Engaging Families in Schools

Practical strategies to improve parental involvement

Nicola S. Morgan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317238614
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

Engaging Families in Schools is a practical resource that provides strategies and ideas that will contribute to the effective engagement of families and the involvement of parents in their child's education. Parental engagement with school staff has a significant and very positive impact on children's learning, and strategies presented have been extensively trialled in a variety of different settings. Nicola S. Morgan shows school staff how to understand the importance of family engagement and evidence the outcomes. This book has been split into ten easily accessible units:

• Understanding the importance of parent engagement
• Using whole-school strategies to engage parents
• The role of the family engagement officer
• Engaging all parents
• Engaging Dads
• Engaging multicultural parents
• Difficult to engage parents
• Working with parents to improve student attainment
• Working with parents to improve behaviour and attendance
• Working with parents of children with additional needs

This is a must-read guide for teaching and non teaching staff who wishes to bridge the gap between their student's school and family life and understand the effects of positive family engagement.

Unit 1
Understanding the importance of parental engagement

Parental involvement and engagement

Teachers and students are the two key components of learning and school-based relationships, but there is a third party in the equation: parents. The involvement and engagement of parents in school is important for learning outcomes, attendance and behaviour, as highlighted in government policies such as Every Child Matters which followed the Children Act 2004 in the UK and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in the US. There are distinct differences between parental involvement and engagement. According to Harris and Goodall (2007), parental involvement can be seen as a reactive approach, whereas engagement is a more proactive approach; other researchers state that parent involvement starts with the school and parent engagement begins with the parent.

Parental engagement involves schools working with parents to develop a professional partnership. By encouraging parents to lead in their vision and goals, so that parents start to do things for themselves rather than because school has directed them to do so, this process becomes far more sustainable.

Parental involvement involves the school leading with their own agenda, directing parents towards taking part in school meetings, events and activities, which are all selected by the school staff. If this process is not monitored and planned, parents may disengage as schools ask them to do things without first establishing a good relationship and trust. Parents may also start to over-rely on school staff to do things for them and/or to tell parents what to do and what they should be doing with their child. Joyce Epstein of Johns Hopkins University established six different types of parent involvement:

1. Parenting. Supporting and offering parenting skills and training courses for parents. Also providing information about how to best support their child’s learning at home.
2. Communication. Implementing effective school-to-home and home-to-school communication systems to ensure that both parties are informed about the child’s progress.
3. Volunteering. Providing volunteer opportunities both in school and within the community to help support the school and students.
4. Learning at home. Providing information and support about how parents can support their child’s learning at home through homework and/or other curriculum-related activities and decisions.
5. Decision-making. Involving parents in decision-making opportunities throughout school – for example, being part of the governing body, PTA (parent teacher association), behaviour management review committee.
   Home school partnership is not only informed by the assumption of its underlying benefits, it is also driven by the acknowledgement of the rights of parents and their needs as consumers… [P]arents must have a say in the way their children are taught and treated. Parents have the right to know what is going on in school and should be informed about the nature of the education their children are receiving. The general principle is that everyone who is a parent has the right to participate in decisions that affect their children’s education.

   (Bojuwoye 2009: 463)
6. Collaborating with the community. Working with the community to provide resources and services to benefit families, students and school. Also coordinating and providing support within the community to help strengthen causes and programmes.
   School leaders have a critical role to play in building trust and mutual understanding between schools and communities. Trust is nurtured through relationships, through information and through knowledge.

   (Riley 2009: 58–9)

The benefits of engaging families

Research has shown that family engagement is one of the strongest predictors of a student’s success. When families are engaged in their child’s education, attainment improves. Research conducted by Desforges and Abouchaar (2003) found that:

• Parental engagement is strongly positively influenced by the child’s level of attainment: the higher the level of attainment, the more parents get involved.
• Parental engagement 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 greater than differences associated with variations in the quality of schools. The scale of the impact is evident across all social classes and all ethnic groups.

Below are more examples of the benefits gained when family engagement is present in schools.

Benefits for the school:

• Concerns can be communicated more easily and effectively.
• Parents bring skills that can benefit the school and child’s learning.
• Student’s attendance, behaviour and attainment improve.
• Parents can become involved with school decision-making processes.
• Parent–teacher relationships are improved.
• Parents offer more classroom support and presence on school trips.
• Parents provide more support with their child’s homework.

Benefits for the students:

• Students find it easier when they receive encouragement at home.
• Attendance, behaviour and attainment improve.
• Child–parent relationships are more positive.
• Emotional literacy skills improve.
• There are more opportunities to take part in activities inside and outside school.
• Students have a more positive attitude towards school.
• There is an increased sense of security and belonging.
• Students are more likely to continue learning past the age of 16.

Benefits for the parents:

• Parents are more able to support their child’s learning and development.
• They have more access to information about their child’s education.
• Parents form support and networking groups with other parents.
• They build more confidence and skills.
• Parent–child relationships improve.
• More positive attitudes towards school are promoted.
• There is better parental understanding of the school process.
• Improved confidence and skills allow parents to help their child at home.

In order to capitalise on these benefits, schools need to focus on parental engagement both within and beyond the school gates and to recognise that schools and parents must form partnerships and a shared vision to achieve the desired outcomes.

Parents are an important component within the school system, to which headteachers and teachers must be responsive. Policy-makers expect parents to be active partners who have influence over school decision-making and participate in school activities and governance.

(Addi-Raccah and Ainhoren 2009: 805)

Barriers to parental engagement

There are many potential barriers for parental engagement, including:

• time constraints, especially for working families and single parents;
• lack of information from school or not knowing how to get involved;
• poor health and well-being;
• children attending different schools;
• family circumstances;
• caring for another member of the family;
• isolated home location and limited transport links;
• language and/or literacy barriers;
• social and cultural background;
• negative past experiences of school;
• lack of self-esteem and self-worth;
• parental uncertainty — for example, believing they are not welcome in the school;
• feeling judged by the school;
• suspicion and mistrust.

Strategic planning

Strategic planning is needed for effective involvement/engagement of parents in order to get from ‘where we are now’ to ‘where we want to get to’. One effective system, created by Price Waterhouse in the 1980s, is the 4-Step approach, consisting of four questions:

• Where are we now?
• Where do we want to get to?
• How are we going to get there?
• How will we know when we have got there?

Step 1: Where are we now?

This stage establishes the school’s present position regarding parental involvement/engagement.

Step 2: Where do we want to get to?

This stage is the school’s vision of where they’d like their level of parent involvement/engagement to be.

Step 3: How are we going to get there?

This stage involves the school thinking about what process or strategy is needed to successfully reach the goal.

Step 4: How will we know when we have got there?

The last stage is achieved by analysing the data and evidence in order to measure whether Step 2 has been achieved.

Evaluating parental engagement and gathering evidence

Engaging families in school is one thing, but measuring the impact is vitally important not only for school inspections but also to secure funding from local authorities and other initiatives. In order for schools to determine the effectiveness of their parental involvement/engagement, gathering and analysing evidence is key. An ongoing plan to evaluate allows schools not only to assess effectiveness but also to identify whether areas need to be targeted differently or approaches changed. This then provides information about whether the parental involvement/engagement strategy is making a difference. Professor Charles Desforges identified a toolkit needed for schools to improve parent engagement. This includes:

• identifying parent needs;
• auditing current work;
• identifying useful initiatives;
• devel...