Research School Network: The role of Communication in Engaging Parents as a Key Stakeholder Blog 2 of the series focusing on Parental Engagement, written by guest blogger, Jenny Walker.

In my first blog, I discussed how we should use empathy to bring parents and carers onboard with school ideology. Once we try to meet our parents halfway by trying to understand and listen to their perspectives, the next step is the ​‘communication conundrum’.

Good communication is central to working with children, young people and their families. It involves listening, questioning, understanding and responding to children and those caring for them. Home-school communication is among the most important factors in developing strong relationships between teachers and families and is cited in the EEF toolkit as such. The key is effective listening skills and avoidance of judgement.

The EEF evidence research base concludes that parental engagement has a positive impact of +4 months progress. There is also some evidence which supports personalised messaging (linked to learning) to encourage positive interactions.

The EEF research (2019) identifies four key findings around parental engagement in their research:

1. Parental engagement has a positive impact on average of 4 months’ additional progress. It is crucial to consider how to engage with all parents to avoid widening attainment gaps.

2. Schools should focus on improving school communications to encourage positive dialogue about learning.

3. Parental engagement strategies are typically more effective with parents of very young children. Schools must think about how they will maintain parental engagement as children get older. For example, providing flexible communications (e.g. short sessions at flexible times).

4. Schools should focus on how to support parents to ensure home learning is of high quality. For example, providing practical strategies with tips, support, and resources to assist learning at home may be more beneficial to pupil outcomes than simply gifting a book to pupils or asking parents to provide generic help to their children.

The evidence suggests that parents of disadvantaged children can become more engaged in education with targeted support and that this engagement leads to better outcomes (Van Voorhis et al. 2013).

Parental engagement strategies are typically more effective with parents of very young children. It is important to consider how the school, or indeed Academy Trust, will maintain parental engagement as children get older given the decrease in effectiveness from early years’ settings (+5 months) to primary schools (+4 months) to secondary schools (+2 months).

In 2010, the Centre for Real-World Learning (CRL) at the University of Winchester postulated their 6 Factor Framework for practical parental engagement strategies: expectations, opportunities to learn, routines, support, culture and role modelling. Likewise, the Sutton Trust Report (2018) entitled ​‘Parent Power’ makes several recommendations to engage parents constructively, for example, use of digital technology to encourage a ​‘whole school’ approach to parent partnership. The engagement spectrum for children from professional and working-class backgrounds continues to exacerbate the gulf in disadvantaged outcomes.

The key question for schools is: ​‘How do we communicate better?’ not ​‘How do we communicate more’?

There are several recommendations on effective communication in EEF research:

1. Tailor communications to encourage positive dialogue about learning.
2. Monitor and evaluate how well the school is working with parents.
3. Offer more intense and sustained support to those who need it most.
4. Flexible communication
5. Provide practical strategies with tips, support and resources to improve the quality of home learning.

Since parental engagement strategies are typically more effective with parents of young children, it is important to consider how a school will maintain communication as children grow older. For example, providing flexible communications (e.g. short sessions at flexible times) may be an option for parents of older pupils.

Forde-Nassey (2018) in the TES suggested a number of practical strategies to develop parental engagement. She posits that schools sharing the smallest successes (such as sending home a praise postcard or text) are simple proactive ways to promote positive engagement, thereby reducing the negative image that ​‘school only communicates for negative feedback’. Clarity and consistency of messaging using suitable language and tone (and specifying a time frame for response to communication), encourage a partnership with parents. Having a full hybrid calendar of events ranging from an open-door policy, drop-in extended ​‘theme’ open sessions or evenings to online parent voice surveys (for example) offer different ways for the school home community to engage. This range is important when we consider that a range of barriers will make contact with school a challenge for many parents. We need to recognise that time is finite for parents as well as staff.

Schools are increasingly coming up with innovative ways to bridge systemic gaps caused by differing degrees of social mobility. For example, some schools host:

- regular Parent Partnership events targeting year groups for careers and IAG, 

- curriculum design/​options, beyond the remit of a standard obligatory parent evening, 

- invitation for a SEND coffee morning with specialist presentations and input, 

- an ​‘open book’ evening for parents to visit the child’s primary classroom to view exhibitions and classwork

- and/​or continuing to offer a hybrid approach utilising Zoom or face-to-face for parent communication preference.

Home-school apps like Evidence Me, Teacher2Parent, Eduspot, Arbor or Class Charts share a ​‘live’ update on news, daily learning content, behaviour points and more. In a world of instant social media type communication, prompt reporting is essential.

Wherever your school is on the communication journey, consider the importance of a Home-School Communications policy. Use it to set out clear guidelines for each stakeholder and offer a list of key staff contacts. Leaders may wish to stipulate hours of work on email auto-replies, for example, to set a boundary on expectation of 24/7 responses outside of working hours to protect their staff’s well-being.

Likewise, some schools prefer to allow their staff to choose their hours of work so decision-making is made by the individual. Neither way is right or wrong, but having a policy is indicative of the culture in the workplace, of a top down or bottom-up management style. Do review the policy regularly and remind stakeholders of its content with the most updated version published on your school website.

In summary, schools now have a wealth of digital resources available for their consumption as well as the more traditional face-to-face invitation into school. As we teach our children in RSHE lessons to be aware of their digital footprint, so too do schools have to make choices on what to communicate, how, where, when, and to whom, to reduce the risk of communication fatigue.

To conclude, as a key stakeholder, the force of ​‘Parent Power’ is not to be under-estimated and positive home-school relationships are the cornerstone of a positive school ethos, consistent values and vibrant culture.

To find out more: 

Van Voorhis, F.L., Maier, M.F., Epstein, J.L. and Lloyd, C.M., 2013. The impact of family involvement on the education of children ages 3 to 8: A focus on literacy and math achievement outcomes and social-emotional skills. mdrc.

Van Poortlviet, M., Axford, N. and Lloyd, J., 2018. Working with parents to support children’s learning: guidance report.

Higgins, S., Katsipataki, M., Villanueva Aguilera, A.B., Dobson, E., Gascoine, L., Rajab, T., Kalambouka, A., Reardon, J., Stafford, J. and Uwimpuhwe, G., 2022. The Teaching and Learning Toolkit: Communicating research evidence to inform decision‐​making for policy and practice in education. Review of Education, 10(1), p.e3327.

Montacute, R. and Cullinane, C., 2018. Parent power 2018. London: Sutton Trust.

https://www.suttontrust.com/ou…

Parental engagement summary (EEF)