Survey on parents - Results

What are schools doing to encourage parental engagement? What is the biggest challenge they face? What should schools do to increase partnership with parents? The findings of our latest survey show that schools are active in building a bridge between parents and teachers but that more could be done.

There is a strong link between a positive home learning environment and students’ performance at school, according to research. Engaging parents and caregivers as learning partners in a whole-school strategy can support children’s learning, behaviour and social and emotional development. However, parents from disadvantaged backgrounds may find it difficult to help their children, while teachers might find it challenging to involve parents, due to barriers such as different home language or mistrust by parents who question the methodologies and curricula.

The survey on parental involvement was open on School Education Gateway from 5 June to 4 August and gathered a total of 454 responses.

Results (N=454)

1. In your school or a school you know, what is the level of parental involvement?

The overwhelming majority of the 454 respondents (95%) indicated that there is some kind of parental involvement in their school. For most of them (59%), this is limited to formal matters, like meetings to review children’s progress, written reports and meetings. 28% reported regular and varied parental engagement, while only 8.15% mentioned high levels of parental engagement. In 1 in 20 schools, according to respondents, there is little or no parental engagement.

2. In your school or a school you know, what mechanisms or structures exist to involve parents? Choose all relevant options.

A parents’ association is also a common means of face-to-face engagement (60%) and a small majority of schools have representation of parents on the school governing board (56%), while others organise regular meetings with parents about general topics (44%). Other ways of enhancing communication with parents include organising regular parents’ evenings where teachers discuss children’s progress with parents (38%), and developing special outreach to parents of vulnerable children or those with special educational needs (35%). Lastly, 6% of respondents stated that they have a parental engagement coordinator in the school. A range of distance and face-to-face communication channels between parents and school staff are used according to the respondents of this survey. In 62% of respondents’ schools, digital technology is used to engage parents (e.g. email, social media, website); individual letters are sent in 40% of schools; phone calls with parents or meetings outside of school take place in 39% of cases, in 20% of schools regular newsletters are sent to parents, and 6% of respondents mentioned that students complete a weekly learning diary which includes parents’ comments.

3. In your school or a school you know, what parental engagement activities take place? Choose all relevant options.

Various activities to involve parents take place in schools, the most frequently mentioned being school fundraising activities (40%), social events for parents (35%) and workshops and sessions for parents on educational topics (35%). Other initiatives include evaluation activities (34%), approaches to reach parents of vulnerable children or those with special educational needs (33%), activities related to children’s progress (32%), activities related to external visits (30%), and workshops, lessons or events conducted or supported by parents (22%). Family learning programmes exist in 9% of respondents’ schools.

4. In your opinion, what are the main challenges to parental engagement? Choose up to three options.

Replies to this question show that there are several challenges when it comes to improving the level of parental engagement. Almost three-quarters of survey participants (73%) mention the difficulty of engaging inaccessible or disconnected parents in their children’s education, and over half of them (53%) mention a lack of successful strategies to engage parents. Other challenges reported by the respondents include teachers’ reluctance to involve parents (36%), the lack of clarity about the benefits of parental engagement (35%), and linguistic, social and cultural barriers of parents (24%). Lastly, 11% of respondents listed discouragement by head teachers as a challenge and 8% discouragement by the ministry or municipality.

5. Which of the following would like you like to see more of in your school? Choose up to three options.

Asked about which activities they would like to see more of in their schools, respondents cited family-learning programmes (49%) most frequently – indeed responses to Question 3 indicate that family learning programmes exist in only 9% of respondents’ schools. Second is educational workshops or sessions for parents to develop their knowledge and skills (48%). Other desired activities include workshops, lessons or events led by parents (33%), approaches to reach parents of vulnerable children or those with special educational needs (28%), activities related to children’s progress (24%), social events for parents (21%), and involving parents in the strategic decisions of the school (20%). A minority of respondents (17%) indicated that they would like to see parents in the classroom as teaching assistants, 15% wanted more evaluation activities and 11% activities related to external visits.

Conclusion

The survey reveals that almost all respondents’ schools engage parents and encourage parental involvement. The challenges that schools face in this regard are similar.

There seem to be different levels of parental involvement as well as a range of mechanisms and structures schools use and a variety of activities they develop to involve parents in their children’s schooling. To communicate with parents, schools mostly use digital technologies (62%) and individual letters (40%). Parents’ associations (60%) and representation of parents on the school governing board (56%) are the two more established structures of parental involvement. The most common parental engagement activities of respondents’ schools are school fundraising activities (40%) and social events for parents (35%).

Based on the survey results, it seems that school communities experience various barriers to effective engagement of families in the school. Two of the most challenging are inaccessible or disconnected parents and, related to this, linguistic, social and cultural barriers. Here, effective parental engagement requires communication, understanding, trust and commitment from both sides. Other challenges mentioned, such as the lack of clarity about the benefits of parental engagement and the lack of successful strategies to engage parents, are areas that administrators and teachers can address and seek to understand and overcome the underlying obstacles.

Many respondents would like their schools to have more family learning programmes and educational workshops/sessions and events led by parents, suggesting that teaching is not seen as the sole responsibility of teachers, but as a joint effort between schools and families.

Respondents of the survey highlighted the need to find ways to reach parents of vulnerable children or those with special educational needs, thus improving the inclusiveness of the school and achieving engagement of all families.

Annex: Role of respondents