The Scottish government has vowed to increase the number of workers dedicated to building better relationships between schools and families by the end of next year.
The government’s new pledge to work with councils to increase access to home-school link workers was revealed today as part of a new drive to get parents more engaged in their children’s learning.
The commitment comes in the wake of a Tes Scotland investigation earlier this month that laid bare the recent squeeze on school support staff. It highlighted a variety of previously unpublished statistics including that over a third of councils have no home-school link workers.
Under the new strategy - which contains over 50 recommendations - the government has also pledged to set up a working group at the beginning of next year to explore “meaningful and sustainable” volunteering opportunities in schools to “take full advantage of the skills offered by parents”.
Bringing more parents into school
Schools, meanwhile, are urged in the document to make use of social media and other forms of electronic communication - such as texts and online journals - to get parents more engaged in what is happening in the classroom.
Schools are warned, though, that alternatives need to be in place for “parents who had no access to this form of communication”.
Some schools and councils are ahead of the game. Examples of good practice are highlighted throughout the new strategy and last year Tes Scotland reported on a Renfrewshire council scheme that was allowing parents to go back to school and experience the first year of secondary for themselves.
The education secretary, John Swinney, launched the new strategy, which will receive £350,000 of government funding to help address barriers that some parents may face, at Ibrox Primary in Glasgow, where there has been increased parental involvement through the school’s summer club.
Mr Swinney highlighted the “strong link between parental engagement and academic achievement”.
Joanna Murphy, chair of the National Parent Forum of Scotland, said that although a great deal had been achieved, in terms of parental engagement in the past decade more needed to be done.
“I welcome this firm step towards a political and legislative environment which champions the voice of parents,” she said.
Earlier this year Tes Scotland reported on an Education Scotland survey of 4,600 parents at schools inspected in the first six months of last year. It showed parents of pre-school children reported higher levels of engagement in their children’s education and led to calls for schools to open their doors to parents.
Research conducted by the NPFS, meanwhile, has highlighted the yawning gap between how well primaries and secondaries engage with their pupils’ parents.
