As teachers, you will know that parental engagement can have an invaluable impact on the education of children. Yet with our increasingly busy lifestyles, many are unable to attend as many face-to-face meetings as they would like. Letters sent home can go unread or even forgotten. Due to this, there have been creative ideas that have hit the headlines over the years with the overall aim of increasing parental engagement, including Greasley Beauvale primary school, which grades parents on their involvement with their children’s education. Although this is a controversial approach, there are significant benefits to increasing parental engagement for both child and school. In this weeks blog, we’re looking at why parental involvement in the education of their child is so crucial. We are also looking at how technology makes it more accessible.
Helping with homework
In comparison to 2014, recent studies reveal that only 11% of UK parents help their children with schoolwork at home. In fact, this is often the source of argument in the home, thanks to the commonly voiced question, ‘have you done your homework??’ Informing parents of the their children’s lesson plan on a weekly basis can increase these figures. This drives encouragement and support, allowing for a more collaborative approach. Helping with homework and sharing knowledge opens communication as well as strengthening relationships and allowing parents to understand their children’s capabilities.
Building school relationships
Any good relationship requires effective communication in order to thrive, with parent-teacher relationships no different. Whether communications are transferred through letters, technology or even face-to-face, the more parents are informed about the school and how their children are progressing, the more likely they are to get involved in school activities. Whether that’s volunteering as a chaperone for school trips, helping with school fundraising, getting involved with the PTA or just getting stuck in wherever they’re needed, building the relationship increases trust, with 56% of primary school teachers stating that this was a crucial reason to encourage engagement.
Strengthening the support system
For children, most of their time will either be spent in schools or at home, with 7,800 hours spent at school during their education. However, in the last five years, 90% of school leaders have reported an increase in anxiety or stress from their students. Therefore, more than ever, it’s important to ensure that everyone around them is on the same page, creating a shared ethos to build a secure support system for children which can help them through these years. Through direct communication with parents using simple push notifications, parents better understand what is needed from them. This strengthens the support they can provide to their child alongside the school, meaning children have someone they can turn to.
Improving development
This ties in with the homework element, however, parental engagement can encourage better development of children. This can obviously include improved homework or grades (which was a priority for 52% of primary school teachers when discussing engagement levels), but can also include the development of sports skills or any extracurricular activities and overall behaviour – by knowing more about what’s happening in school, parents can encourage their children to get involved and offer moral support, cheering them on at any events or competitions.
Education works best when everyone is equally and fully engaged: teachers, children and parents. Teachers and parents want nothing more than to see their children succeed, by keeping parents engaged and informed with regular updates you equip them to support their children, leading to happier students and parents delivering countless benefits in the classroom. Technology is a crucial part of successful communication, especially for busy individuals. Schoop can prove pivotal to parent-teacher communications, with regular classroom updates to relevant groups. If you would like more information about Schoop or to sample the service.
