Janet Goodall

Do Parents Know They Matter? Engaging All Parents in Learning.

Background: This paper outlines the findings from a research project carried out in the UK that explored the relationship between parental engagement and student achievement. Purpose: The 12-month research project was commissioned to explore the relationship between innovative work with parents and the subsequent impact upon student achievement. A main aim of the research project was to capture the views and voices of parents, students and teachers and to explore the barriers to parental engagement and the respective benefits to learning. Programme description: The study was qualitative in design and collected in-depth case-study data from 20 schools and 314 respondents. In addition a range of documentary evidence plus performance data were collected at each case-study site. Sample: A sample of schools in England was selected on two main criteria: firstly, the type of development, and secondly, the particular focus of parental engagement. Schools in the sample were selected to ensure that there was a broad geographical spread and a mix of urban and rural schools. Other factors were also taken into account to ensure a diverse range of schools (e.g. number on roll, socio-economic status (SES) and black minority ethnic (BME) percentages). Design and methods: Case-study methodology was used as the prime method of data collection in the study. In addition, school data sets relating to student performance, behaviour and attendance were analysed. These data sets allowed patterns and trends to be identified. This analysis formed the basis of the more detailed interrogation of the case-study evidence at each of the 20 sites. Results: The research findings highlight a number of barriers facing certain parents in supporting their childrens learning. It is clear that powerful social and economic factors still prevent many parents from fully participating in schooling. The research showed that schools rather than parents are often ‘hard to reach’. The research also found that while parents, teachers and pupils tend to agree that parental engagement is a ‘good thing’, they also hold very different views about the purpose of engaging parents. It is also clear that there is a major difference between involving parents in schooling and engaging parents in learning. While involving parents in school activities has an important social and community function, it is only the engagement of parents in learning in the home that is most likely to result in a positive difference to learning outcomes. Conclusions: Parental engagement in childrens learning in the home makes the greatest difference to student achievement. Most schools are involving parents in school-based activities in a variety of ways but the evidence shows but this has little, if any, impact on subsequent learning and achievement of young people.

Parental Involvement to Parental Engagement: A Continuum.

Based on the literature of the field, this article traces a continuum between parental involvement with schools, and parental engagement with children’s learning. The article seeks to shed light on an area of confusion; previous research has shown that different stakeholder groups understand “parental engagement” in different ways. Other literature makes it clear that the greatest benefit is derived from the furthest end of the proposed continuum, that is, parental engagement with children’s learning. The continuum gives examples of each stage of the movement along the continuum. The continuum is illustrated not only in prose but as a diagram. The article concludes with a discussion of the agency of parents and schools in the movement along the continuum.

Governance, Leadership and Management in Federations of Schools

In England, federations are defined as groups of schools that have a formal agreement to collaborate with the aim of raising achievement and promoting inclusion and innovation. This paper presents a number of findings from the case study strand of a 3-year study investigating the impact of 37 federations (see Lindsay et al., 2007). Maximum variation sampling (Maykutt & Morehouse, 1994) was used to select 10 case study federations. Key stakeholders were interviewed during 3 rounds of field visits. Documentary evidence from each case provided important contextual information and provided a source of triangulation. Within- and between-case analyses from case studies (Miles & Huberman, 1994) highlighted a number of key themes, patterns, and trends that have implications for the development of collaborative strategies attempting to restructure and reculture schools and their communities. This paper explores issues of leadership, management, and governance in federations. Findings suggest localised ownership and control of the process within the context of interdependent relationships have supported the development of a range of models of governance, leadership, and management in school federations.

Parental engagement to support children's learning: a six point model

The purpose of this article is to provide a model for effective parental engagement with childrens learning. The model arises from a comprehensive review of the literature on parental involvement and engagement. The model highlights six elements of effective parental engagement: authoritative parenting (which underpins the other five elements), and the need to begin engagement early, to take an active (rather than passive or reactive) interest in the childs learning, to continue this interest throughout the childs life, to have high educational aspirations and to stay engaged. Implications for schools are discussed.

Parental belief and parental engagement: how do they interact?

Previous literature has shown the importance of parental engagement for children’s outcomes; a largely separate body of literature has shown that there are clear effects on children’s outcomes related to parental religion. This article is a literature review of these two fields, with the aim of relating them to each other. The article suggests two possible explanations, behavioural and economic, for the differences in outcomes related to differences in parental engagement arising from differences in religion, but incorporating knowledge from the field of parental engagement. Finally, it sets out a research agenda for the future.

Learning-centred parental engagement: Freire reimagined

Abstract This article builds on the seminal work of Paulo Freire, whose critique of the “banking model” of education has inspired educators to look beyond mechanistic, didactic means of teaching, toward more constructivist, engaging methods. In this article, I argue that, although the teaching of children has changed as a result of work such as Freire’s, school staff often revert to a “banking model” when seeking to engage parents. This paper utilises Freire’s characteristics of “banking education” as a lens to look at relationships between schools and families. Based on this, the paper then suggests a way of moving toward a more equitable, sustainable and fruitful partnership between all those involved in schooling and learning (with the former being a formalised subset of the much larger latter).

Ofsted's Judgement of Parental Engagement: A Justification of Its Place in Leadership and Management.

This article considers the recent change to Ofsted’s inspection criteria, which now includes a judgement on schools’ engagement with parents as part of the overall Leadership and Management judgement. The article argues that this is the correct place for this judgement, linking effective parental engagement with the development of a broad and holistic understanding of parental engagement, and with the creation of ethos in the school.

Recruit for attitude, train for skills: creating high performing leadership teams

This article reports on research investigating the factors which impact on the recruitment and support of high performing leadership teams, funded by the National College. The research involved a comprehensive literature review and case studies of nine English schools. The results show that four themes emerged in relation to high performing teams: the need to create and sustain a team ethos, the need for clarity, for flexibility, and the value placed on the experience of team members. The study found that these teams had not been involved in training aimed at working as a team, challenging the previous literature which highlights the importance of such training. The article concludes by offering suggestions for further research.

The emotions experienced whilst learning mathematics at home

In this chapter, we build on ideas of mathematical resilience presented in a previous chapter (Lee and Johnston-Wilder, this volume) and illustrate how the notion of mathematical resilience and the growth zone can be used to improve the emotional experience of learning mathematics at home. We introduce the notion of mathematical safeguarding as an intrinsic part of the parents role. We also introduce math, as experienced typically in the home, as accessible, linked, inclusive, valued, engaging (ALIVE) and contrast this with math as experienced typically in school. We demonstrate the power of the “growth zone model” in bringing parents from mathematical exclusion to inclusion and curiosity, and learning how to apply safeguarding to the practice of learning mathematics.

Parental belief and parental engagement in children’s learning

This article reports on a small scale study, examining the influence of parental faith belief on parental engagement with children’s learning. The literature surrounding parental engagement and the impact of familial belief on children’s outcomes is examined. It is clear from work in the US that familial faith belief has an impact; however, the previous literature is almost entirely quantitative in nature and does not reflect the faith make up of the UK. The article then reports the results of an online survey of parents, examining parental perception of the impact of belief, of faith/belief group and other issues on their engagement with their children’s learning. Analysis of the results are presented, and contextualised for the UK.