Peer-reviewed article
Dissonance in Interactions with Parents: A Qualitative Study on Vulnerability and Trust and Implications for the Professional Development of Early Childhood Educators
Inka Bormann, Nicole Voss ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This exploratory interview study asked 15 early childhood educators which situations with parents they find challenging. The authors analysed the interviews through the ideas of vulnerability and dissonance. Educators described different kinds of dissonance, vulnerability and trust in their work with parents. Experienced educators mainly described tensions linked to their professional role, while younger educators described strains in their relationships with parents. The authors discuss what this means for the professional development of educators.
Key points
- The study is an exploratory qualitative interview study with 15 early childhood educators.
- Educators experience different dissonances, vulnerabilities and forms of trust in their work with parents.
- Experienced educators report role-related tensions (dissonances).
- Younger educators describe relational strains with parents.
- The findings point to profession-specific challenges with implications for educators' professional development.
Limitations
The abstract describes a small exploratory sample of 15 educators, so the findings cannot be generalised or show how common these experiences are. It reports the educators' perspective only, with no information on parents' views or on outcomes for children.
Abstract
The expectation of establishing an educational partnership with parents poses challenges for both parents and early childhood educators (ECEs). Structural conditions and diverging orientations often complicate cooperation between educators and parents. This exploratory qualitative interview study with 15 ECEs examines which situations in their interaction with parents they find challenging. Based on qualitative content analysis, tense situations in interactions with parents are interpreted through the lenses of vulnerability and dissonance theory. The results show that ECEs experience different dissonances, vulnerabilities, and varying forms of trust in their work with parents. While experienced ECEs report role-related tensions (dissonances), younger ECEs describe relational strains with parents. The findings highlight profession-specific challenges that are discussed in terms of their implications for ECEs’ (further) professional development.