I think the evidence is more clearly positive in favor of the advantages of pre-school education for children than the author of the Reuters piece, Universal preschool may help parents more than children — and that’s okay, suggests. And, I’m not entirely comfortable with his somewhat condescending attitude towards poor parents.
Nevertheless, I think he does make a good point that we proponents of universal preschool should also highlight its benefits for parents:
perhaps we should focus on its benefits for parents, and specifically for working mothers, who bear a disproportionate share of the child care burden.
Can’t disagree with any of the points posted above. I know it sounds like a well worn tune, but the effects of parental involvement in school has an impact far beyond the school, . The involvement of parents is left to schools who may not have the tools to do the job. introducing wide ranging measures to motivate parents is costly. The home school liaison scheme is available to schools in the DEIS programme is an excellent assist in promoting parental involvement, but unfortunately it is being scaled back at present. .In my view all schools should be provided with discrete funding to be exclusively invested in this area.