“Review of best practice in parental engagement ...

1 Review of best practice in parental engagement : Practitioners summary . Goodall, J., and Vorhaus, J., with the help of Carpentieri, JD., Brooks, G., Akerman, R., and Harris, A. September 2011. 1. 1. INTRODUCTION. Benefits of parental engagement parental engagement has a large and positive impact on children's learning. This was the single most important finding from a recent and authoritative review of the evidence: parental involvement in the form of at-home good parenting' has a significant positive effect on children's achievement and adjustment even after all other factors shaping attainment have been taken out of the equation. In the primary age range the impact caused by different levels of parental involvement is much bigger than differences associated with variations in the quality of schools.

2 The scale of the impact is evident across all social classes and all ethnic groups (Desforges 2003). It is therefore a priority for schools to identify interventions that are effective in supporting parental engagement , particularly for those parents who are not significantly involved in their children's education. Aim and scope of this summary This summary covers research on parents of children aged 5-19, and includes evidence-based messages on interventions to support parental engagement in their children's learning. Whilst some evidence refers to primary education it is included here because the principles and behaviours referred to also apply to older children. All messages are aimed at schools, service leaders, practitioners and policymakers. There is distinction between the types of evidence and interventions summarised here: The general features of parental engagement strategies are the subject of extensive and high quality research; many are strongly supported by the evidence.

3 Examples include strong leadership, targeted approaches, and effectively involving parents in school-home links. Each general feature is associated with a set of specific actions and practices. For example, effectively involving parents in school home links will include activities such as offering flexible arrangements for parents' evenings and encouraging parents to ensure that homework diaries are completed. The evidence on specific activities is much less robust than it tends to be for the general features of good practice . Whilst the evidence is less robust in relation to many of the specific activities required of parents, schools and other services, studies often reach similar conclusions on what is effective, and there is now a sufficient body of information to provide a focus for ongoing development and research.

4 The activities included in this summary are, therefore, offered as examples of good or promising practice that warrant further trialling and experimentation. The context for this research is described in section 2, and in section 3 the evidence is presented in three categories: 2. School home links. Support and training for parents. Family and community based interventions. The summary concludes (section 4) with a model of effective practice comprising four elements: Planning Leadership Collaboration and engagement Sustained improvement 2. CONTEXT. The Schools White Paper (Department for Education 2010) sets out how the Coalition Government will improve the outcomes and life chances of all children. Schools will be increasingly accountable to parents for the progress and achievement of pupils.

5 The White Paper presents the Government's strategy for raising achievement levels, improving pupils' behaviour, and lowering the attainment gap. The Field Review on Poverty and Life Chances (Field 2010) identifies a central role for parents in meeting each of these goals, particularly in the early years. The White Paper and the Field Review reinforce the need to involve parents in education, and to create a good home learning environment. In recent years, schools have increasingly recognised the importance of involving parents in their children's learning. This has been supported by developments such as the emergence of online technology and Parent Support Advisors. Since September 2009 Ofsted has been considering how effectively schools engage with parents. The focus has been on building positive relationships with parents, the quality of communications, reporting to parents on progress, and the mechanisms for helping parents to support their children's learning.

6 Evidence from Ofsted suggests that a critical dimension of effective teaching and learning is the relationship between the teacher, their pupils and their parents. Just as the quality of teaching and leadership in schools is the key determinant of educational attainment, so the degree and quality of engagement that parents have with their child's learning is a crucial factor outside the school environment. The more engaged parents are in the education of their children the more likely their children are to succeed in the education system. School improvement and school effectiveness research consistently shows that parental engagement is one of the key factors in securing higher student achievement. Schools that improve and sustain improvement engage the community and build strong links with parents.

7 Where schools build positive relationships with parents and work actively to embrace racial, religious, and ethnic and language differences, evidence of sustained school improvement can be found. 3. 3. summary OF EVIDENCE. School Home Links Whole school approach Attempts by schools to engage parents in their children's learning are unlikely to be successful if they represent a bolt-on' to mainstream activities. A parental engagement strategy should be integrated into a whole school approach to parental engagement . Interventions should be informed by an ongoing parental needs assessment in the context of a school improvement strategy. School based family and parent support activities should have the improvement of children's learning as a clear and consistent goal. Staff needs To engage effectively with parents staff require training and coaching, particularly when working with parents whose backgrounds are very different to their own.

8 School staff should receive parental engagement training through initial teacher training or continuing professional development. Parents' needs parental engagement with children's learning is effectively supported when parents receive clear, specific and targeted information from schools. Schools which successfully engage parents make use of a broad understanding of parental engagement , and their parental engagement strategies accord with the interpretations and values of the parents they are aimed at. An outward facing strategy A parental engagement strategy should be outward facing, involving not only the views of parents, but the evidence and expertise of other schools and services in the community. The transfer of knowledge and understanding should be part of a two way process: not only from school to home but from home to school.

9 Building home-school links through out of hours' clubs, parenting classes, extended schools and outreach work can lead to improvements in completion of homework, learning behaviours and improved attendance. 4. Barriers to engagement parental engagement strategies should consider barriers that inhibit parental involvement, including the practical barriers of cost, time and transport. Solution to these problems include car-pools, involving children in school based parental activities, and taking account of parental work schedules when organising programmes and activities like meetings with teachers. More parents believe that they have a responsibility for their children's education at a time when their confidence to help with homework is declining. This presents schools with an opportunity to support parents by improving home-school links.

10 Information and communication technology ICT can contribute to improved parental engagement by: providing a convenient means for parents to access up-to-date information about their child's learning;. enabling parents to be more engaged with their child's learning; supporting more flexible working arrangements for staff. In a Becta study only 25 per cent of parents received information about their child's learning via online tools; 84 per cent of parents reported that their child's school provided them with little or no resources to help support their child's learning at home. Levels of parental engagement could be improved if schools made more use of the potential of technology to support at-home learning. Challenges Teachers often lack the confidence and knowledge to work with parents, and schools do not always recognise or value the ways in which parents are already engaged with children's learning.