Martine van der Pluijm

177 General discussion literacy skills by selecting easy books (i.e., many pictures, limited texts and pages) that build on the same familiar themes used during the previously mentioned play activities, and assuring that parents possess the needed prior knowledge. Additionally, teachers are advised to continue modeling questions for parents to stimulate active child involvement as during play. Engaging teachers based on professional autonomy Based on our research, we experienced that fostering teachers’ ownership and granting professional autonomy contributes to the development of teacher behavior and increased satisfaction of their work with parents. However, we also found that teachers require more knowledge about working with parents. How can we accommodate teachers with existing knowledge that might be of help to improve SFPs with lower-educated parents in support of child language development, respecting their professional autonomy? Our recommendation is to help teachers to thoroughly reflect on the pros and cons of improving their work with parents in support of child language development. This reflection is needed for teachers to make a well-balanced decision (Janssen, Kreijns, Bastiaens, Stijnen, & Vermeulen, 2012). We also recommend coaches to align expectations about the process that will follow when teachers decide to become involved in professionalization activities to improve their SFPs in support of child language development. We have four proposals for in-service education that might be supportive of these aims. First, it is important to acknowledge the complexity of teachers’ work. Working with children and parents in a diverse school environment requires that teachers possess significant knowledge about child education, parent involvement, and cultural backgrounds (Walker, 2019). Many teachers manage to work with parents with hardly any preparation in their professional training. However, these knowledge gaps require attention. Coaches need to adopt a careful approach. Appreciating teachers’ knowledge and experience can contribute to teachers’ feelings of efficacy. Additionally, acknowledging gaps in their knowledge is needed to help teachers become aware of new opportunities they can explore to improve their work (cf., Epstein et al., 2019). Discussing strengths and new and more effective behavior can stimulate teachers to become involved in a process to improve their practice (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2002). Second, teachers should be equipped with relevant knowledge. Coaches can stimulate teachers’ decision-making by introducing them to theories that can improve their work with parents by using a bioecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; 1992). This theory positions the home as the most influential domain and school as the second influential domain where young children acquire language (i.e., micro-system). This theory also shows the opportunities for bidirectional relationships between these domains (i.e., meso-system) for child language support. Bioecological theory explains the relevance of adapting to interactions in the home