ABSTRACT
The experiences of the pre-school groups held at Red House Centre from 1970 onwards, have provided a wealth of examples which show the positive and negative sides of a strategy recognizing the potential of parents as educators. The pattern which developed in the operation of pre-school groups at Red House commenced with a personal invitation, by the teacher in charge, to families which contained a child of a certain age, living in a particular catchment area. The development of the idea, that parents could form an educational partnership with the teacher both in group work and in home-based work, evolved into a realistic and operational strategy by 1972 at Red House. This chapter describes the three case studies of the pre-school activities of John, Elaine and Robert, but the impact of, and on, the family was left implicit.
