Schools and Families:

Working Together
Survey of Schools and Parents 2012
Schools and Families:
Working Together
Survey of Schools and Parents 2012
Executive Summary
Welcome to
Schools and Families - Working Together
the RM Education report on Parental Engagement
Why is parental engagement so important?
There is a large body of research that suggests parental involvement and engagement can
improve the academic and social outcomes of children, even when factoring out parental
education levels, socioeconomic background and family structure. Good parental engagement
can also improve teacher morale, increase parents confidence in their ability to support their
childrens learning and increase interest in parents improving their own education.
So perhaps its little wonder that 90% of primary and 97% of secondary school head teachers,
whom we surveyed in autumn 2011, said that building better partnerships with parents was highly
important in terms of their school development plan. These figures represent a large increase on
the previous year. One reason for this increase could be that floor standards (the minimum
standards pupils are expected to reach) are being raised and a challenging funding environment
means schools need all the help they can get. Parents represent an underutilised resource.
Its important to point out that it is specifically parental support of learning at home that is crucial to
raising attainment while activities such as school fundraising may help create a dynamic and
thriving school culture, they do not necessarily have an impact on attainment.
The study
Because of its importance to head teachers and parents, we wanted to improve our
understanding of parental engagement, current practices and barriers to success. We worked
with Teach First and You Gov to survey 1,087 parents. We then surveyed head teachers and other
leadership staff and received 340 responses from schools. We wanted to share our findings to
give schools and parents some insight into the potential of parental engagement, how things
stand now and how it might be improved. As always there is no silver bullet, no single answer or
right way, but we hope to give some ideas about how schools and families might work together
to find a way that is right for them.
The findings
Full results are published in the report but a few of the key findings are as follows:
55% of schools are concerned about levels of parental engagement. There is a much higher
level of concern in schools with less affluent catchments, but because it is more of a concern
they are coming up with more innovative solutions.
73% of parents think they are involved with their childrens school life and 52% of parents would
like to be more involved. The main barriers to participation are work commitments, that their
child doesnt want them involved, or not feeling confident in their own ability.
87% of schools and 75% of parents believe schools and parents are equally responsible for
education. But, 79% of schools think that parents believe education is more the schools
responsibility.
70% of schools think they could improve communication about how parents can support
learning. Parents are generally happy with communication but would like to hear from the
school more frequently and from the teachers who are teaching their child not just a general
newsletter from the head teacher
Conclusions
There is a clear desire among schools and parents to improve levels of engagement but less than
half of schools involve parents in the development of their parental engagement plan. To make it
effective, the parental engagement policy needs to be developed with parent, staff and pupil
involvement so that it meets the needs of all. Once its up and running it needs to be monitored
regularly to ensure its continued effectiveness.
Key to success is increasing parental confidence in their abilities to support learning. Schools
might consider providing training and tutoring techniques online, in school or both. This would
encourage parents to reinforce and prepare for learning from home. Training for teachers would
also help them work effectively with parents.
Parental engagement and involvement is so important to learning outcomes we need to be
creative, innovative, learn from others and do all we can to ensure that schools and families work
together to achieve the best outcomes for all our children.
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Schools and Families: Working Together
Introduction
There is a wealth of literature that suggests that parental1 involvement and engagement can
significantly improve the academic and social outcomes for children, even after controlling for
parental education levels, socioeconomic background and family structure (Epstein, 2001; Fan &
Chen, 2001; Jeynes 2005, 2007). Indeed, it is now widely accepted to be one of the most critical
factors in maximising education potential (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Harris & Chrispeels,
2006; Hornby 2011). Effective parental engagement can not only improve academic attainment,
but also increase parental confidence, increase their interest in developing their own education,
and improve teacher morale; all of which lead to a more fulfilling and enjoyable learning
experience (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011).
Effective parental engagement
In a review of the conceptual and methodological issues of parental engagement research,
Desforges and Abouchaar (2003) emphasised that parental involvement in education in itself is
highly varied in nature, and can take the form of a vast variety of behaviours and parenting
practices; including good parenting at home, contact with the school to share information,
participation in school events, participation in the work of the school, or participation in school
governance. A parent for example may regularly check their childs homework, but never help with
fundraising, while another may help out at sports events, but never consider being a school
governor. Different elements of parents educational attitudes and behaviours; such as parental
aspirations, provision of a cognitively stimulating home environment and involvement in childrens
activities have all been identified as having significant passive effects on childrens educational
attainment (Feinstein et al. 2006).
There is a distinction between parental involvement (schools involving parents in activities, such
as fundraising and helping in classes) and parental engagement (schools engaging parents in
1 The term parent or parental here denotes any person who is in a parenting role with children; including guardians,
foster parents or extended family.
learning, through e.g. joint homework classes) as made by Harris and Goodall (2007). While many
schools involve parents, through activities such as fundraising and sports days, fewer actually
engage them in learning related activities. Yet the authors argue that it is the parents support of
learning within the home that can have the most impact on their childs achievement. Other
research suggested that most of the forms of parental involvement that are common practice and
easily accepted by schools are those that yield more benefit to the school than the parent, such as
fundraising and volunteering (Hornby, 2011). Desforges & Abouchaar (2003) concluded that
parental engagement in the form of at home parenting, such as having parent-child discussions,
has a significant effect on childrens academic achievement, while other forms of parental
involvement have a far lesser impact once factors such as the families socio-economic
background have been taken into consideration. The research shows that while parental
involvement, such as volunteering at school is not without benefit, and can indeed have a positive
impact on the community, improve accountability of the school, or help short-staffed classes, there
is no consistent evidence that suggests it improves childrens attainment (Okpala et al. 2001; Singh
