Boosting pupil wellbeing through home-school collaboration

Parental engagement has multiple positive effects on children, such as improved academic performance, self-esteem, and student attitudes and behaviours. Home-school cooperation is also an effective strategy for fostering pupil wellbeing.

Communication is the key

A two-way exchange of information between parents and teachers is important to enhance student learning and wellbeing. Specifically, cooperative problem-solving allows for a more effective resolution of issues and better support for the child. The Creative Thinking for Parents project produced a training course and a guide for parents, covering topics such as discussing global challenges, staying positive during the COVID-19 lockdown, and brainstorming with children.

Another important area is nurturing children’s strengths. The principles of positive psychology are emphasised, for example, by the Parent’r’us project which primarily targets disadvantaged parents and aims to increase parental engagement in children’s academic achievement and wellbeing by using an inclusive and comprehensive mentoring model.  

Supporting migrant families

Language barriers and cultural differences are among the factors that may prevent parents of immigrant pupils to engage with the school community.  Therefore, targeted projects are important. For example, the Parents Engage project aims to improve educational outcomes for migrant and refugee students by building productive relationships with migrant and refugee families and promoting inclusive education and English as a second language.

Similarly, the Open School Doors project provides teachers with a training framework to integrate migrant pupils into schools. It focuses on digital technology for home-school collaboration, centred around effective communication and common goals.

Parents collaborating for online safety

It’s also crucial to inform parents about the dangers of the internet in this digital age. Projects like SELMA, the European Safe Online Initiative and Better Internet for Kids offer internet training courses to increase public awareness of cyberbullying, internet privacy and screen use. Such resources help parents to better guide their children through the digital world and to teach them about netiquette and screen-time management techniques, for example.