Parental involvement and special educational needs

Parents have a unique understanding of the needs of their children with SEN, their strengths and difficulties. Therefore, parents need to be involved in the assessment and decision-making processes regarding their children’s education.

Early childhood intervention (ECI)

A strong basis of engagement must be forged from an early age. Early childhood intervention empowers families and primary caregivers in establishing an environment that promotes children's growth and acquisition of skills during the first years of life. ECI is applied in several EU Member States. Laws in Greece and Ireland encourage close collaboration between educational professionals and families, as well as in France and Czechia. In Estonia, preschool instructors interview children with their families to create personalised development plans and implement interventions that are appropriate to the child's special needs and abilities.

Practical advice for schools and parents

Schools should above all pursue a trust-building process with parents. The key pillars are ensuring meaningful communication (e.g. discussing parents’ concerns), involvement (e.g. target setting), and support (e.g. parent peer groups). Teachers can, for example, ask parents about strategies that work at home and consider using them in the classroom, or cooperate with other professionals who attend to the same child to ensure a holistic support.

Some Erasmus+ projects also share guidance on parental engagement.

The School4Me project aimed to support pre-primary and primary pupils with learning disabilities. It published several resources for teachers and families, including a training programme for parents in four languages.  

At the same time, the Shape project organised activities to raise awareness of disabilities and improve the integration of children with SEN. It delivered various results, including a handbook for parent consultations and a guide to organising sensitisation sessions (in Hungarian).