et al. 1995; Zellman and Waterman, 1998).
However, parental involvement in learning, such as parent-child discussion or reading to the child,
shows consistent, significant benefits to childrens attainment (McNeal, 1999; 2001 Sylvia et al, 1999).
The OECD (2011) stated that children whose parents read to them at the beginning of primary
school achieved markedly higher scores when taking the PISA test at the age of 15. The research
found that the activities which were most strongly related to higher performance were reading a
book with their child, talking about things they have done during the day, and telling stories.
This emphasises that parents need not necessarily have unlimited spare time nor specialised
knowledge to make a difference to their child. Another interesting conclusion from the PISA report
was that children were never too old to benefit from their parents interest in their learning. Students
whose parents discussed political or social issues with them either daily or weekly had significantly
higher test scores than those whose parents discussed these issues less often or not at all.
Barriers to engagement
Nevertheless, the quality of parental engagement and involvement is highly variable and for many
complex reasons. There are both practical and social barriers to parental engagement, with the
most commonly cited reason for parents not being more involved in their childs schooling being
work commitments (Harris & Goodall, 2007). Working full time often means being unable to attend
events in the day, such as coffee mornings, and lack of childcare can make it difficult for parents to
travel to the school in the evenings. Social reasons may include the perceived attitude of the
school or other parents, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that parents will only get involved
to the extent that they feel they can make a difference (Hornby, 2011).
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Why it matters
There are a variety of factors which mean that securing parental involvement will be more
pressing for schools than ever. The government has previously published the document Every
Parent Matters (Department for Education and Skills 2007), which emphasises the importance of
parental engagement to improve educational attainment and enabling all parents to play a
positive part in their childrens learning. One of the Ofsted criteria under Leadership and
Management is the effectiveness of the schools engagement with parents and carers. More
recently, in October 2011, Ofsted launched Parent View (www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk) which
allows parents and carers to give their opinions on their childs school at any point throughout the
year on a range of issues, as well as view other parents opinions on any maintained school in the
country. In fact, the current government is making transparency a priority, publishing raw datasets
of the income and expenditure of all maintained schools as well as performance data. In addition
a school comparison website has been set up, which will all parents to compare schools by
locality (http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/search). Additional pressure to schools comes from
the recent government announcement to raise the floor standards year on year in order to avoid
coasting schools (The Importance of Teaching: Schools White Paper, 2011). With these challenges
ahead, especially in light of the recently announced cuts in funding, schools more than ever need
to be looking further to achieve these goals; and parents represent an underutilised resource.
Innovative solutions
Unravelling the wide range of variables that surround the relationship between schools and
families in order to place all the fragments into a coherent framework may be challenging, but it is
absolutely vital for schools to use innovative, custom tailored approaches to parental engagement
in order encourage parents to become more involved in their childrens learning, or risk alienating
them further; poorly planned attempts to increase PI [parental involvement] may result in parents
and teachers being pushed further apart which only works to increase distrust (p. 46 Hornby &
Lafaele, 2011). Some studies have shown that if initiatives presuppose that all schools, parents,
and students make up a homogenous groups and are thereby equally willing and able to get
involved, the initiatives can reinforce the existing divisions between schools and families and can
reproduce educational inequalities around social class and ethnicity (e.g. Crozier et al. 2000;
Hanafin et al. 2002; Vincent et al. 2000).
The role of technology
The past decade has shown a large increase in digital technology to help connect schools and
families, and schools have been encouraged to use learning platforms/Virtual Learning
Environments (VLE) in order to coordinate and support parental involvement and childrens learning
(Ofsted 2011: ICT in schools 2008-2011). In a recent study, parents reported a tendency to hear too
little from their children about what happens on a daily basis in the school, and that they would
welcome the use of digital technologies such as emails and text messaging to communicate
(Byron, 2009). However, recent evidence has shown that even within a sample of schools
frequently using learning platforms, there is only limited use of the technology to actively engage
parents (Selwyn et al. 2011). Despite the fact that learning platforms have the potential to be used
in a huge variety of ways through social networking, podcasts, or wikis, most schools were using it
more to reinforce the existing top down methods of relaying one-way information.
What we did and why
Despite the wide national and international acknowledgment of the potential benefits of parental
engagement, the reality remains that most parents as well as schools still feel that not enough is
done. Williams, Williams & Ullman (2002) reported that 72% of mothers wanted more involvement
in their childrens education. Indeed, in the RM Education annual school survey (2011) of 600
schools in the UK a huge majority (90% of primary and 97% of secondary heads) indicated that
building better partnerships with parents to be highly important in terms of their school
development plan.
A vital aspect of improving parental engagement is to understand it, and therefore understand
what limits engagement. Although there is a wide range of research on barriers to engagement
(Fan & Chen, 2001, Harris & Goodall, 2007; Hornby, 2011), it is essential to differentiate between
what schools perceive parental barriers to be, and what parents themselves believe. Finding out to
what extent the attitudes and opinions towards a child's education are matched or mismatched,
could have significant implications to the type of interventions most appropriate. This research
attempted to investigate to widen our understanding of the current approaches to parental
engagement, the barriers that families as well as schools face, and most importantly whether the
opinions of schools on parental involvement and its barriers are reflected by the opinion of
parents. Furthermore, this research looked at the extent to which schools are offering 'new
technology' methods of engagement (such as learning platforms, emails, text messages or
podcasts) compared to what extent parents themselves are aware of these options being
available. In addition, we looked at parental preferences of communication, compared to what the
schools perceive parental preferences to be.
In order to achieve this, RM Education conducted two surveys; the first gathering information on
attitudes and opinions of schools, and the second in conjunction with YouGov surveying a broad
range of parents. This resulted in a sample of over 1,000 parents with children aged 4-16, and 340
schools.
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Schools and Families: Working Together

