The World Café Approach: Partnering Parents Towards a Deeper Understanding of Child Transitions

This chapter presents the development of a collaborative research methodology with staff and parents around supporting infants’ transitions into nursery. The authors argue that attachment formation is a process that can take a protracted length of time, and therefore, propose an alternative approach that offers better support to infants and parents during the earlier stages of transition. The aim of our research was to identify the key characteristics of a model that supports infants’ gradual transition into nursery from both parents’ and practitioners’ perspectives. However, within the chapter, we seek to provide a rich real-life example of a lived experience of collaborative research with parents and practitioners from one nursery. Collaborative research with parents opened new possibilities for understanding the perspectives around infants going into nursery by drawing on the expertise of parents and practitioners. As part of the study, we employed a collaborative methods approach and encouraged parents and practitioners to work together through their participation in baby social sessions. Data analyses were conducted through thematic analysis, identifying patterns and themes related to parent–practitioner collaboration around infants’ transitions into nursery. The findings reveal significant emphasis on trust, care, mutual respect, and the development of warm relationships between parents, practitioners, and infants with open communication. Having shared values and knowledge around infant care routines aligning home with the nursery supported the infant's gradual transition into nursery.