The Impact of Parental Involvement on the Quality of Day-care Centres

The children, parents and professional staff of four intercultural day-care centres for disadvantaged families in France were filmed in the course of their interactions over a 6-month period. These interactions were analysed according to three different methods used in cognitive psychology: task analysis, analysis of the symbols used for communication and analysis of the structures of the pedagogical assistance provided. The results show that, for a given child, the presence of other parents participating in the day-care centre alongside the professional staff helps to create an environment rich in cognitive interactions. This environment enhances the child's cognitive development by providing diversity and disequilibrium, both of which are useful and necessary conditions for cognitive operation. This in turn will affect the relation between the degree of disadvantage and the degree of cognitive interaction. These results suggest that cognitive effects of socially disadvantaged milieu may be attenuated by encouraging children and parents to increase their participation in the day-care centres.