Sampling
In autumn 2011, two separate surveys were distributed to gather the attitudes and opinions of both The parent survey, in conjunction with Teach First, was conducted by YouGov and received 1,087
parents and schools around the issue of parental engagement. The school survey was sent out by responses of parents or guardians of school children aged 4 to 16. The survey was conducted
email to a variety of headteachers, deputy heads and other senior staff of primary and secondary using an online interview administered to members of the YouGov Plc GB panel of 300,000+
schools in the UK, which were available through the internal database. This survey was completed individuals who had agreed to take part in surveys. An email was sent to panellists selected at
by 241 primary schools and 85 secondary schools. random from the base sample according to the sample definition, inviting them to take part in the
survey and providing a link to the survey. The majority of parents had children in state schools,
while 69 had children at an independent school. The parents and guardians were in equal
Sector Job Role Free School Meals*
proportion male and female. Both surveys also included a qualitative aspect in which schools and
Head Mean % >Mean % families were encouraged to discuss their opinions in greater detail.
Total Primary Secondary Other Other SLT
Teacher FSM FSM
Sample
241 85 14 250 90 145 80 Sector Type of School
Table 1. Sample composition of the school survey Mainstream Faith Grammar Independ
Primary Secondary Academy Other
Total State School School School ent School
Sample
501 586 755 122 102 54 69 127

Table 2. Sample composition of the parent survey

*Only includes schools in England that completed the 2011 pupil census
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Schools and Families: Working Together

Results

The findings of the two surveys were split into four sections: 1. Research and Planning
This section investigates what schools are currently doing in terms of researching and
1. Research and Planning planning parental engagement, and whether they involve parents in the planning stage.
Understanding the views of parents and assessing progress on a regular basis
Involve parents in the creation of a written parental engagement policy and review that
policy regularly

2. Communication
Frequency and method of communication
Type of information that is provided by the school to keep parents informed

3. Participation and Barriers

Participation in academic and social school activities and events
Barriers to participation as perceived by schools and parents
Figure 1
4. Attitudes and Opinions If parents were involved in the development of the parental engagement plans, which
parent groups were involved?
How engaged do parents feel and how engaged to school think parents are
Whose responsibility the education of the child is

The vast majority of schools surveyed included parental engagement as part of their schools
development/improvement plan, with more secondary schools doing so than primary schools
(95% compared to 85%). However, only 20% these schools had a separate written policy on
parental engagement. Interestingly, almost 30% of schools who had a higher than average
number of pupils in receipt of free school meals (FSM) had a written policy, compared to only 12%
of those with a lower than average number of pupils with FSM.

