Parental engagement and the impact on the education system

Mike Briscoe, Director, Institutions, Becta

Janice Bernard, Headteacher, Perins School, Alresford, Hampshire

BETT 08Wednesday, 9 January 2008

This seminar will introduce:

• The importance of parental engagement

• Indications of impact - and what parents say

• Recent developments including the Children’s Plan

• What it means in school

• Improving what we already do in school

• Moving to real-time reporting

• What needs to happen and when

• What is available to assist and how to find out more

The Parents’ Premium

• Parental involvement in a child’s schooling between ages 7 and 16 is a more powerful force than family background, size of family and level of parental education (Feinstein, L & Symons, J. Oxford Economic papers, 51 (1999))

Achievement Parent effect School effect

Age 7 0.29 0.05

Age 11 0.27 0.21

Age 16 0.14 0.51

Effects of parents/Effects of schools:

A father’s interest in a child’s schooling is strongly

linked to educational outcomes for the child; (Hobcraft. CASE briefing Nov 1998)

It is the ‘at-home’ relationships and

modelling of aspirations which play the major part in impact on school outcomes.

(Desforges 2003)

Very high parental interest is associated

with better exam results than for children whose parents show no

interest (NCDS 1999)

Pupils’ achievement in the schools where the impact of parental involvement

was [judged to be] outstanding had clearly

improved. (Ofsted 2007)

They [parents] should be supported… providing the

results of periodic assessments for parents in

an easy to understand format, such as using ‘traffic lights’ to indicate children’s

understanding of key concepts

(2020 Vision: recommendations)

What is it that makes a difference?

What is it that makes a difference?A father’s interest in a

child’s schooling is strongly linked to educational

outcomes for the child; (Hobcraft. CASE briefing Nov 1998)

It is the ‘at-home’ relationships and

modelling of aspirations which play the major part in impact on school outcomes.

(Desforges 2003)

Very high parental interest is associated

with better exam results than for children whose parents show no

interest (NCDS 1999)

…It’s what parents do rather than who they

are that counts

Pupils’ achievement in the schools where the impact of parental involvement

was [judged to be] outstanding had clearly

improved. (Ofsted 2007)

They [parents] should be supported… providing the

results of periodic assessments for parents in

an easy to understand format, such as using ‘traffic lights’ to indicate children’s

understanding of key concepts

(2020 Vision: recommendations)

What parents say (Parents’ Involvement in Children’s Education survey 2007)

•57% would like to be updated termly or more often

•79% would find web access to reports on their child very or quite appealing

Using technology in schools (Harnessing Technology review 2007)

“Technology enables the achievement of productive time efficiencies most where it is embedded effectively across the institution. Teachers report time savings using technology in lesson planning and lesson delivery. However, overall, evidence suggests that efficiencies from technology relate mainly to quality improvement for the same resource input and improved use of practitioner time, rather than significant time savings.”

Parents will be contacted by a staff member at secondary school before their child starts at the school;

Parents will be able to attend information sessions at the new school;

Every child will have a personal tutor who knows them in the round, and acts as a main contact for parents;

Parents will have regular, up-to-date information on their child’s attendance, behaviour and progress in learning;

Parents Councils will ensure that parents’ voices are heard within the school;

Parents’ complaints will be managed in a straightforward and open way.

Department for Children,

Schools and Families

The Children’s Plan

Building brighter futures

Presented to Parliament

by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and

Families

by Command of Her Majesty

December 2007

Parents will be contacted by a staff member at secondary school before their child starts at the school;

Parents will be able to attend information sessions at the new school;

Every child will have a personal tutor who knows them in the round, and acts as a main contact for parents;

Parents will have regular, up to date information on their child’s attendance, behaviour and progress in learning;

Parents Councils will ensure that parents’ voices are heard within the school;

Parents’ complaints will be managed in a straightforward and open way.

Department for Children,

Schools and Families

The Children’s Plan

Building brighter futures

Presented to Parliament

by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and

Families

by Command of Her Majesty

December 2007

“Parents will have regular, up to date information on their child’s attendance, behaviour and progress in learning;”

• By September 2008 all secondary schools will be expected to provide information to parents covering achievement, progress, attendance, behaviour and special needs, on a timely and frequent basis – this should be at least once per term.

• By September 2010 all secondary schools will need to offer parents real-time access to this information (including the opportunity for secure online access) wherever they are and whenever they want.

• Primary schools must also meet the basic requirement by September 2010 and the real time requirement by 2012.

Janice Bernard, Perins school

• Every learner wants to do well

• I want all my children to do well

• We need all our parents involved

• All of us want to talk about what matters – when it matters

Learner

Parent School

Parents – improving engagement

Exploit the development of new technologies so that a better shared understanding of children’s progress contributes to improved outcomes

All parents should have the confidence and knowledge to engage with their child’s school as an equal partner 

Parental engagement – serious improvement in reporting to parents to raise the quality of dialogue between learners, parents and teachers (real-time reporting)

Learner

Parent School

Community information

Access from home

Parents resources

Access to resources

Home and course work

Access to materials

Online reporting

Parent and learner days

Electronic reports

Email exchanges

Mobile ‘phone alerts

SMS

texting

Community information

Access from home

Parents resources

Access to resources

Home and course work

Access to materials

Online reporting

Parent and learner days

Electronic reports

Email exchanges

Mobile ‘phone alerts

SMS

texting

Real-time access, reporting and dialogue

Real-time access, reporting and dialogue

Learning Platforms

MIS Absolute basis of reporting supported by ICT (MIS)

Aspirational and

innovating

Coherent and embedded

Moving in a number of

areas

Developing new

approaches

Little in place

Learning Platforms

MIS

20122010

Real-time access, reporting and dialogue

Absolute basis of reporting supported by ICT (MIS)

Aspirational and

innovating

Coherent and embedded

Moving in a number of

areas

Developing new

approaches

Little in place

A range of support to help schools including:• influential research papers and education reports on the subject

• a growing and categorised resource base - experiences of a wide range of schools

• online, real-time experiences of others through blogs written by teachers

• set reporting in the wider context of school development

• self audit support - assess your school’s readiness for real time reporting and determine priority areas for attention

• access to tips, ideas and resources to help

For more information:

Visit us on Stand J40 – National Hall

Visit us online at http://www.becta.org.uk