partnerships

Abstract

Effective partnerships between parents , teachers and the community have universally been heralded as crucial to improving young Indigenous Australians' participation in early childhood education and their literacy development. This study of one remote preschool setting identifies the features that successfully framed family- school and community-led partnerships there. Our account is based on reported experiences with Parents and Learning (PaL), a long-established program, and Mums n Bubs, a recent initiative in the community preschool. Mothers said they felt empowered when equal value and respect were accorded to them as key participants in what we have described as a 'yarning space'. This was a jointly constructed space and an intercultural strategy centred on the preschool where everyone listened carefully and respectfully to each other, helping to build and lead a literacy learning community. The co-researchers were privileged to be invited into this space to hear the mothers speak with pride of their achievements.