In addition, just over half of the schools surveyed indicated that they involved parents in the
development of their parental engagement policy; and if they did it was predominantly through
the use of parent governors, rather than all parents.

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Primary schools were significantly more likely than secondary schools to ask all parents, rather
than a specific group. In the other category, schools included parent forums, coffee mornings,
suggestion boxes and surveys.
When schools were asked how frequently they assessed parental engagement and
communication preferences, over half the schools stated that they did so annually. However, 16%
of schools stated that they assessed parental engagement less frequently than annually and 30%
assessed parents communication preferences less frequently than annually. In addition, the
parent survey revealed that 34% felt that the school does not seek feedback about their preferred
form/frequency of communication; which rises to 57% for those parents who consider themselves
less involved.
2.
Communication (59% compared to 34%) while the opposite was true for using school notice boards (37% compared to
This section looks at the communication practices between schools and families,
as well as parental preferences about communication.
Figure 2
(parents) Which method of communication would be most effective for you?
The majority of parents (64%) in this sample believed that the information they receive from the
school is relevant and interesting, and around half (52%) agree that the school celebrates their
childs achievement and helps parents participate in events. However, 32% of the respondents
stated that that the school does not communicate relevant information to them if they are unable
to attend an event. Parents who considered themselves uninvolved in their childs education were
less likely to say that the information they receive is interesting or that the school helps parents to
participate, with 25% and 37% respectively disagreeing.
When schools were asked which methods they used on a regular basis to communicate with parents,
the vast majority indicated using letters sent home with children, telephone calls, their website,
posting letters, or homework books. 79% of secondary schools also stated using text messages and
emails. Secondary schools were more likely than priResultsmary schools to use their school portal/VLE
87%). Very few schools used blogs (7%), radio (3%), or podcasts (1%). This was mirrored by the
responses from parents, who when asked, indicated the most common method to be letters sent
home with the child, followed by notes in the homework book and letters send through the post.
Almost half indicated their school also used their website to communicate with them and over a third
mentioned emails and text messages. The biggest difference in parent/school responses of
communication was that only 22% of primary school parents stated their school used the notice
board, while 87% of primary schools said they used the notice board to communicate. This suggests
that while schools may see the noticeboard as a form of communication, parents themselves dont. In
addition while a third of schools said they communicate through home visits, only 1% of primary and
2% of secondary school parents said the school did so.
When probed as to which method schools thought was most popular with parents, primary
schools thought it would be text messages and letters sent home with children, while secondary
schools thought it would be emails followed by text messages. When parents themselves were
asked, the answers broadly reflected what schools thought; the most preferred method for
parents being emails, followed by letters sent home and text messages.
More written communication through the post - it is no good expecting the child to hand a
letter over, my son just loses them or forgets they are in his bag. The text messages are very
handy Parent (Female, secondary)
7

