Developing a Partnership Between Parents and an Urban Primary School

Author(s):

Julian Brown(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 07 A, Migrating/International/Minority Families, Community and Schooling

Paper Session

Time:

2011-09-14

16:45-18:15

Room:

KL 25/134,G, 70

Chair:

Raquel-Amaya Martínez-González

Contribution

The importance of a parent or carer to the education of a young person is well recognised within current international educational research. Either the presence or absence of the adult in the home and their subsequent partnership with the school can greatly influence the outcomes for the young person and alter their success in education (Sheldon, 2003, Beveridge, 2005, DfES, 2007, OfSTED, 2007).

The development and formation of partnerships between schools and parents has been a key element of inclusive education within Britain since the Plowden report (1967) and was prioritised internationally for parents of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) by the Salamanca statement (1994). British government initiatives such as Involving Parents, Raising Achievement (DfES, 2003) and ‘Every Parent Matters’ (DfES, 2007) have been developed to encourage the collaboration between families and schools. Various reports, e.g. the Lamb Inquiry (DfES, 2009) and Parents, Carers, Schools (DfES, 2007), have been commissioned to measure the effectiveness of these initiatives and the quality of collaboration between families and schools. A Cross-cultural research project between Western Europe and America (Smit et al., 2008) sought to determine how collaboration between families and schools could be improved. Despite these measures, there remains a lack of agreement about how best to develop these relationships and also how to overcome obstacles which may be more evident within multi-cultural, urban school settings.

The majority of education systems within Western Europe and North America have devised systems that attempt to develop collaboration between the home and school. In some parts of Europe the establishment of systems has been relatively new and therefore required pedagogical changes (Rabusicova and Pol, 1995). Despite common structures e.g. parent-school consultation evenings and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), being a foundation for partnership across all schools, urban and rural, public or private, there still remains a lack of evaluation on their effectiveness at engaging with parents. Therefore, the need for the research stemmed from needing a greater understanding of the effectiveness of these systems from the parents’ perspectives. Additionally, due to the complex urban environment of the school, it was essential to understand possible barriers to a greater partnership.

The research focused on evaluating the current methods used to develop partnerships between the home and the school, namely: face-to-face contact, written communication and home-learning as well as uncovering possible obstacles. Improved outcomes for young people through an improved parent-school partnership would hopefully be achieved by evaluating these from a parent-centred approach. The research questions can be summarised as follows:

Face-to-face contact: What were parent perceptions about the effectiveness of parent-teacher consultation meetings? How did parents perceive less formal face-to-face contact?
Written communication: Did written communication help to nurture relationships between home and school? Were there more effective methods that could be introduced?
Home-learning: How did this impact on parents? Was this perceived as part of the partnership between home and school or an added burden?
Barriers: What did the parents perceive as possible barriers to the solidarity between home and school?

Method

Underpinning the methodology was the requirement to give parents a voice. Therefore, the research began with a qualitative analysis of parental views through the use of semi-structured interviews and focus groups. However, it was essential to acknowledge the diversity of the school by inviting parents having a variety of backgrounds and considering the following ‘vulnerabilities’: employment, ethnicity, language, familiarity with the school (e.g. a member of the parent-teacher association), single-parent families and those who have children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Two focus groups were conducted along with four individual interviews. Following the interviews and focus groups a questionnaire was developed from the findings. The questions were formed as a result of the themes which emerged once the interviews and focus groups were analysed. The questionnaire was then surveyed with all the school’s parents to help inform future changes within the school's improvement plan. This triangulation of the research then resulted in quantitative data that provided evidence to the leadership of the school in forming an action plan to develop an improved partnership with parents.

Expected Outcomes

The overriding outcome of the research was the use of the action research cycle itself in gaining the viewpoints of parents and carers. The cycle and methodology used within this study provided a sound and creative format for eliciting the views of parents and placing those views at the forefront of the school improvement cycle. Additional outcomes were as follows: • Parents value face-to-face contact above all other forms of communication. Resulting proposals included having groups of teachers and parents attending termly forums and a half-termly open morning to allow parents to spend time with the staff in the classroom. • The need to make greater use of new technologies for written communication, e.g. text messaging and e-mail, was evident. • Specific areas of home-learning needed to be supported greater by the school, e.g. mathematical calculations, in order for parents to feel more secure in supporting their young people. • The main obstacles included a lack of representation from fathers, parents of children with English as an additional language and parents new to the community. Suggestions were made regarding the use of ‘skills workshops’ to involve fathers and specific coffee mornings to encourage isolated or new families to become involved.

References

Beveridge, S. (2005) Children, Families and Schools: Developing Partnerships for Inclusive Education. London: Routledge Falmer. British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (2010) I’m Stuck Can You Help Me? A report into parents’ involvement in school work at home. Coventry: BECTA. Department of Education and Science (1967) Children and Their Primary Schools: The Plowden Report. London: HMSO. Department for Children, Schools and Families (2009) Lamb Inquiry: Special Educational Needs and Parental Confidence. London: DCSF. Department for Education and Skills (2007) Every Parent Matters. London: DfES. Department for Education and Skills (2003) Materials for Schools: Involving Parents, Raising Achievement. London: DfES. Hallgarten, J. (2000) Parents Exist, OK!? Issues and Visions for Parent-school relations. London: Institute for Public Policy Research. Lareau, A. (2000) Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Schools (2007) Parents, Carers and Schools. London: OfSTED. Rabusicova, M. and Pol, M. (1995) School/Family Relationships in the New Social Climate: the Case of the Czech Republic in the 1990’s. In: European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), University of Bath, 1995. Bath: ECER. Sheldon, S. (2003) Linking School-Family-Community Partnerships in Urban Elementary Schools to Student Achievement on State Tests. The Urban Review. 35 (2), 149-165. Smit, F., Driessen, G., Sleegers, P. and Teelken, C. (2008) Scrutinizing the balance: parental care versus educational responsibilities in a changing society. Early Child Development and Care. 178 (1), 65-80. Tomlinson, S. (1993) Ethnic minorities: involved partners or problem parents? In: Munn, P. (ed.) Parents and Schools. London: Routledge. pp. 131-147. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. Paris: UNESCO. Wolfendale, S. (1992) Empowering Parents and Teachers. London: Cassell.

Author Information

Julian Brown (presenting / submitting)

University of Northampton

Special Educational Needs and Inclusion

Northampton

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