Preparing South African educators for school-family-community partnerships

There is compelling evidence that school-family-community partnerships benefit learners, parents and schools. However, little is done to prepare educators to work with families and members of the community. In view of this, research was undertaken to determine educators' understanding and practices of family-community partnerships in South Africa. The findings indicate that educators are poorly equipped to deal with this important aspect of their work. The Harvard Graduate School of Education (USA) has developed a framework for educator preparation in family involvement which highlights content areas and promising training methods. This framework could be used to inform preservice and inservice training of educators in South Africa. However, it is necessary to adapt the framework according to the approach to family-community partnership followed by the particular institution. In this regard a functionalist, parent empowerment, cultural competence and social capital approach are briefly discussed.