This open access book provides a critical thought-provoking and stimulating overview of
theories applied worldwide to conceptualise collaborations between early childhood education
and children's families. The book starts with a critical reflection on the colonial undertones
of parental involvement (PI) and acknowledges a strong political will to improve this aspect of
early childhood education and care. The chapters in the book describe and discuss various
theories including the cultural historical wholeness approach Bronfenbrenner's ecology of
human development the theory of social capital the theory of collaboration family-school
partnership models proposed by Epstein and Hornby Bourdieu's social theory the theory of
practice architectures the discourse narrative theory and posthumanism. By proposing the
concept of more-than-parents the authors aim to embrace both the diversity of
intergenerational family configurations and the agency of materiality artifacts and the
involvement of more-than-human actors.
