Examples from schools
Example 1 - developing a strategy - The Angus Council Model
'It was great the Director of Education allowed the parents to lead the policy on Parental Involvement.' Parent, Angus
'Working together with parents in this way has made me realise how much knowledge, skills and experience parents bring. Where I used to contact a colleague to ask for advice, I would contact a parent now too.' Member of staff, Angus Council
Parents and staff from Angus Council worked through together to develop a Policy on Parental Involvement. There were a number of steps to the process.Getting started - identifying the issues
A representative focus group of 15 parents held a meeting, with a community learning and development worker as facilitator. This took the form of a brainstorming session based on:
- What does parental involvement mean?
- Sharing good practice and ideas
- The barriers to parental involvement.
Working party to develop the policy
A working party was set up consisting of equal numbers of parents and staff, which included a primary and a secondary headteacher, a community learning and development worker, the advice and conciliation officer and the Director of Education. It was set up to take forward ideas from the focus group, to consider what the solutions were to the problems identified, and to continue the process of working together to develop the policy document.Involving more parents
Parents and education staff facilitated focus groups for each local area across Angus to share the policy in its early draft form and gain views on it from more parents. Two parents were invited to attend from each school, one who was on a representative group for parents and one who was not. Parents from the working party and the first brainstorming session led the focus groups, supported by a member of staff. Views were collated and fed into the working party developing the policy.Staff involvement
A school focus group was set up to ensure their views were included. Staff from each school were invited, including staff representing the teaching unions.Reaching more parents
Further focus group meetings took place in each local area across Angus to provide an update on the draft policy and gather further comments/feedback.Parents present to staff
Parents presented at the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland conference, headteachers' meetings, and parent representative meetings with elected members. At the parent representative meeting, 80 parents turned out to comment on the final draft of the policy.'We couldn't believe what we had said in the focus group was actually written into the policy.' Parent
Final checks
The draft policy was sent out to all schools, support services, parents who had been involved in its development and all parent representative groups. Further changes were made at working party meetings. Parents and the Director of Education attended a 'Partnership with Parents' conference which provided further ideas for the policy. The final policy was then agreed and a date set for review.Launch of policy and spreading the word
An Action Group was formed to plan for the policy launch conference and to support the ongoing work with the policy. Some parents who had not been previously involved and staff from other areas of work were included, eg the early years worker from the childcare partnership.Parents' conference
A conference was held in Angus College to launch the policy. Workshops were led by parents and supported by staff, and covered many areas highlighting where parents are involved in their children's education. Professional actors demonstrated barriers to parental involvement through short sketches.Rollout to schools
Local action teams were established within each local area to support schools and parents to work together to develop their own policies and organise local events which had a team of actors involved.Benefits included:
- Staff and parents working together
- Everyone having an equal say
- Bringing together ideas that led to solutions
- Attention to language and jargon in the policy
'And we still have a long way to go.' Parents and staff
Example 2 - a parents' conference - 'a gaithering o' fowk, tae hae their say'
Aberdeen City Council organised a conference with the aim of achieving effective involvement of parents in education. The conference was attended by parents, teachers, school staff, community staff and representatives from voluntary organisations. The work of local staff supporting and encouraging attendance was seen as crucial to ensuring the attendance of a range of parents. Some of the parents present indicated that this was the first time they had attended a conference. Childcare facilities, transport and entertainment for children all helped parents to attend the conference.'Brilliant day - let's have some more.'
'Positive outlook for my own and others - children for the future.'
'Great venue - very positive feel to the day. Fulfilled the 3 F's (family, fun, food).'
On the day
The day consisted of a presentation followed by workshops covering the wide range of ways parents are involved in their children's education. The workshops encouraged participation and gave delegates an opportunity to discuss issues and share experiences.
The workshops were an opportunity for participants to voice their opinion on how they thought Aberdeen City Council should design its policy on involving parents and carers in their children's learning. Questions in the workshops were based around:
- Where does learning take place?
- Who is involved?
- What can parents contribute?
- What barriers exist to parental involvement?
- What reduces the barriers and how can we eliminate them?
After lunch, delegates were re-energised through the 'Family Learning Surprise'. This involved five-minute maths aerobics sessions which consisted of spins, steps, and hops. At the end of the conference delegates were asked to give feedback. The high number of responses (93 per cent) reflected the general 'buzz' generated by the conference.