The school needs to be more consistent in its communications, and offer electronic means
where the parents are able to use this. They should also provide information earlier - lots of
last minute stuff arrives in school bags and sometimes children forget to pass the letters on -
they're only human! Parent (Female, primary)
I believe that a monthly update and guide to help my child with their education would help
extremely. If I knew when there is an issue or poor area for my child regularly I would know
where to be more involved and thus help the school and teacher. Parent (Male, primary)
66% of primary and 71% of secondary schools think they could improve communication about
how parents can support learning and almost two-thirds of parents indicated that they would
like their childs subject/class teacher to communicate with them more often, with no difference
between sectors although uninvolved parents were more likely to wish for more communication
(80%) compared to those involved (69%).
Nevertheless, two-thirds of involved parents believed the overall school communication to be
effective, although only 36% of uninvolved parents did.
Over half of parents say they are unable to check their childs progress through the schools
website/ VLE (62%) while 18% dont know whether they have that option. When asked what
parents believed would help them be more informed and engaged in their childrens school life,
many of them made note of websites/VLE:
set up a website with alerts telling of upcoming events for each class/year group, and
telling of what subjects they are covering along with what homework they will be getting as
not all children tell their parents if they have homework Parent (Male, primary)
If they had a system in place where they update you via a monthly email or sign in on the
website so as you can ask questions as going up to the school is not always possible due to
work commitments etc. As schools only ever seem to send letters or call due to attendance
or sickness etc. but never on anything positive Parent (Female, primary)
Interestingly, many parents stated that the school did have a website or VLE but they did not use it
because it was poorly maintained. In fact the survey showed that one in ten parents have the
option to use a website/VLE, but rarely or never use it.
There is a website set up but poorly maintained. Too much generic information given via
paper newsletter and only specific for the children at open evenings, where its usually too
late to sort out Parent (Male, secondary)
Website is very out of date. Regular updates on the website would help me personally. Email
would be best as I'm on that at work all day. Parent (Female, secondary).
This suggests, parents feel regularly updated websites, parent log-ins, and forums would help
them keep in touch despite working full time or living far away from the school.
One issue that repeatedly surfaces in the parent discussion was that of supporting parents to
enable them to more effectively help their children throughout their education. Many parents may
lack the confidence or skill to be able to help with certain topics their child studies, or even if they
do have the skill they are often unsure about the right way to teach as methods will have
changed since they went to school.
Run classes for parents to get up-to-date with current methods in key subjects such as
maths, English and science. This would enable parents to be more able to effectively help
their children with their homework. For example, the way I was taught to do certain
calculations is different to the way they do it now - if I try to help with homework, I use
different methods and my children get confused. Classes would help. Parent (Male, secondary)
In addition, there is a desire to be more informed about the curriculum and key stage targets, as
in order to know when their children are struggling they need to know what level they are
supposed to be at.
Give more details of the daily routine of each class - if we don't know what the children are
doing all day (7 year old boys aren't the best communicators!), we can't support individual
learning, or see where our help could be needed. Parent (Female, primary)
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3. Participation and Barriers
This section investigates the extent of participation, as well as barriers to further
engagement as perceived by schools and families.
The majority of both primary and secondary schools indicated that parents could participate in
parents evenings or by being a school governor. Almost all primary schools also stated that
parents could help on school trips, while this was only the case for half of the secondary schools.
A similar disparity was apparent for parents being able to help in class, with almost all primary
schools indicating they could compared to only 15% of secondary schools. Only around a third
stated offering adult education classes.
Parents seem reluctant to commit long-term, e.g. governors, PTAs, but are happy to attend
one-off events Headteacher, Primary school
Schools were also asked how easy they found it to attract parental involvement in a variety of
activities. As might be expected, the data suggests that primary schools had less difficulty than
secondary schools in attracting participation. Parents evening and school events were classed as
the easiest to attract attention to in both sectors. Around half of primary schools however found it
difficult or very difficult to engage involvement for parent councils, PTAs, and adult education
classes. Approximately half of secondary schools also found it difficult to attract parent governors,
PTA members, and to get parents to help with fundraising and help in class, while 80% found it
difficult to attract participation in adult education classes. Overall, schools with higher than
average proportion of children with FSM indicated more difficulty attracting parental involvement in
all categories.
In all categories, primary schools were more likely to state that they invited parents to support
activities at school. Almost nine out of ten primary schools indicated that parents were sometimes
or often invited to help support teaching in class, while only around half of secondary schools did.
Around 60% of primary schools suggested that parents were invited to provide talks and
presentations while only 16% of secondary schools said they did so sometimes and none
indicated they did so often.
In terms of attendance of events, both primary and secondary schools in general suggest a good
turnout. In nine out of ten cases, school plays, sports events, concerts, exhibitions and open days
are attended sometimes or often. The only marked difference between sectors appears for school
assemblies, which still elicit a very high attendance from parents in primary schools, but in
secondary school three quarters indicate that parents never or seldom attend. When asking
parents, some differences emerged; while almost nine in ten indicated attending parents
evenings, less than a third helped on school trips or in class, a tenth were part of the PTA and even
fewer had been a school governor. Parents of primary school children were more likely to have
helped with school fundraising (44% compared to 30% in secondary schools). Parents of children
in independent schools were most likely to participate in most categories, including a 99%
attendance rate for parents evening compared to 81% at academies. This confirms much of the
previous research which indicated parents to be more willing to get involved with events and
fundraising, although research has shown that it is the engagement with learning in particular
which has the most academic benefits (Hornby, 2011).
[Successful engagement for] anything that is not threatening i.e. great turnout for the Fashion
Topic review [but limited engagement for] anything academic or where they feel their child
might not be the best. A lot of bad feelings about when they went to school
Headteacher, Primary school
Parents attend anything which is on a social level fundraising, sports events, plays etc. but
rarely attend anything academic open evenings for progress, training etc.
Headteacher, Primary school
Barriers to Parental Engagement
Schools indicated the main perceived barrier for engagement to be parental work commitments
(85%), followed by having been put off by their own experience of school (58%), childcare issues
(56%) and not believing they would make a difference (39%). In secondary schools, over a third of
respondents also indicated that they feel parents dont know how to get more involved, or feel
their child doesnt want them more involved while this was only the case for 14% and 3%
respectively in primary schools. A fifth of respondents in both sectors also indicated language
barriers.
Similarly, the top response by parents in all categories concerning their barriers to engagement
with the school was work commitments (55%). In primary schools this was followed by childcare
issues (18%) and feeling that they wouldnt make a difference (10%). In secondary schools on the
other hand this was followed by feeling their child wouldnt want them there (27%) and not
knowing how to get better involved (16%). Interestingly, when looking at parents who consider
themselves uninvolved, the top response after work commitments was the attitude of the
teachers and school (27%) and that their child wouldnt want them there (32%).
"At secondary schools teachers do not want parents interfering. What is there to get involved
in apart from turning up for parent-teacher evenings? Parent (Female, secondary)
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 Another barrier that emerged in the comments of parents was the attitude or perceived attitude of
This [visiting the school] only works for primary school children, my daughter is at secondary the other parents that are already involved with the school.
and would die if shame if I was a regular visitor at her school Parent (Female, secondary)

