Playcentre Parents-as-Educators

Playcentre is a unique Aotearoa/New Zealand sessional early childhood education service which runs as autonomous parent cooperatives, with the parents taking on the role of educators in the centres. This research study investigated the way parents-as-educators used their life experiences, skills and knowledges in their teaching practice. The study found that the parents were very selective about which experiences they used, sometimes as a specific choice and sometimes because they felt constrained by the environment of the centre. These reasons were analysed using the sociocultural framework of Barbara Rogoff's three planes of analysis (personal, interpersonal and organisational). A key finding was the necessity of a sense of belonging within the group for a parent-as-educator to feel empowered to use a wide range of skills and knowledges.