FEATURE: PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT
Researching our way to better parental engagement
It’s clear that children will make greater progress at school the more engaged their parents are in their learning. If parents and carers know what their child is
doing at school and they can easily see their progress and homework tasks, then it is far more likely that they will play a active role in supporting that learning. As organisations which work with many
schools on ways to bring parents into the learning conversation and evaluate and learn from their impact, we were keen to add to schools’ understanding of the issues that currently exist and how we can overcome any barriers to better parent engagement. The result was an in-depth research report
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n our final feature this month we’re delighted to hear from Simon Hay, co-
founder and CEO at Firefly, and Holly Waddell, Impact Partnerships Manager at ImpactEd, on why carefully planned and executed research can help schools improve the way they communicate with parents about their children’s learning.
developed in partnership, How well are schools helping parents to support their child’s learning? Based on findings from a survey of more than 2,000 teachers and parents, the report focuses on parental engagement with teaching and learning, rather than parental engagement linked to operational matters such as payments, school trips, and reporting absences. Each section of the report features
recommendations, suggestions and questions that should be seen as starting points for further
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reflection within school staff teams and leadership groups. One of the clear messages that has emerged
from the research was how important it is for schools to establish exactly what it is that parents want in terms of communication about their children’s learning.
Golden rules for parental research Carrying out research as a way of building a detailed picture of your parents’ needs can help you do this but there are some important ground rules to follow that will ensure that such research delivers accurate, actionable insights.
1. Decide on the aim of your research. This will inform what methods you use to engage with parents and carers. For instance, if you want to understand methods of communication that parents/carers prefer, a survey across the school could be most appropriate to reach as large a number of parents as possible. Alternatively, if you would like to explore the
experiences of parents/carers of Key Stage 3 pupils in supporting home learning, focus groups or interviews with a smaller, representative group would provide rich detail and insights.
February 2022
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