Improving involvement

What does the Act mean for parental involvement?

The principle behind the Parental Involvement Act is to make it easier for parents and carers to be informed and involved in their own child's education and in particular in school education and school life in general.  Research shows that when parents are effectively involved in their child's education, children do better, not only in terms of attainment, but also better attendance, improved behaviour and better attitudes to learning.

Schools and teachers have an important role in this and all schools have to consider ways of strengthening their partnership with parents.

Most schools are already working hard to involve parents, but the Act places more emphasis on every education authority and school supporting the involvement of parents:

• at home - by providing parents with information on what children are learning at school and how this can be supported at home

• through school - by providing parents with opportunities to contribute to the life of the school, eg by helping out in the classroom, on school trips and at school events

• in a more formal way - by supporting parents in deciding what kind of parent group the school should have.

Did you know?

Seven out of 10 parents are not involved in any kind of activity at their child's school, and almost half would like to be more involved. (Recent MORI poll)