Parental Involvement in Schools

Teachers should also communicate with parents not just when students misbehave, but when they are doing well to give positive feedback. Communication should be regular as well as personal, just like my nursery placement where letters, newsletters, phone calls, news boards, pictures, videos and so on were all commonplace which can be seen in appendix 1 – the policy on parental partnerships.

Another important step schools can take to increase parental involvement is by a regular schedule of activities and programs that are stimulating, informative and enjoyable. Parents are particularly interested in programs in which their children participate or perform such as science fairs, musical concerts or plays. Activities which involve food are among the most successful: inviting parents into the school to help staff prepare food for an event gives different adult members of the school community an opportunity to get know each other in a relaxed, informal way.

One particular useful means of making parents feel like full participants in the operation of the school, I feel is the establishment of an area within the school building itself where parents meet, relax and avail themselves of school resources.

This initiative was used in one of my school placements and they had a parents room where it was a place for co-ordinating parent meetings and events, as well as providing information on continuing education, on employment opportunities, and about other resources available in the community. However during my time there it was not used and I felt it was not utilized as fully as it could be as it had the potential to be a great success in building partnerships with parents.

At local level the further development of school-family links seems like a good investment for schools and local education authorities to make. However given the constraints under which schools operate, these links will need leadership and resources from the local education authorities, from central government and from other agencies. Given that there is no guarantee of particular approaches working in every situation, they will also need careful local monitoring.

So overall in my opinion parents have a major influence on children’s learning success in school. I have studied the research which indicates that parent involvement does increase academic achievement, improves their behavior and motivation, reduces absenteeism and fosters a positive attitude overall. This has certainly been the case in my experiences as there is such a clear divide between schools where parents are involved and those who have poor links. So I strongly believe that more should be done on both the school and the parents parts to try to achieve positive links so that the children are the ones that reap the benefits.