It's not what motivates it's what demotivates i.e. cliquey parent councils, constantly
Having been put off by their own experience of school was only mentioned by 6% of parents as a
volunteering and being told no thank you, the same parents being "picked" to go on trips all
barrier, although this was slightly higher for parents who felt uninvolved (10%).
the time Parent (Female, secondary)

In order to try to overcome some barriers, the vast majority of schools indicate that parents can
visit the school out of hours, and while over half of primary schools also offer drop in sessions for
parents, only just over a third of secondary schools do. In addition, almost half of primary schools
said they offer childcare for parents when visiting or assisting the school, while only 1% of
secondary schools do. There are also examples of innovative solutions to specific barriers, such as
cliques of parents forming:

There are parent cliques which sometimes make it difficult for others to feel confident about
contributing.....however the school is combating this by giving responsibility to year group
parents to organise events Parent (Male, primary)

This illustrates the variety of issues that may arise and limit parental engagement; successful
interventions will therefore be those that analyse the specific issues affecting their school and react
to those, rather than adopting a one-size fits all approach.

4. Attitudes and Opinions

This section explores the extent to which parents feel involved with their childrens
school, and how involved schools perceive parents to be, as well as attitudes
towards education.

Parents thought themselves fairly or very involved in their childrens school life, and involvement
Figure 3
was slightly higher in primary schools (79%) compared to secondary schools (68%). When asked
Barriers perceived by parents who have children in primary and secondary school and by whether they feel
whether they would like to be more involved, an equal proportion agreed as disagreed (around
involved with their childs education or not.
40% each), however there were interesting differences when looking at how involved parents
currently were. Those very involved were most likely out of all to want to be more involved (53%),
significantly more than those only fairly involved. Interestingly, those who stated being neither
I feel the parents that do get involved are middle class and I wouldn't fit in Parent (Male,
involved nor uninvolved were as unlikely to want to be further involved than those who stated they

