More than 50 years of research shows that parent and family engagement is one of the most powerful predictors of children’s development and educational attainment, making stronger school-parent ties a critical part of the broader conversation on how Australia can lift the academic and wellbeing outcomes of young people.
Additionally, solid school-family relationships are also shown to have a positive impact on schools themselves as they improve social capital and help them meet their regulatory and quality requirements.
Last week, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) released a Spotlight report, titled: ‘Strengthening parent engagement to improve student outcomes’, which explores strategies to help educators strengthen partnerships with parents and carers, alongside resources to support their efforts.
The Spotlight said the challenge for schools and children’s education and care settings is to improve parental engagement by prioritising ongoing, contextualised support interventions and programs that address the distinct needs of their diverse parental community.
“We know, from decades of research, that students with engaged parents do better – both academically and in overall wellbeing,” AITSL Acting CEO Edmund Misson told The Educator.
“Strong school-family relationships and collaboration are key to effective parental involvement. School leaders and principals who are able to build these connections gain valuable insights that can help them to make informed decisions that benefit the entire school community.”
Misson said that in nurturing these relationships, principals can work closely with parents to enhance their school’s climate and create a culture of shared involvement and high expectations.
The Spotlight found that a key challenge for leaders is to improve parental engagement by prioritising ongoing, contextualised support interventions and programs that address the distinct needs of their diverse parental community.
Misson said while general strategies to welcome the wider school community and foster a positive school culture can go some way to encourage parent engagement, school leaders must consider whether their unique school community has particular needs that they can address.
“Such considerations might lead to initiatives and interventions at a whole-school level, for example promoting or running English language-programs, providing workshops on post-school pathways, or making it clear that particular cultural events are included in the school calendar,” he said.
“Within a single school, there will also be different parent requirements in different classrooms. For example, one classroom teacher may require support for tailoring their communication with parents of children with behavioural issues.”
Misson said AITSL recognises the great work employers do in ensuring their educators – and parents – have clear expectations and guidelines around parent communication so that these important relationships can flourish.
“The Spotlight ‘Strengthening parent engagement to improve student outcomes’ contains several lists of resources that point to frameworks and strategies for effective collaboration, considerations for different parent subgroups, and professional learning for school staff.”