Engaging parents in their children's learning

This report by the GTC asked a diversity of parents of their experiences with schools via 6 structured workshops in three English cities.

For the purposes of this report, involvement is defined as activities that parents undertake in relation to their child’s school, such as attending parent-teacher consultations, performances and fetes and talking to their child about school and any homework they may have been given. Engagement is defined as the activities that parents undertake to learn about learning and develop their own knowledge in order to help their child.

Key points:
- Primary school teachers were accessible, but access to primary school teachers was becoming more difficult.
- In high school, access to teachers was restricted to formal events (such as parent evenings).
- Parents found it difficult to contact head teachers and were often restricted by gatekeepers.
- Fathers (who tended to be working), working parents generally and lone parents tended to have much less informal contact with primary and secondary schools; they were also less likely to be school volunteers or members of the PTA.
- Parents thought that schools expected them to be involved in their child’s learning and thought that schools assumed they would know how to do so, although this was not necessarily the case.
- Parents thought that it was important to be involved in their children’s learning.
- They were mixed in their opinions about how much they wanted to be involved apart from generally helping with homework and attending the formal parent-teacher consultations provided by the school.
- Parents also thought that by engaging with their child’s learning they gained a better understanding of their child’s abilities and interests; understood their child’s weaknesses; gained an insight into any other issues that may be occurring in their child’s life; and would be better able to tailor social activities to their child’s interests. It also reinforced the value of learning, for both the child and parent alike.
- Some parents did not feel that they wanted to be engaged with their child’s learning. This was for a range of reasons: it is the school’s responsibility to engage in a child’s learning; time pressures; and a lack of knowledge and skills about how to engage with a child’s learning.
- Parents often expressed a desire to know more about the curriculum that their child was following, or the teaching methods that were being used. This was particularly so for maths and science, for which teaching methods were thought to have changed considerably since they were at school.