A Qualitative Examination of the Parent-Teacher Relationship and Early Childhood Expulsion Capturing the Voices of Parents and Teachers

Children in the United States are being expelled from their early care and education settings at alarming rates. A growing body of research indicates that teachers' perceptions of parents may impact their decision to request a child's removal from their classroom. Nevertheless, few studies have simultaneously captured the voices of both parents and teachers when describing the process of expulsion and how the parent-teacher relationship can protect a child from being expelled. To identify and describe protective qualities of the parent-teacher relationship, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 8 parents and 8 early childhood teachers currently working with a child who was previously expelled. The parents and teachers interviewed consistently attributed the successful retention of the child in their current program following the expulsion to the transparent and open communication between home and school. Our findings indicate that one particularly important area for intervention is promoting high-quality parent-teacher relationships for all children, with special attention to how these relationships may differ for children who have previously been expelled.