Parent and Family Education Conceptual Framework

The Parent and Family Education program rests on three interrelated pillars: Content related to family systems, parent-child relationships, and adult and child development; Contexts of family development, including the social, historical, environmental, cultural, and racial systems and institutions that influence them; and, Teaching Practice focused on facilitation, relationships, reflective practice, and professional ethics. Underlying these pillars are the foundational principles of inclusive pedagogy, strength-based approach, reflective and responsive practice, equity with excellence, research and theory based best-practices, critical thinking, and cultural humility. 

The Parent and Family Education program is grounded in diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice principles. We recognize and appreciate diversity in pathways to family development, structure and composition of families, and processes and functions of families across the lifespan. We also believe that all families have strengths and diverse perspectives that deserve to be celebrated and leveraged. Our academic programs are designed to place relationships at the center of practice to better prepare educators who are collaborators, innovators, community-builders, advocates in their future work. 

Our Framework’s foundational content and literature are multidisciplinary and  include theoretical foundations in family systems, bidirectional parent-child interactions, communication, family stress theory, ecological systems, critical race theory and queer theory. Foundational texts include The Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies: A Dynamic Approach (Adamsons et al., 2022) and the Handbook of Parenting series edited by Bornstein (2019). These texts provide multidisciplinary theories of families and parent-child interaction, as well as foundational content important to understanding  diverse experiences of complex and dynamic families and relationships across the lifespan. We focus on the bidirectionality of parent-child interactions on parents’ and children’s development within familial, community, cultural, and other socio-ecological contexts. Our program is also strongly informed by adult development and learning theory with seminal texts Family Life Education: Working with Parents across the Lifespan (Darling et al, 2022),  Enhancing adult motivation to learn : a comprehensive guide for teaching all adults (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, (2017), and Parent Education: Working with Groups and Individuals Campbell & Palm (2018).. Students use these theories to adapt and design curricular resources and teaching strategies for effective parent education with diverse families across multiple contexts. 

The framework is results-oriented in that methods, field experiences, and student teaching courses are grounded in strengths-based theories of family systems and research-based adult and child development theories, all implemented through a diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice lens. Teacher candidates in Parent and Family Education are trained to empower parents and families to thrive, enhance familial well-being, and strengthen interpersonal connections via evidenced-based curricula, meaningful relationships, and social support. Teacher candidates have opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge of family systems, andragogy, and adult and child development in applied coursework and student teaching experiences.