Cooperation between ECEC professionals and parents to support children’s learning, development and wellbeing is recognised as a key dimension of pedagogical quality (Council of the European Union, 2019). It can enhance the continuity of children’s learning experiences across the ECEC service and home, and positively impact their development (OECD, 2020). ECEC staff’s competences for working with families can encompass exchanging information, involving parents in the ECEC service and their children’s activities, and supporting parenting skills(European Commission, 2021). In working with families, approaching parents as valued partners in two-way communication, building a trusting relationship, and sharing goals have been recognised to improve cooperation (Aguiar & Pastori, 2019).

Current European policy asserts the need to potentiate competences in the education profession, including for promoting cooperation with families, and inclusive, digital and green environments (Council of the European Union, 2021). The European Quality Framework for ECEC highlights the relevance of providing time for staff to engage with parents (European Commission, 2014). The European Framework for personal, social and learning to learn key competence - LifeComp -  reinforces the need to support educational staff in implementing competence-based teaching in diverse contexts. The European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators - DigCompEdu - describes what it means for educators to be digitally competent, and includes a focus on working with parents. The European Sustainability Competence Framework - GreenComp - highlights the need to develop the sustainability competences of all learners, and guidelines for educators.

Cooperation between ECEC professionals and parents can promote inclusive, digital and green environments in educational contexts through the development of a shared vision. However, ECEC professionals can experience uncertainty about how to promote this cooperation (Murphy et al., 2021). Despite widespread recognition of the importance of cooperating with parents, the inclusion of parents and cooperation modalities can vary between and within education systems (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2019). As highlighted by Epstein's model of parent involvement, diverse practices and strategies can be used to involve parents in schools (parenting support, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with the community), which can be associated with specific challenges (Epstein, 2001).

Further research on professionals’s views and approaches regarding cooperation with parents and inclusive, digital, and green environments in ECEC has been identified as necessary (Leitão et al., 2023; Norheim & Moser, 2020; Slot et al., 2018). The current study aimed to explore ECEC professionals’ practices and needs to promote cooperation with parents, and inclusive, digital, and green environments. It was conducted in Italy, Lithuania, Romania, and Serbia, as part of the PATHWAYS project (ERASMUS+; 2022-1-IT02-KA220-SCH-000087139), which aims to enhance and strengthen ECEC professionals’ strategic competences and skills.

Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants. The project team invited ECEC professionals in their network to complete an online questionnaire during March 2023. A total of 189 ECEC professionals participated. They were from Italy (n=34), Lithuania (n=36), Romania (n=62), and Serbia (n=57). Around 75% were educators/preschool teachers, 5% were ECEC setting managers, 1% were auxiliary staff, and 19% were other professionals. All identified themselves as female. The PATHWAYS team developed the questionnaire, and translated it into each country’s language. A set of questions asked participants to indicate the extent to which they were familiar (from 1=not at all to 5=very familiar) with the following European frameworks: Quality for ECEC, LifeComp, DigComp, GreenComp. Regarding inclusive environments, participants were asked to select which conditions were linked to challenges in their daily practice, among the following: additional/special needs, socio-economic difficulties, diverse cultural backgrounds, gender stereotypes, none, or other. Regarding digital environments, participants were requested to indicate the frequency of use of digital tools in their practice (at least once a week, at least once a month, never), if they used them with parents (yes, no), and which they used in general and with parents (open-ended questions). Concerning green environments, participants were asked if they organised activities to promote awareness about the importance of natural environments and sustainability (only with children, with parents and children, only with parents, or no/not organising). In terms of cooperation with parents, participants were requested to select which learning aspects they would like to improve, among the following: meaningful engagement and communication, cooperation or co-construction of the implementation, building parent's capacity/supporting parenthood, informing parents, advocacy, none of the previous, or other. They were also requested to indicate the most challenging aspect of approaching or involving parents (open-ended question). Quantitative data were analysed in terms of descriptive statistics using Microsoft Excel. The qualitative data were analysed using deductive content analysis, with a researcher coding the data in Microsoft Word. Regarding ethical considerations, completing the questionnaire was voluntary and did not involve direct benefits or consequences to the participants. Other than gender and profession (teacher, manager, teacher’s aide, or other), no participant personal details or special category data were collected.

Regarding the Quality Framework for ECEC, considering all countries, 46% of participants indicated low familiarity (ratings of 1 or 2), 32% medium familiarity (rating of 3), and 22% high familiarity (ratings of 4 and 5). Most participants indicated low familiarity with the frameworks LifeComp (58%), DigComp (61%) and GreenComp (63%). Considering the potential of these policies in shaping educational contexts, their further dissemination might be relevant among ECEC professionals. In terms of challenges faced in daily practice related to inclusiveness, most participants indicated additional/specific needs (74%). Concerning digital tools, 77% of participants reported using them at least once a week, with YouTube being the most frequent (46%). The use of digital tools with parents was reported by 65% of participants, with the computer being the most frequent (19%). Regarding activities related to natural environments and sustainability, 45% of participants reported organising them only with children, and 47% with children and parents. In terms of cooperation with parents, most participants indicated they would like to learn about meaningful engagement and communication (67%), cooperation or co-construction of the implementation (54%), and building parent's capacity/supporting parenthood (51%). The most frequently mentioned challenge in approaching/involving parents was related to engagement and communication (34%). These findings reinforce the relevance of supporting ECEC professionals in promoting cooperation with parents, which can be potentiated through programmatic and preventive policies, including peer-to-peer learning (Alieva, 2021). The results reported should not be seen as automatically generalisable to other countries. On the contrary, the diversity of contexts in which ECEC professionals work needs to be considered in policy and practice development.

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