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Schools told to become ‘open house’ for parents

Schools told to become ‘open house’ for parents

Heads urged to follow nursery approach to get families involved in pupils’ learning

26th January 2018, 12:04am

Many parents in Scotland do not feel “engaged” with school despite families’ help being crucial to children’s learning, inspection data has shown.

Now a national organisation for nurseries - which are shown in inspection analysis to have stronger links with parents than schools - has called on schools to follow their lead and throw open their doors to parents.

Research shows that “parental involvement” is “consistently associated with pupils’ success at school”, although it is less clear exactly what type of parental involvement increases attainment.

However, in the National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education (NIF) evidence report, only 70 per cent of 4,603 parents at schools inspected between January and June 2017 agreed that their school gave them advice to on how to support their child’s learning at home. Half said the school organised activities where they and their child could learn together.

Joanna Murphy, chair of the National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS), said that “we have come a long way with parental engagement and involvement” but that “more can certainly be done”. She sees “a lack of understanding among many practitioners and families as to what learning at home really is and can be”.

‘Lack of support’

Murphy is concerned, too, about a “lack of support for parents with literacy, communication or language difficulties” and schools’ growing reliance on technology for learning at home, which disadvantages families without a computer or good broadband.

Inspection data in the NIF report - based on responses from 819 parents of children in pre-school settings inspected in 2017 - shows higher levels of involvement than with parents of schoolchildren.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Scotland, said: “Once a child starts school, parents lose that daily contact with the teacher. They no longer go into school with their child but wait outside.” She advocates “a more ‘open-house’ policy” where parents - even of older pupils - are “actively encouraged to see what their child has done during the day and ask teachers regular questions”.

Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC), warns that it is mostly parents “who are already engaged” who take part in surveys run by school inspectors, so the survey data is likely to overestimate parental involvement. She also questions the value of some of what is described as parental involvement or engagement, explaining that “a great deal of activity goes on around parents” - for example, sending out newsletters or organising events - which is a “starting point”, but not nearly enough to maximise parents’ contribution to learning.

An Education Scotland spokeswoman said: “Parent engagement is a key driver in the National Improvement Framework. Education Scotland will continue to work with colleagues and partners to ensure we support and enhance parental engagement throughout a child’s education experience.”

This is an extract of an article published in 26 January edition of Tes Scotland. Subscribers can read the full story here. To subscribe, click here. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here. Tes Scotland magazine is available at all good newsagents.