Closed door policy: the power shift from parents to children

<div>Dr Jo Bird, Galia Urquhart, Tammy Paterson-O'Kane, School of Education Seminar 22 June 2022.&nbsp;<br><p>To reduce the risk of Covid, child care centres ask parents drop children at the door. We conducted an online survey to determine the impact of this practice and the results were surprising. While they showed the closed-door practice has impacted the parents' sense of community, unexpectedly it has provided the opportunity for the children to have agency in deciding when to leave their parents at the door, has increased their confidence and reduced the incidence of children being unsettled at drop off time. This research has also highlighted the need for detailed communication around their child’s day, as well as emphasising the parents’ need for feeling part of the centre community and how that is achieved while keeping the Covid risk to a minimum. In this presentation, we will outline the results and present ways we are looking forward in preparing for, and dealing with changes to our practices.</p></div>