10
were very uninvolved (49% and 50%). This mirrors findings by Williams et al (2002) who found
that fairly involved parents were no more committed than not very / not at all involved parents.
Figure 4
Percentage of parents who said they would like to be more involved by current involvement.
The research also found that although full time employed mothers and fathers were approximately
as likely to feel involved with their children's education, a difference emerges when looking at non-
full time mothers compared to fathers. Mothers not in full time employment were significantly more
likely to consider themselves involved compared to fathers not in full time employment. This reflects
previous findings by Williams et al (2002), who concluded that "clearly mums are more likely than
dads to feel very involved but only if free of the burdens of full-time work" (p. 15).
In general, when schools were asked how involved parents were with them, 80% indicated
parents to be fairly or very involved. This is slightly lower for secondary schools compared to
primary schools (77% vs. 83%) and lower for those who had a higher number of pupils with FSM
(70% vs. 84%). 55% of schools express some or great concern about parental engagement, but
there was much higher concern about parental engagement in schools with less affluent
catchments (22% compared to 8%).
Interestingly, it is those schools with less affluent catchments who were more likely to believe
that it has gotten easier to engage parents now compared to five years ago (40%) while only
17% of schools with affluent catchments believe it has gotten easier. This may reflect the fact that
schools in affluent areas have traditionally found it easier to attract a core set of parents, and
hence have had no need to introduce new policies, while schools with traditionally hard to reach
parents are those that are coming up with innovative solutions.
Almost all primary and secondary schools agreed that their schools welcomed parents visiting the
school and that their school provided parents with clear information about the progress their child
is making. Mothers who only completed compulsory education or no education were significantly
less likely to agree that their children's school was welcoming to parents, with 67% agreeing
compared to 81% of mothers who continued their own education longer. There was no effect for
father's education levels. Similarly, mothers with lower levels of education themselves were less
likely to be confident that they could make a difference (21%) compared to mothers with higher
levels of education (10%). There was no difference by fathers education (around 12% at any level of
education). In addition, those parents who feel involved in their childs education are more likely to
indicate that they feel welcomed by the school and that they are offered clear information about
their childs progress (over two thirds compared to under half for those uninvolved). Unsurprisingly,
they are also more likely to make involvement in their childs school life a priority and less likely to
feel that their involvement wont make a difference. Interestingly, over a third (40%) of uninvolved
parents stated fearing that they would be labelled a trouble maker if they contacted the
school regularly.
The majority of schools stated that they believed that the education of children is equally the
responsibility of parents and the school (87%). One in ten indicated it was more the responsibility
of the school, while only 2% suggested it to be more the parents responsibility. In contrast, when
questioned on the perceived attitude of parents, almost 80% thought that parents believe the
education of the child to be more the schools responsibility.
In fact, the proportion of parents who believed education to be more the responsibility of the
school was only 15%. Three-quarters (75%) of the parents in the survey believed that the
responsibility for the childrens education lies equally in the hands of the parents and the school,
with those who consider themselves to be fairly or very involved more likely to place responsibility
on themselves (12% compared to 3% for uninvolved parents).
Previous research has suggested that parents of lower socioeconomic status were less likely to
place the responsibility for their childrens education upon themselves (Harris & Goodall, 2007). Yet
this is not supported by our data, as there is no difference in parents believing that the education
of their child is equally the responsibility of their school as it is their own (75% of parents in ABC1
and 74% of parents in C2DE).
Fathers who had stayed in education longer themselves, were more than twice as likely to state
that their children's education was more their responsibility than the schools (15%) compared to
fathers who at most completed compulsory education (6%). There was no significant difference by
mother's education levels.
11
 It's a question of recognising that my child's education is as much my and my wife's
responsibility as it is the schools. The more support a child has at home the better they will
do at school. Education should be valued at home Parent (Male, secondary)

Although this shows that in general parents are satisfied with their childrens school, overall,
almost a fifth of parents (19%) have either moved their child due to feeling unsupported by the
school, or have seriously considered doing so. This sentiment was strongest amongst parents of
children at independent schools (39%) and lowest amongst parents at mainstream schools (16%).
It was also more likely at secondary schools (22%), compared to primary schools (15%).

