Conclusion

‘Families’ are uniquely placed to contribute to their children’s capable and competent learning and development in everyday life. It is important to remember that, across the world, wider contexts beyond the home can profoundly affect childhood experiences and family life.

This free course, The family at the centre of early learning, you have looked to the wider social, cultural and political backdrop of young children’s lives and learning and have focused on the positive learning relationships that can exist in any family. You have explored how ordinary, everyday domestic activities can sustain rich companionable learning between children and those closest to them. You have also considered how the traditions and cultural practices of the community to which the family belongs filter through to the child’s experiences. Ultimately every home revolves around individual relationships and ways of doing things and as such the family represents a unique foundation for early childhood.