ABSTRACT
A major report in 1990 (Rumbold, 1990)* noted that the aims of the curriculum will be most readily achieved where skilled and knowledgeable staff have high expectations of children, and value parents as their child’s first educator and as active partners in the continuing process of education. These principles were embedded in the Children Act, and Every Child Matters* builds on and consolidates the centrality of parents, carers and families to a young child’s start in life at nursery. The NICHD* study in the US, as well as EPPE* in the UK have found that family characteristics are an important factor in children’s progress, in particular, parent engagement in the pre-school setting attended.
