The key to working with parents and carers

When parents and carers are encouraged to engage with their child’s education, it can have a positive impact on the pupil’s attitude to learning and attainment. In addition, the SEND Code of Practice (2014) makes it clear that parents and carers should be given a clear role to play in discussions and decisions regarding the provision for their children.

Building effective relationships with parents, carers, and families requires clear lines of communication. Regular face-to-face contact between families and class teachers is the most effective way of providing individual feedback and allowing parents to share concerns informally – even if most schools use school websites, social media, and messaging services to keep parents up to date.

The more teachers know and understand about pupils and their families, the more they can build successful partnerships between school and home. The Education Endowment Foundation’s (2018b) guidance report on Working with Parents to Support Children’s Learning makes four recommendations for schools:

1. Critically review how you work with parents – this involves being honest about how well current strategies are working, realising that different approaches are needed for different ages and abilities, and involving all parents in suggesting the support they would find most helpful.
2. Provide practical strategies to support learning at home – these may include providing resources and guidance on using reading material, language and mathematics games as well as guidance on how to promote good homework habits for older pupils.
3. Tailor school communications to encourage positive dialogue about learning – this may involve regular communication via termly letters and weekly messages to celebrate personal and collective successes, consultation about school activities and encouragement to take an active part.
4. Offer more sustained and intensive support where needed – this may include organising group-based parenting initiatives (such as regular workshops on supporting pupils with barriers to learning), building relationships with those parents who struggle to attend meetings by being available for after-school chats both at school and online.

Also, keep in mind that some parents struggle with becoming involved in school activities. They may:

• have had negative experiences of school themselves;
• work long hours and be unable to attend functions and meetings;
• have a first language other than English;
• feel they have nothing to offer to the life of the school;
• have little interest in education and place all responsibility on the school.

However, with perseverance and encouragement, parents can be valuable assets to a school. By involving them and listening to their voice, a school is more able to meet the needs of its community.

*This is an edited extract from Good Teaching for Children with SEND: A guide for primary teacher trainees and early career teachers by Silby & Callander.

For your bookshelf