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Meeting The Needs of Children, Parents and Staff in School-Age Programs
by Eva Stelzer

I was asked to write this article in my capacity as a trainer of educators working with children in after-school programs. As I thought about what an after-school program should include, I was struck by the idea that what children, parents and staff want and need in a program are not always in harmony. We all want a quality program, but each stakeholder’s interpretation of that quality may be different. Consequently, reconciling the same needs from different perspectives requires effort.

I have been in the position of different stakeholders in school-age programs at different times in my life. I started out in the field, just as school-age programming was becoming an important part of the child care agenda. Later, I became a parent whose children attended after-school programs. As someone who has lived both perspectives, I hope my reflections provide insight into some of the dilemmas that we face in our quest for quality programming.

I have deliberately chosen to use the words “school-age programming” rather than the more commonly used term, “school-age care.” I think the term ‘care’ reflects only parental needs; it does not reflect the intersection of needs between children, parents and those who work with children.

Needs of Professionals
Working in the field of school-age care, my first goal was to ensure that children had ample opportunity to be physically active and to explore artistic pursuits. I also wanted to communicate with the parents regularly and openly. But by the time parents arrived at the end of a day to pick up their children, they were tired after a long day of work and anxious to get home. My interactions were usually limited to friendly hellos.

I believe that one of the most important roles those working in school-age programs is to make children feel special, welcome and happy. Caregivers need to be nurturing, to foster communication with the children and to provide a venue for children to express themselves through activities that involve art, physical activity or other skills that are not explored in depth during the school day.

Even though I knew that parents wanted their children to complete their homework during the hours of after-school programming, in my early years in the field, I was adamant that homework should not be a part of school-age programming. I felt that children had sat through enough hours of school and that the primary function of after-school programming was to provide recreational activities.

Needs of Parents
The same issues resurfaced when I was the parent, but my view-point had shifted. For one thing, I was now the hurried person. Although I wanted to know what my children did during their hours away from me – what snacks they ate or how their homework went – I found myself rushed to get home after my own long day of work. On the issue of homework, I realized that I wanted my children’s homework completed before I picked them up. How (and when) had my views changed?

Reconciling Our Different Perspectives
Given that we all had the needs of children in mind but we had different views as to how we could best meet those needs, I began to work with the staff in school-age programs to find a meaningful way to communicate. Together with the people who worked with my children, I began to look at meaningful ways to improve communication and deal with homework. Since those humble beginnings, I have visited, observed, worked with and learned from many others in the field. The following are some strategies to help meet the common needs of effective communication and completed homework.

Effective Communication
Fostering positive relationships between parents and staff who work in after-school programs is extremely important and the responsibility for ensuring effective communication begins with the care provider.
Listening
A simple yet often forgotten strategy for promoting positive relationships is to draw on the skill of listening. When one party is not focused on a conversation, the message is lost. Effective listening involves giving full attention to the people expressing themselves and may also involve feeding back the information to clarify that you have heard and understood correctly. School-age staff can easily model effective listening by focusing on the speaker, whether child or parent.
Delivering Information
To develop positive relations, those who deliver as well as receive information are responsible. Sometimes when we speak, we do not send the intended message. But unfortunately, once we have sent a message, it is irreversible (Stelzer, Rudick & Nyisztor,1996). There are times when we overreact or come on too strong in a situation, but we may regret these actions later. When delivering a message, be clear about what you want to communicate. Pay attention that your message and body language are in harmony.
Valuing Cultural Difference
Effective interpersonal relationships evolve as we coexist and work in harmony with each other. Since Canadian culture is a tapestry of many values, in order to develop positive interpersonal relationships, providers of care must draw on skills that promote intercultural awareness and cultural pluralism. Ask parents and children to talk about their families, their values and their home lives. As you listen, show that you value differences as a rich resource.
Descriptive, Supportive Dialogue
Effective communication includes dialogue that is descriptive or supportive rather than evaluative or threatening (Devito,1995). One way to practise effective communication is to ask for or to provide non-judgmental descriptions of events. When people perceive communication to be negative, they tend to respond defensively. A simple description of events leads to a healthy atmosphere.

Communication Checklist
In daily interactions with children, we need to remember that each child is unique. Investing time to cultivate relationships with each child can be accomplished by arranging time to share and exchange information.

Designing a communication checklist for each child can help open communication between staff, parents and children. Complete the checklist with the child at least once a week. Different children can complete their checklist on different days. By completing it together, in addition to informing parents, communication between children and professionals increases.

