Martine van der Pluijm

88 Chapter 3 support are therefore needed (Hoff, 2013). We suggest a focus on results for families with the lowest education levels since few intervention studies are directed at this target group (see Chapter 2; Van der Pluijm et al., 2019). Implications for practice and policy We have several recommendations for practitioners and policymakers. Practitioners could consider working with the principles derived from this study. Our study shows how teachers can use the principles step-by-step to improve their SFPs with lower-educated parents in support of child language development. The SFPs in our study were mostly successful and compatible with teachers’ daily activities. Although it was difficult for teachers in our study to become well informed about families’ HLEs (step 1), this first step contributed to their understanding of partnerships with parents (cf., Mol et al. 1992). Teachers can use this improved understanding to build reciprocal relationships and arrange adapted parent-child activities to support richer parent-child interactions. Parent-child interactions flourish when dyads are encouraged to use their home language in the case of families with immigrant backgrounds (e.g., Anderson et al., 2017; Boyce et al., 2010). Parent-educators and students can complement teachers in their practices with parents in classrooms by looking after children whose parents are absent, allowing the teacher to concentrate on modeling. However, we also found that parent- educators were less involved in the collaborative process. Closer collaboration and improved goal alignment between teachers and parent-educators could contribute to successful SFPs in support of children’s language development (Wasik & Sparling, 2012). Although teachers and principals valued our prototype, schools had limited resources to continue these SFPs as part of school policy. The need for developing a shared vision and supportive policy to sustain improvements is well-documented (e.g., Epstein & Sanders, 2006; Jeynes, 2012; Van Veen et al., 2012). National and local policymakers can play a significant role in stimulating the formation of SFPs by developing supportive policy and providing funds for schools that allow teachers to be better prepared for their important work with lower-educated parents. Such policies should also include improvements of in-service professionalization programs (cf., Epstein & Sanders, 2006) and optimization of curricula of pre-service teacher education (Noel, 2016; Thompson, Willemse, Mutton, Burn, & De Bruïne, 2018; Walker & Leg, 2018).