How to improve your parental engagement

This week we welcome guest blogger Oli Adams to share his insight into parental engagement. Oli has over 20 years experience in marketing and communications with 7 years as Director of Communication, Admissions and Development at Brentwood School and 5 years on the Board of Directors for AMCIS (The Association for Admissions, Marketing and Communications in Independent Schools) with 2 as Chair. 

A typical two form-entry primary school might have close to 1000 parents, with varying degrees of interest and involvement in their children’s education, sticking around for at least six years. This is a large group to keep happy all of the time. And not an easy task either, especially with the multitude of ways they can all keep in touch with each other. Let’s explore why it’s important to get parents on-side, along with some tips on how to communicate well with them.

What is parental engagement?

When we talk about keeping parents engaged, this can mean several different things. Do they turn up to events? Respond to emails? Make sure their child completes their homework? Support them on the touchline of sports matches? All of these examples are ways to measure whether a parent feels deeply involved in their child’s education or not. Now, of course, there are many external factors which could determine a parent’s attendance or connection, but even work has become less of a barrier since the pandemic, as home and flexible working has become more common.

Why is it important?

To cut right to the chase, a government review of best practice in parental engagement in 2011 cites that “Parental engagement has a large and positive impact on children’s learning.” This was the single most important finding from a recent and authoritative review of the evidence. The reason being that a child who feels supported from both sides, school and home, is more likely to succeed than one that receives most attention from school only. Other reasons it’s important to keep your parents on-side are:

• Behaviour and attainment. The Field Review on Poverty and Life Chances in 2010 (The Foundation Years: Preventing Poor Children Becoming Poor Adults) identifies a central role for parents in meeting each of the goals of the Department for Education’s Schools White Paper. Two of which (alongside raising achievement levels, which we’ve already mentioned) are improving pupils’ behaviour and lowering the attainment gap.

• Staff wellbeing. Happy parents and happy pupils can lead to happier staff. If there are fewer queries and gripes about what’s happening in school, staff can concentrate on the principal (sorry!) part of their job, educating the children.

• Ofsted reports. Parents have long memories, and when it comes to the Ofsted surveys. Informal playground interviews that are conducted as part of a two-day review, you want to make sure that your parents are representing a positive viewpoint.

What’s the best way to communicate with parents?

There are a myriad of ways to keep in touch with parents nowadays and they’ll all have differing needs, abilities, and time constraints. Below are just some methods of communication that schools are already operating:

• Newsletters. Parents look forward to hearing what their children have been up to each week. As parents will know this doesn’t often come readily from the pupil on the way home. Time-poor parents appreciate clear headings to break up text and clear instructions well in advance of events if they need to prepare anything.

• Social Media. Schools who use social media effectively have seen a huge increase in parental engagement. Parents of primary pupils are well-versed with Instagram and are used to receiving quick bursts of photos and videos to open up the doors to school life. Schools often worry about the effect that negative comments can have on their reputation, but more often than not, once you’ve built up a loyal following of parents, they will often defend the school on your behalf.

• School portal. School portals are an effective way to keep in touch with parents. They can log in on their own time to read updates, view timetables, attendance and behaviour records and contact form teachers.

• Physical presence. For primary schools, a presence at the classroom door at the beginning and end of the day, or in the playground, can have a positive effect to show openness and transparency between school and home. Secondary teachers attending sports and music events can have the same effect.

• WhatsApp Groups. Some schools have set up class or year WhatsApp groups, which can be set to only send messages out, rather than allow parents to comment. This is an effective and instant way to get a message out to parents.

Final thoughts

We’ve looked at the many advantages that good parental engagement can have on a school. It’s clear from the many studies that have been undertaken that the biggest one is the effect of children’s learning. Although it’s not always an easy fix, the marginal gain of each positive action can lead to a productive and worthwhile relationship with your parent body and better outcomes for pupils. After all, they’re part of your school community for a big portion of time.