EDAC 227 Assessment Task 1

Katherine Hodgens S00153236

EDAC 225: Family studies and

disabilities
Partnership between families, teachers and the wider community
The development of a partnership between teachers and the family helps
to identify the childs strengths and weaknesses and how to manage
them. It also provides teachers with the knowledge of outside influences
that may affect the childs learning, for example illness in the family, a
family member is away, financial issues and divorce. The relationship can
provide trust in what teachers are teaching and provide support to the
individual.
Application to professional values
In family systems theory, the family is seen as a complex and interactive
social system in which all members needs and experiences affect the
others (Seligman & Darling, 2007, p17). As a professional, understanding
family systems theory is a way of understanding the issues that may
occur within a family and that each family member may be affected, and
react, in different ways. This helps in assessing the type and extent of
support each family member needs. This is especially important for
families with a disabled individual. Without an understanding of family
systems theory, identifying how a family member is reacting and coping
with the challenges that the disability presents and what support they
may require would be difficult. This lack of understanding may prevent a

Katherine Hodgens s00153236

EDAC 227 Assessment Task 1

Katherine Hodgens S00153236

strong relationship forming between the educator, parents and child and
cause distrust.
In building a partnership with a family, different views of what is best for
the disabled individual should be considered carefully as it may affect the
partnership. One issue that may cause conflict is deciding what the most
appropriate educational setting is for the individual based on their needs.
Some educators may believe that the individual will do better at a school
which has more appropriate resources designed to cater for the
individuals learning and development needs and which can provide extra
support to the family. Others, including the parents, may prefer that the
child attends a mainstream school due to possible social stigma concerns.
However, educators must offer a person with a disability the same
educational opportunities as everyone else (Australian Human Rights
Commission, 2013). Being available to a family to listen to their concerns
and needs can help develop a partnership between the educator and
family through the building of trust. The values that I hold as a
professional and which would apply to this situation would be the need to
listen and understand parents points of view and concerns and to
collaborate with parents to what is going to be best for the individual
before any change is made. Understanding the parents values is
important for building a partnership with families as you are also forming
your teaching around what the parents want for their child as well as what
you believe the child needs. Also, understanding the childs likes/dislikes,
knowing their strengths and what motivates them establishes that you
know the child. This will help with recognising if something is affecting the
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EDAC 227 Assessment Task 1

Katherine Hodgens S00153236

child along with building trust and forming a partnership between

professionals and families. During one of my kindergarten placements, I
had contact with a child who had autism spectrum disorder. Children with
autism spectrum disorder may experience difficulties interacting and
communicating with other children and enjoy repetitive activities, often in
isolation. To support the needs of the child, the educators would allow
them to go into a room next door to sit on a couch, play games and do
other activities whenever the child needed. From my understanding of
family systems theory, I realise that the family of this child will also be
affected, both emotionally and physically, due to the nature of the
disability and the additional support and attention the child needs. The
educators have also been impacted as they needed to understand the
childs behaviours, what activities the child enjoys, what the child dislikes
and how best to communicate with the child. Most of this information
would have come from the parents and once the educators knew what the
child needed and what their likes/dislikes were, a partnership could be
built between the educators and the family. The other children at the
kindergarten were also affected because they did not understand the
disability and the behaviours of the autistic child. It is the same for a child
who is deaf, those around them are also impacted by the disability.

Katherine Hodgens s00153236