Martine van der Pluijm

77 Creating partnerships – a formative evaluation thereby contribute to improving the compatibility and feasibility for teachers of this principle. Similar suggestions were given for the third principle. Incorporating reciprocal relationships with parents as part of school policy could contribute to more shared practices and better conditions (e.g., time schedules). The two teachers who were not able to conduct introductory interviews provided suggestions regarding the third principle. These teachers recommended adding an additional option to the tool ‘Outline reciprocal communication guidelines’ for teachers working in school teams where the concept of the introductory interviews is not part of school policy and where there might be a lack of the needed conditions to conduct these interviews. This option should point out the importance of informal contact when parents drop off and pick up their children at school. This can also contribute to reciprocal relationships. Another suggestion refers to the fourth design principle. Teachers suggested extending the parent-child activity checklist by encouraging teachers to value the use of the home languages and to support dyads to use their preferred language during the parent-child activities. Teachers reported that this support stimulated parent-child interaction. Other suggestions refer to scheduling extra coaching sessions for parents to focus on sharing knowledge and beliefs about children’s oral language development. Teachers also require more tools to prevent parents from being goal-oriented during activities. Final suggestions were given by the three teachers that stopped implementing the design principles. Two teachers (5, 6) suggested targeting only schools with high numbers of parents with only primary education. The other teacher (8) suggested using the prototype in preschool, kindergarten, and grade 1. However, other teachers did not agree with these suggestions. They thought that parents with secondary, middle, and higher education levels and different age groups could also benefit from participating in the program. Does the prototype contribute to (lower-educated) parental involvement in support of young children’s language development? (research question 3) Observations before and after implementation of the third design principle [Establish reciprocal relationships with parents]. We observed parental involvement in the classrooms of the ten teachers during an informal contact (dropping the child off at school) before and after teachers implemented the third design principle. Table 3.5 shows the percentages of parents who greet teachers and make eye contact, have exchanges with teachers, and those who enter the classroom.