Working with parents
Strategic involvement of parents is a vital ingredient in achieving the Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes of children’s health, safety, achievement, social contribution and economic well-being. Parents can play two key roles: getting involved with their children’s learning at home and contributing to the life of the school.
Why is working with parents important?
Parental involvement in children’s education from an early age has a significant effect on educational achievement, and continues to do so into adolescence and adulthood.
Research also shows the benefit of learning across the family. Family learning broadly refers to approaches which engage parents and children jointly in learning. This can include family literacy and numeracy programmes to improve the basic skills of parents. It may also include joint parent and child sessions to support early reading skills.
No school can meet the needs of all its pupils alone. Delivering the pupil and parent guarantees as outlined in the 21st century schools white paper will require schools to work in partnership with other schools and with wider children’s services. It will also ensure that, among other things, parents will have access to a range of extended services including information and support on parenting skills and advice on parenting issues.
In addition to this, one of the new features of the revised inspection arrangements which became effective in September 2009, is a parent’s view on the effectiveness of the school’s performance.
For further information see:
- Connecting with parents
- Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st century schools system - Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)
- The framework for school inspection Ofsted
What are the challenges of working with parents?
Generally speaking, educators receive little training in working with parents. Your staff might find it hard to recognise the parent’s competence and commitment to their children’s learning. Adding a further challenge, parents who have had bad experiences of schooling may feel daunted by being in school settings. Other challenges include:
- finding appropriate funding and resources
- making space and time
- letting go of traditional power relationships so that parents and educators work together on an equal basis
Research shows that to successfully engage parents, you will have to play a leading role. This includes encouraging staff to work with parents and creating opportunities for staff training. You will also need to be prepared to take key members of staff away from their normal duties in order to make working with parents a priority.
For further information see:
How to form partnerships with parents
Successful partnerships with parents are based on the idea that parents lead the agenda, working with school staff. One approach to this is to create a parent-led ‘action team’ so that parents themselves are in lead positions – not teachers or governors. Evidence shows that when parents are in the lead, more is achieved, because parents are more engaged. However, as a school leader, you must be involved. It is important that the school supports the action team and helps parents on the team to recruit new members. Here are some tips on getting started:
- form a parent-led team
- conduct an audit of existing activities
- consult widely to identify potential projects
- allocate tasks within the team
- monitor and evaluate projects
- celebrate success
Projects might include:
- health and fitness workshops
- parenting sessions
- after-school clubs
- family learning sessions
For further information see:
Example of good practice
Queen Elizabeth’s Community Technology College is based in a largely rural area with a mix of deprived and affluent communities. After consulting with the community, the college has altered its way of working. This includes:
- introducing a calendar of school events for parents
- increasing opportunities to promote the college through the use of purpose-built notice-boards sited around the town
- recruiting the support of the local newspaper, which publicises events at the school and the achievements of pupils
- introducing a scheme for Year 6 pupils at one local feeder primary school to ease transition for pupils and parents
- offering Saturday workshops on the theme of coping with adolescent behaviour
- holding evening workshops for parents of children with special needs
The team has made it easier and more effective for the school to reach parents in this rural community. Parenting and life-skills workshops have given parents a better understanding of children’s development and more confidence to deal with their children’s behaviour. Action team parents have used their volunteering to gain confidence and have returned to work and further training.
For further information see:
RSS
Print version
Email to a friend
Sign up to receive our newsletter
Share with...