Research School Network: Parental Engagement

I recently attended a training day in my role as Designated Safeguarding Lead. Amidst the sometimes disheartening scenarios of young people in crisis there was one exercise that caught my attention and made me pause for thought. We sat there working out how many hours a day, then a week and finally a year a child should spend in school. We worked out that it was just 13.3% of the 8760 hours in a year. The context – how much impact can a school really have?

For the majority of young people this time in school has, and always will be, sufficient for them to make progress and achieve, but how can we make a difference when we see them for so little of their time and we are battling against other external factors? What role do we play outside the classroom to support young people and their families so that they can engage in learning?

This hot topic has been widely researched and the EEF’s recently published ​“Working with parents to support children’s learning” guidance report draws together the international evidence in this area. It offers four main recommendations for teachers and school leaders, as set out below.

In this blog, I’d like to consider Recommendation 1 and offer examples of some of the work carried out over the past year at The Blue School where we have thoroughly reviewed how we work with parents. We recognise that parenting is ever-changing, in an age where social media and new technology dominate children’s lives. We are all very aware of the potential negative impact of this on the mental health of young people. As a society we’ve become so advanced it’s difficult to keep up with technology, but how do parents get to learn about this?

For us it’s important that we help to ​‘up-skill’ parents. We’ve now included regular parent information evenings in our yearly calendar. We have developed strong links with a range of experts who share our desire to be proactive and preventative and we have found that they are very generous with their time. We’ve offered workshops supported by Social Care, the Police, CAMHS, and other Early Help providers. Topics have included emotion coaching, resilience, social media and drugs awareness. The feedback gathered from parents at each of these evenings has been really positive and we are building momentum each time we hold a new event. 

How do we know we are targeting the right parents? As well as the usual methods of informing parents we asked our tutors to identify two sets of parents from each of their groups and phone home. We provided a clear script for tutors about why they were phoning and the reasons for holding the event. We even made a plea for the parents to pass information about this event on via word of mouth. There were absolutely no judgements made by us. 

Far from feeling accused of being ​‘bad parents’, our parents welcomed the opportunity to find out more about the ​‘new world’ their children live in. We even have parents who offer us suggestions on things they are unsure about and would like workshops on. One father of a Year 10 student told us that he felt guilty that he didn’t know how to effectively support his child through the GCSE years. We listened and completely changed the format and delivery of our KS4 Induction Evening. We offered a carousel of workshops to parents to give them practical strategies to support their child through the next two years. Again, the feedback received was really positive, especially from parents who had experienced our previous KS4 Induction Evenings. Another parent has requested that we hold workshops on how to monitor mobile phone use and how to keep children safe but independent as they grow older.

In summary, as a response to Recommendation 1 of the newly published Guidance Report, we have thoroughly reviewed how we work with parents in recent months. We will continue to monitor how we engage with parents and will look to respond to Recommendation 3. The focus will be on ensuring that even more of the communication sent home is tailored to inform parents about their child’s learning and progress.

To find out more, please feel free to contact me at the school.

Bridget Cox
Assistant Headteacher
The Blue School.