Martine van der Pluijm

106 Chapter 4 they wished they had more facilities to do this properly (e.g., time, home visits). All teachers reported they had involved parents and colleagues in SFP procedures (e.g., a weekly parent- child activity). Four teachers emphasized the importance of this organizational aspect. Teacher 4 reported: “ I really want to do something and not do just anything. You should be aware of what you are doing and your intentions.” We found differences between a group of 12 teachers who participated in the professionalization activities and two teachers who partially participated in these activities on adherence to Step 3 [ Build reciprocal relationships with parents ]. The group of 12 teachers described the progress they made. Teacher 7 said: “ They feel welcome in my classroom, they know they’re acknowledged and that I’ll listen to them and that I value them.” This teacher expressed her leading vision that integrates the three steps of the first phase: “ I hope that there’s less distance between school and home. And more continuity. They (parents) don’t have to do what we do at school. Home is home, and school is school. But I hope they’ll be inspired." Teacher 6 said: “I tell them that we’re all human. I also make mistakes. But you don’t have to be afraid. We learn from each other as adults and we learn from our children. Children learn from us. I learnt a lot from parents and parents learnt from me.” The two teachers who only participated partly in the professionalization activities experienced more problems with building reciprocal relationships. Teacher 8 said: “ You cannot reach them all, and I think that’s a shame. It would be so nice if more parents were to come here.” The experiences of these two teachers also reflected how they were unable to participate fully due to personal circumstances. Teacher 10 explained: “ Some things are too much for me now. One of these is building relationships.” Teachers’adherence to the phase of the intervention activity [Step 4: Arrange weekly parent-child activities that stimulate interaction] and stimulate oral language [Step 5: Stimulate parental role development, Step 6: Prioritize the use of language and Step 7: Expand children’s language] showed more variety. Nine of the 12 teachers who participated in the professionalization activities reported that they used each of the steps of the intervention activity and oral language support. Their reports showed how they adapted activities to involve even the lowest educated parents, enabled parents to experience their role in talking to their children, and stimulating parents to prioritize and expand language. Teacher 5 expressed an integrated vision of her role: “ Many parents use commands when they talk to their child. Or they don’t say a word. They ask for homework and test. When I observe this, I go back to what parents do have. I introduce familiar activities, for example, paying in the store. I used coins and I played with parent and child pretending to pay for something. And then I saw fathers drawing money and price cards for the child to play with. And many dialogues about buying and paying…” However, these nine teachers used varied strategies to support parents in expanding the language of their children. Seven of these teachers explained how they supported parents to increase the number of words used during dialogues. Two teachers illustrated how they supported parents to increase the number of words and to use decontextualized language. Preschool teacher 13 explained: “ For example, when we have a picture of a baby elephant that wears mommy’s shoes, I ask: ‘Do you ever wear