Parents as Partners in Learning

Promoting parental involvement

Education authorities are required to promote the involvement of parents in their own child’s education as well as the education provided by their child’s school to pupils generally. School education includes an authority’s duty to secure the provision of adequate facilities for social, cultural and recreative activities and for physical education and training.

Involvement in own child's learning

Education authorities must respond to any reasonable request for advice and information from the parent of any child attending one of their schools on the education their child is receiving. They must also take steps to ensure that the headteacher and staff of the school are available to give advice and information to the parent, in a manner consistent with the authority’s duties under the Act.

Schools should have a clear policy in place for supporting parents with their own child’s education and learning. Schools and parents often find that having a variety of methods for sharing information and communicating with parents makes two-way communication more effective and makes it easier for parents to know what’s going on and to keep in touch, for example:

phone calls and text messaging
letters and newsletters
face-to-face informal contact
e-mails and websites
parent information evenings and parent workshops.

Parents already have the right to access their child’s school records, except in certain circumstances, such as situations where allowing access to the record might put another person at risk. Parents should also be involved in the personal learning planning process for their children which promotes dialogue between pupils, parents and teachers. To include parents in this, schools may:

invite parents to be part of the early planning stages, when parents and their child will get the opportunity to discuss suitable learning goals with the teacher
provide parents with the opportunity to discuss their child’s learning goals at parents’ evenings
arrange additional opportunities for parents to meet the teacher to discuss their child’s achievements and next steps for learning.

Under the 2004 Act, parents of a child with additional support needs have additional rights to request assessment of and information about their child’s needs and how these are to be met. Such requests may involve specific timescales for reply. Therefore, schools and the authority should be clear about the need to respond within an appropriate timescale to parents’ requests for advice and information.

Schools should also consider how non-resident or absent parents can be kept informed of their child’s progress and have policies in place to ensure this happens whilst also taking account of any child protection considerations. Where it acts as the corporate parent of a ‘looked after’ child, the local authority should ensure that it has effective arrangements in place to liaise effectively with the child’s school and to provide encouragement and support for the child’s learning outwith school. As mentioned above when discussing strategies for parental involvement, the authority should consider how parents and families can continue to support the child’s education and learning in a positive way.

Home school links

Education authorities must promote the involvement of parents in the education provided generally by their child’s school. Schools should have a clear policy in place which recognises that parents and staff are partners in education and which welcomes and encourages the involvement of parents in the work of the school. Parents should be encouraged to share their perceptions about their child’s learning and their views, opinions and concerns should be taken seriously. Under the 2000 Act, the education authority is required to ensure that a development plan is prepared for its schools aimed at improving the quality of education provided. The plan should take account of the authority’s policy on parental involvement. It should also take account of the views of pupils, parent representatives and staff. The authority should have arrangements in place to provide access to the plan and progress reports on it for parents of children at the school. The school policy should demonstrate a commitment to equality and diversity, and welcome parents from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures as part of the school community.

Parent forum

All parents who have a child attending a public school are automatically members of the Parent Forum for that school. Membership of the forum allows parents to have a say in the local arrangements to enable their collective view to be represented on matters such as the quality and standards of education at the school and othermatters of interest to parents. These views can be represented, as appropriate, to the headteacher of the school, the local authority and HMIE. The Parent Forum may choose to be represented by a Parent Council established by them. For most schools, this will be what normally happens. In some schools, where there are only a small number of pupils, parents may choose to have the Forum itself represent their views.

Each education authority should ensure that all parents with children attending, or about to start, at its schools are aware of what membership of the Parent Forum means. This might be done by way of an introductory letter from the authority or the headteacher of the school outlining what parents might expect in terms of partnership and involvement in their child’s school education. Membership of the Parent Forum should be a way of including all parents in the school community. It acknowledges the importance of parents in their children’s learning and promotes a climate of partnership. As a member of the Parent Forum the parent can expect to: receive information about the school and its activities; be invited to be involved in ways and times that suit them; be asked their opinion by the Parent Council on issues relating to the school and the education it provides; and be able to participate in deciding how the Parent Council is constituted and operates.

Schools should consider what methods are most effective for communicating with members of the Parent Forum. There is a general need to give parents information on school life and events, on the curriculum and on their child, and it is important to identify and develop effective systems in each school. School reports and parents’ evenings are the most obvious formal ways in which schools can pass on information to parents about their child. However, schools that successfully manage to stay in touch with the views of their parents employ a wide range of formal and informal approaches that are reviewed and updated regularly. Successful parent partnership is often due to informal face to face contact and this should be encouraged. Other forms of contact may include telephone calls, letters, emails, text messaging, newsletters, school websites, parent information evenings, parent workshops and drop-in surgeries. Workshops led by parents, supported by school staff, can help to engage with other parents. As part of its communication strategy the school should work with parents’ representatives to explore ways of allowing parents to share ideas with the school on improving practice. More information on good practice in communicating with parents is available from the Parentzone website and in sections 3-5 of the toolkit.