Limits, boundaries, crossings: meeting with families

Abstract

Family participation represents an area in which services are urged to take action, in order to ensure every child’s full development. However, despite the benefits of educational co-responsibility being well-known, relationships with parents are a complex and delicate phenomenon, which take on an implicit dimension. This dimension is rarely subject to reflection and sharing, but nonetheless has a clear educational impact. In this perspective, it is fundamental to know how to query daily practices and representations. By doing this, defenses, borders, and conflicts can become not merely obstacles but a sort of reflective area through which people and contexts can grow.
Using the outcomes of some training and research courses, this paper intends to present how the educational alliance with families implies reflective work on boundaries and critical experiences. By questioning their own professional
actions, and acknowledging misunderstandings and resistance, educators and teachers have the opportunity to establish their interpretative criteria. Moreover, working on the implicit and latent aspects of the relationship with families
is an interesting device for building a shared educational culture.