Engaging parents and family

There is considerable agreement that parental involvement in education has a positive influence on children’s learning. By working closely together, schools and parents can develop children’s attitudes to learning and ensure that children achieve their full potential. Effective parental involvement provides teachers with a clearer understanding of children’s home circumstances and personal achievements and increases parents' understanding of what their children are learning, how well they are achieving and how parents can support learning in the home environment. Clear channels of communication will ensure that the school and parents can respond quickly and effectively to emerging issues and concerns.
PDF file: Partnership with Parents (HMIE, 2006)

In these pages we use the term parents. It is intended that this term refers to all those who have a responsibility to care for children and young people. This is a wide spectrum of people including grandparents, relatives, step-parents, foster parents and those working in children's homes.

Context

For Scotland's Children (Scottish Executive, 2001) demonstrates the importance of integrated working with parents to promote children's well-being: 

But a child is not on their own … Some children, then, are placed by their family on a broad straight road, while others have to claw their way out of a steep-sided valley, sometimes with those around them pulling them back down. We, who provide services, need to be very clear that we are not organising our services in ways that push such children back into the valley from which they are attempting to emerge.

The PDF file: Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 makes further provision for the involvement of parents in their children’s education and in school education generally. It is outlined in Partnership with Parents (HMIE, 2006), part of the How good is our school? series.

Other national documents which highlight the benefits of collaborating with parents include:

• The National Priorities in Education (Scottish Executive, 2000)
• PDF file: Being Well Doing Well (1033KB) (SHPSU, 2004)
• Hungry for Success (Scottish Executive, 2002)
• A Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Executive, 2004)
• The Journey to Excellence (HMIE, 2006)

The Parents as Partners in Learning website has a downloadable toolkit, information and resources for working with parents.

Why work with parents?

There is a range of advantages from involving parents.

Continuity in health messages

By involving parents the opportunity for health messages in school to be similar to those at home can be supported and encouraged. This can be particularly beneficial around sensitive issues. For example, information about substance use or sexual health and relationships provided at school often competes with media and peer information. Parental involvement is one way of promoting and developing emotional well-being among children and young people.  

Promotion of pupil health

Pupils are given positive messages through parental involvement. For example, pupils can feel valued if parents participate in workshops on the curriculum. This tells pupils that their parents are concerned with their health and well-being and want to ensure they receive correct and helpful information.

Boosting parents' confidence

When parents are involved in health promotion activities and programmes, they can recognise the positive effect they can have on their child. This can help to develop their self-esteem, well-being and parenting skills. In addition parents can receive information about ways their own and their family’s health can be improved, for example a budget cookery evening can help to encourage healthy eating in the home.

Supports teachers

By consulting with parents on the content of the health education programme and health promotion activities within the school, teachers can feel more confident and supported in programme delivery. For example, some teachers may feel that parents will be unhappy about the content of sexual health and relationships education programmes; however, experience shows that parents can be supportive of the programme if they are consulted effectively on programme content. 

Potential barriers to involvement

Working with parents is not without its challenges. For some parents the prospect of entering the school gates can be daunting, especially if they do not have fond memories of their time at school! Innovative and creative ways of engaging with parents can help to encourage parents to become involved in health promotion activities.

Schools should fully engage with all parents. Parents can be reluctant, or find it difficult, to engage with schools for a wide variety of reasons. Parents might have had a negative experience of school themselves. They might have language or sensory difficulties which could prevent them from engaging easily with their children’s school. Non-resident parents who have parental rights and responsibilities might not receive regular communications from schools. Parents can be busy people who have a raft of competing priorities in their lives. Schools need to seek out and engage these parents in the life and work of the school.
Partnership with Parents (HMIE, 2006)