High Quality Partnership with
parents
Features of effective practice
Why do we need to address this
area?
• Harris & Goodall “Parents: Do They Matter?”
(2007) found parental engagement is critical
to the child’s achievement.
• Brian Lamb’s Inquiry (2009) reported:
“What has struck us quite forcibly is that it
seems no one has had a discussion with
parents about the outcomes they aspire to for
their child.”
Which type of parenting programme best
improves child behaviour and reading? The
Helping Children Achieve trial
Underachievement and exclusion
• Three factors that reliably predispose children
to underachieve and become socially
excluded in childhood with enduring effects
into adulthood are:
(1) experiencing suboptimal parenting
(2) behaving disruptively
(3) being a poor reader
DfE, 2012
The impact of parental involvement,
parental support and family
education on pupil achievement and
adjustment: A literature review
Professor Charles Desforges
with
Alberto Abouchaar
(2003)
Key Findings
• Parental involvement is strongly
positively influenced by the child’s
level of attainment: the higher the
level of attainment, the more
parents get involved.
Key Findings
• The extent and form of parental
involvement is strongly influenced by
family social class, maternal level of
education, material deprivation,
maternal psycho-social health and
single parent status and, to a lesser
degree, by family ethnicity.
Key Findings
• Differences between parents in their level of
involvement are associated with social class,
poverty, health, and also with parental
perception of their role and their levels of
confidence in fulfilling it. Some parents
are put off by feeling put down by schools
and teachers.
Key Findings
• Nechyba et al (1999) summarised three
possible mechanisms through which social
class might operate.
• a ‘culture of poverty’ in which working
class families place less value on
education than middle class parents and
hence are less disposed to participate.
Nechyba et al (1999)
• ‘social capital’ that working class families
have less ‘social capital’ in terms of social
networks and skills. They do not know the
‘right sort of people’. In consequence,
regardless of disposition, working class
parents either are, or feel they are, less well
equipped to negotiate and deliver on the
demands of schooling.
Nechyba et al (1999)
• ‘institutional barriers - schools are, in this
view, taken to be middle class institutions with
their own values. Schools accept
involvement only on their own terms which
are non-negotiable. Those parents not
conforming to these values are quickly ‘put in
their place’.
Key Findings
• Williams et al (2002) reported that 16% of
parents were wary of overstepping some
unwritten mark in their relations with
teachers.
• Parents’ evenings are a particularly well
documented site for creating parental
frustration and confusion (Power and Clark,
2000; Cullingford and Morrison, 1999).
Cullingford and Morrison, 1999
there was not so much marked
antipathy (between parents and
teachers) as mutual fear
Crozier (1999)
• Crozier (1999) interviewed in depth a sample of
parents (71% working class) on the experience of
home-school relations and found :
• many working class parents have perceptions of
teachers as superior and distant
• these perceptions are reinforced by the teachers’
stance
• teachers engage with parents only on their own
terms
• this does not encourage parents to be proactive in
partnership, rather it encourages parental fatalism in
regard to their children’s schooling.
Ofsted
• Ofsted inspectors identify the component parts of good practice
schools:
• Commit a great deal of sustained energy and resource to
this work
• Some schools create posts of special responsibility
dedicated to parental involvement
• Extensive programmes of meetings with parents are
arranged, to explain the curriculum, to report progress, to
consider individual pupils and to celebrate success
• Some schools provide courses for parents on curriculum
relevant topics
• Some arrange transport to schools to meet particular
parents’ needs
Ofsted
• Above all, good schools in this
respect are on the one hand
dedicated to constructive
listening and on the other to the
forthright pursuit of increased
educational standards.
Reflection Time
• Have you ever had any specific training in
how best to build a partnership with parents
of pupils with SENDs?
• Have you ever had any specific training as to
how to have an effective meeting with parents
of pupils with SENDs?
Aims of the structured
conversation
• The structured conversation is intended to
facilitate a relationship that develops around
the shared purpose of improving the
educational achievement of young people
with SEND; this will allow the free exchange
of information and views; the evolution of
supportive teaching and learning strategies
and clarity of learning objectives.
Benefits of the structured
conversation
•
•
•
•
Establishes an effective relationship.
Parents can express their aspirations.
Teacher and parent can share concerns.
They can set clear targets and decide on how
to achieve them.
• Clarifies responsibilities of all parties.
Outcomes
• Outcomes of the initial structured
conversations have shown improvements in
provision and in ensuring aspirational targets
are set.
• Overwhelming evidence already from schools
prioritising the structured conversations of
significant impact on improving the
engagement of parents with the education of
their children
Evaluation
• The most powerful part of the project
• The structured conversations have offered
school staff something new and unique that
has enabled them to get to know about their
pupils’ needs, aspirations and lives beyond
school . . ., contributing to a more ‘holistic’
view.
• It has provided schools with ‘a really valuable
way of thinking about children’s progress.
Parents report
• they value the experience of the structured
conversation and feel they are being listened
to;
• they feel that this is the best opportunity they
have had to really talk to the school about
their child;
• they are sharing ideas with the teacher about
the most effective ways of supporting their
child.
Pupils report
• they talk to their parents more about what
they are learning at school;
• their parents are helping them with their
learning at home;
• they feel more confident to contribute in
lessons;
• they are happier in school because they are
becoming successful in areas where they
have previously struggled.
Teachers report
• the training has effectively equipped them with the
core skills they need to hold a more open and
listening dialogue with parents;
• they are feeling more confident to have ‘open
conversations’ with parents;
• they are gaining more information than ever before
about their pupils;
• they are starting to use the increased knowledge and
information they have about their pupils to improve
provision to meet their needs more effectively
Process
•
•
•
•
•
•
Prior to meeting key teacher gathers information on progress and gaps
in learning including information from staff.
Key teacher gathers the pupil’s views (this may be part of the
structured conversation).
The key teacher holds the initial structured conversation with the parent
as early as possible in Autumn term (see following framework for
details)
The pupil may also be part of this conversation, dependent on age,
maturity and level of understanding.
The key teacher informs the subject teacher and any other school staff
of the outcome of the conversation and agreed curriculum targets.
Through the communications arrangements agreed the key teacher
confirms the targets, actions and support with the parent and pupil.
Negotiating a contract
• The contract is a concise verbal statement
about the purpose of the conversation and a
request for the other person’s view of that
purpose or for what they want from the
meeting.
• For example, ‘I’d like to find out as much as
possible about Hannah and what you think
we can do to help improve her maths. We
have about thirty minutes. Is that ok with
you?’
Framework
EXPLORE
Identifying
priorities
Clarifying key
issues
FOCUS
PLAN
Summarising,
clarifying next
steps and further
communication
Active listening
Paraphrasing
Communicating
understanding
REVIEW
Agreeing targets,
seeking outcomes,
developing action
plan