It’s not all bad news

It’s time for a cultural shift in the way parents and carers are involved in their child’s education, says Sonia Blandford...

The evidence that engagement of parents and carers in their child’s education can substantially improve outcomes is widely supported in academic research, by the OECD (2011), through UK Government policy and anecdotally by teachers across schools in England. Pressure on schools to ensure they are working to engage parents fully will increase further with the SEN 0-25 Code of Practice that emanates from the Children’s and Families Bill and is due to come into force during 2014.

For schools working with children who have a statement of SEN, the Code of Practice will set out guidance on how practitioners can comply with their statutory duties. For all schools though, there is an overarching message: there needs to be a cultural shift in the way parents and carers are involved in their child’s education.

Yet while many schools may consider that they already have strong working relationships with their community, the evidence from parents and carers often contradicts this. In a poll this summer conducted by Ipsos Mori for Achievement for All 3As, views were sought from parents and carers of school-age children of their relationship with their child’s school and the active support they give to their child’s education. The nationally representative sample of 848 parents and carers found that, while the vast majority of parents were keen to support their child at school, many felt unable to do so for a variety of reasons.

At the summary level, around two thirds (65 per cent) of parents and carers signalled they were happy with the amount of time they spent helping their children, and felt they had a good relationship with their child’s teachers. But at a deeper level issues began to emerge.

More than half (55 per cent) said their school only contacts them when there is bad news about their child, and 47 per cent said they would do more to support their child if they had more time. Also of concern was that 30 per cent of parents of children with SEN do not attend parents’ evenings, and for many these meetings provided the main source of contact with their child’s teacher.

The research findings echo those found in practice by schools that are working with the Achievement for All (AfA) programme. Strong parental engagement is a core element of AfA and schools have had to work hard and think creatively to reach parents and make the relationships work.

Tredworth Junior in Gloucestershire is a Quality Lead school for Achievement for All that serves a deprived area.

The school uses AfA’s ‘structured conversations’ to improve parental engagement – regular meetings between a child’s teacher and his parents, during which parents can express any concerns and both parties agree on clear goals that will improve the child’s learning and wider outcomes. As a result of these meetings, staff dentified a group of parents who were anxious about the transition to secondary school, many of whom had children on the SEN register or had special educational needs themselves.

The school’s pastoral team has well developed systems for supporting pupils and families, including family learning, parenting advice, and a pupil mentoring service. Aided by this team, Tredworth set up a transition group to guide both parents and children through the move to secondary school. This included a weekly workshop held in the primary school (and later the secondary schools) that provided an opportunity for parents to talk about their concerns.

Primary and secondary colleagues were also given training on how to better coordinate their activities and provide a single point of contact for parents working with multiple agencies. And year 6 pupils undertook an Open University project about children’s perceptions of transition, which gave them the chance to discuss anxieties and ask questions in a supportive environment.

Feedback from primary and secondary staff was that they felt better equipped to respond to the concerns of children and their families, parents commented positively on the sessions, and pupils’ attitudes towards transition became positive and engaged.

Schools need to ask what good parental engagement looks like and parents need to have the capacity and knowledge to help support learning at home. There will need to be a shift in approach across UK schools. As parents’ expectations grow, all professionals will need to ask, “Are we ready?”

Achievement for All has just released Are We Ready? - a webbased resource that helps schools prepare for the new SEN 0-25 Code of Practice (afa3as.org.ukf).