Design the checklist to include a list of usual activities that are available to the children, a place to note whether homework has been completed and a place for professionals to write in comments about the child.
Limit your comments to descriptive statements and avoid comments that are judgmental or evaluative in nature. This strategy will help parents keep informed about their children’s activities and will foster pride in communicating between children and parents.

Newsletters
Our neighbourhoods and communities are changing. In some areas, families no longer know their neighbours as well as they did in the past. Families spend much of their day away from home, with little time to get to know neighbours. Extended day programs can fill some of the gap, serving as communities for parents and the children enrolled in them.

Newsletters are useful tools to improve communication between parents, children and staff. Involve children in preparing the newsletters so that articles are written by both children and professionals. Encourage the children to collect articles from each other, take photographs and put together the newsletter.

Newsletters can be used to communicate about such things as events that children participate in during the week, words for songs that children are interested in, recipes of foods the children have prepared together during the day and reminders about changes in weather and the resulting need to send sun-block, rubber boots or other relevant items.

Pot Luck Dinners
Plan periodic pot luck dinners and invite parents to stay after they arrive to pick up their children. During these dinners, parents can relax and get a sense of the environment where their children spend a large part of their day. Children, parents and staff can use the time to interact in an informal way. Why not set out board games for children to play with their parents, organize displays of projects and activities that the children work on during their day and get to know each other better?

Homework
The idea of homework in school-age programming is controversial. Most parents want their children to complete homework at the centre, in order to eliminate the stress of getting it done after dinner. Children want to get their homework done, but they really don’t want to take homework home with them, and they sure don’t want to do it at school either. Staff may feel pressure to provide a quiet, structured environment for homework to be completed.

At times, parents’ needs are translated rigidly by professionals who are eager to please. Sadly, I found many centres that still have structured homework sessions. In an effort to ensure that the homework is done, desks are sometimes lined up in rows where children are required to sit for 30 to 60 minutes. They may be expected to sit for the entire scheduled homework period, regardless of the amount of homework they have. They are obliged to stay at the desk, reading or doing some other quiet activity.

I believe it is unreasonable to ask a child to sit for such a long period of time following a long day of school. The following are two different homework scenarios that I have seen successfully implemented in after-school programs.

Scenario # 1
This approach to homework is designed to allow children to take responsibility for their homework needs and still have time to explore other activities. By involving children in a contractual arrangement, they begin to self-regulate and to take responsibility for their own needs and actions. A regular classroom with individual desks for each child serves as a space for homework completion.

Design a homework contract to be signed by both parents and children.
Use the contract to establish how many days per week the children will do homework during the program.
Limit homework to a maximum of three days per week per child to ensure that each child has at least one day to explore recreational pursuits.
Avoid homework time on Fridays. Reserve Fridays for special programs and activities.
Include a homework tutor in the program.

Scenario # 2
This homework arrangement involves setting up two separate reading rooms with slightly different goals. Like scenario #1, it encourages children to manage their own needs and to come to know themselves.
Room 1

Set up large tables that accommodate up to six children around the table.
Children may talk quietly, if needed, in relation to their work.
Children choose to come into the room when they have work to do and leave when they are done.
Include a homework tutor in the room to assist with work as needed.

Room 2

Set up cushions on the floor of a room with no other furniture.
Encourage children to use this room for reading, listening to music on a walkman, or writing.
No talking is permitted among the children in this room.

In Brief
School-age program staff are entrusted with caring for and providing quality programs for school-age children. These tasks, once the domain of parents and family members, are now part of the commitment of a larger community of people. As professionals in the field, we are responsible for listening to the needs of other stakeholder groups and understanding that sometimes common needs can mean different things to different people. Working with school-age children and their parents provides a wonderful opportunity to explore different perspectives and meet the needs of the individual children and their parents.

Eva Stelzer is a full time faculty member in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Vanier College in Montreal. She has published two books on early childhood, one on motor development and one on becoming an educator of young children.

References
Devito, J. (1995). The Interpersonal Communication Book 7th Edition. New York: Harper Collins College Publishers.
Harris, J. (1995). "Is Anybody Out There Listening?" Child Care Information Exchange, 82-84, Redmond.
Hendrick, J. (1990). Total Learning: Developmental Curriculum of the Young Child. New York: Merrill Publishing Company.
Stelzer Rudick, E. & Nyisztor, D. (1996). The Emerging Educator, Ontario: Nelson.