CASE STUDY CATEGORY
A Partnership That Grew: From One Webinar to a Pillar of Global Practice
How one conversation about parental shame became part of how Babilou Family educates children across 20+ countries.
Babilou Family is one of the world's largest early childhood education and care operators — more than 1,260 nurseries across 10 countries, backed by a foundation committed to bringing research into how children and families are supported. My work with them started with a conversation about parent shame and guilt… and where this shows up in early childhood education. Four years on, compassionate parent engagement has become a pillar of their global standard of care, that we continue to define and evaluate together.
“Angela is a key person today to link science and practices for parental support.”
— Laurie, Babilou Family Foundation
WHERE IT STARTED
In 2022, I delivered a webinar for Babilou Family Foundation’s Heads of Education worldwide on parental shame and compassionate engagement. I was invited to address an identified gap- educators wanted language and tools for navigating one of the trickiest parts of their work— building relationships with parents. This stoked a bigger conversation- what does authentic partnerships with parents in early years care, and how can we operationalize it across countries?
GROWING THE PARTNERSHIP
Dr. Laurie Catteeuw, Director of Education at Babilou Family Foundation, then asked me to co-develop Pillar 6 of their global Sustainable Education framework — the pillar dedicated to family support, that will guide how Babilou’s centres prioritize partnering with parents in the provision of early childhood education. My PhD research on parental resilience and shame became part of the foundation for that chapter.
It is not easy to find a researcher this strong in a scientific approach, with such a human approach to the topic in practice … our collaboration is a real bridge between research and practice on the ground.
— Laurie, Babilou Family Foundation
From there, the work kept expanding. I delivered a keynote on parent engagement at their Global Education Conference, and joined their Scientific Education Committee, who help ensure Babilou Family pedagogies and practices align with latest research. We co-developed a mixed-methods study with 100 parents across France and Belgium, to understand, in parents’ own words, the impact of early years care on parents and the home environment, from their perspectives- a gap in scientific literature.
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
This pilot study has now grown into a six-country, mixed-methods research programme which I’m designing and leading. Results from this study will be a growing evidence base that powers Pillar 6, and a contribution to the wider early years field. What started as a single webinar is now a chapter used for training across 10 countries, a multi-year research partnership, and a standing opportunity to shape Babilou’s global approaches.
"What I appreciate very much in working with Angela is the long term collaboration and perspective, that give us the possibility to go from exploring conceptions of what could be, to good propositions for parental support at Babilou Family, to the deployment of practical tools. And at the same time, developing a research program that will produce innovation and real change for the future. It is a complete pathway realized with a real joy of learning, discovering, and progressing together. Angela carries a very good mindset, it is always open and friendly between us. Thank you Angela for all your support and collaboration, and involvement in our mission!"
— Laurie, Babilou Family Foundation
Want to talk about what research-informed parent engagement could look like in your organization? Get in touch.