12
Schools and Families: Working Together
Conclusions
This study showed
Research: only just over half of the schools surveyed involved parents in the development of their
policy. Most schools assessed parental engagement and communication preferences annually.
This means:
Any policy should be developed in partnership with parents, staff and pupils and regularly
monitored. It is important that schools not only rely on PTAs or parent governors as they do not
necessarily reflect the needs of all parents. As it is impractical to personally speak to every parent,
schools could attempt using forums or surveys and hold open-door events in order to gather a
wider range of opinions.
Planning: Only around a fifth of surveyed schools had a separate written policy on parental
engagement, although schools with less affluent catchment areas were more likely to have a
written policy.
This means:
There is a need for innovative solutions to parental engagement as well as regular
communication, as the engagement requirements of families vary from school to school, from
parent to parent and from child to child. It is vital to produce creative and personalised solutions to
parental engagement, rather than one-size-fits-all approach.
Any plans made need to be flexible, bottom up approaches which are continuously evaluated to
reflect the current needs of not only the parents, but also the pupils and the school.
Focus on education: while there are many projects that help connect the community or raise
money, there are fewer which are specifically designed to engage parents in learning. Parental
confidence in their own ability to help could be increased by providing training and tutoring
techniques of how to assist school work this could be done in school or online or both to get
wider participation. Helping parents understand the curriculum and get interested in their
childrens education will in turn encourage them to reinforce and prepare for learning from home.
Communication: The majority of parents were satisfied with the communication they receive,
although around a third of parents who considered themselves uninvolved did not feel that the
information they receive is interesting or that the school helps them participate. Around 70% of
schools recognised they could improve communication, and two thirds of parents wished for more
specific and frequent communication. The most common form of communication was letters sent
home with children, although the preferred method would be emails. 62% of parents indicated not
being able to check their child's progress through the school's website/VLE, and a further 18%
were unaware of whether they have that option. Even if there was access, many parents stated
not using it because it was poorly maintained.
This means:
Regular two-way communication is essential, and not just a letter from the head teacher. When
Problems are not raised when they occur, only mentioned when it is too late to do anything
about it. Parent (Female, secondary)
parents perceive the school not open to involving parents this acts as a major barrier to
engagement, meaning parents are most effectively involved when teachers actively encourage
engagement (Epstein, 2001; Hornby & Lafaele, 2011).
There is a need for effective channels of communication between schools and homes to ensure
that parents and teachers can respond quickly and effectively to any emerging concerns.
Schools may therefore benefit from further exploring new technologies and social media. Many
parents who responded to our surveys indicating their preferences for text, emails, websites and
forums, it is clear that parents want information that is immediate and accessible anywhere. It
appears that switching to electronic methods would be appreciated by parents and could help
save schools money
13
Participation and barriers: Parents were found to be more willing to participate in social events This means:
than academic events. As in previous research (Harris & Goodall, 2007) the strongest barrier for Schools in more affluent areas,
parents was work commitments, however after that different barriers play a role for different which have historically had a set
groups of parents. This emphasises that no one solution could meet the needs of everyone, but group of parents that are
rather individual barriers need to be assessed and then dealt with in a meaningful way specific to involved, run the risk of overly
that school. relying on these methods rather
than exploring innovative ways of
Why not try
Conduct courses after school for parents so they
feel more confident in helping and supporting
their child with their school work. Parent (Female,
secondary).

This means: engaging different groups of

Curriculum Evenings where parents come to the
It is of uttermost importance to take care of the practical issues around parent involvements, as parents, while schools with
school and see what pupils have been working
parents can only really engage or take part in meetings if they are not at work, and/or childcare is traditionally more hard to reach
on in an informal setting Deputy Head, Special
taken care of. With work commitments and childcare issues being some of the top barriers for parents have had to work harder
School.
parents, schools could make a huge difference by offering out-of hour sessions, childcare or to come up with novel ways of
making occasional weekend arrangements. engagement; highlighting the for teachers to send home ways in which we
importance of remaining creative. can support our childrens learning i.e. how to do
As previously suggested (Hornby, 2011) there was a clear difference between parental involvement
particular math questions etc., results of tests,
in primary school versus engagement in secondary schools, with involvement dropping Teachers might benefit from
what they are learning about and when Parent
significantly during secondary school. The comments by parents suggest that this may be partly being provided with training for (Female, secondary).
due to feeling that children need to be more independent at that age, and partly because the to help them work more
parents feel less capable of helping with the work. effectively with families. Targeting certain parents to attend certain
sessions, e.g. healthy eating, phonics with your
Parental engagement and child etc. Deputy Head, Primary School.
Children should have an environment outside the home where they can be independent,
involvement is so important to
particularly at secondary school age. Parent (Female, secondary)
educational outcomes that we Guidance on helping with their homework
need to be creative, innovative, would be useful or curriculum outlines so I can
Nevertheless, adolescents are still considered to significantly benefit from parental involvement in learn from others, and do all we encourage my child to explore the subject
their education which could take the form of helping with homework, choosing subjects for GCSEs/ can to ensure that schools and outside school Parent (Female, secondary).
A-levels or simply discussing social or political issues (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; PISA, 2011). When families work together.
considering adolescents and parental engagement it is vital to strike the right balance between
giving children the independence to grow and supporting their learning When done right a school can have incredible benefits from being supported by parents:

Attitudes in general parents considered themselves quite involved in their childrens education, I think the school should carry on doing what it is doing. There is far too little praise given to
although mothers with lower levels of education were less likely to perceive the school as the fantastic comprehensives we have, the fantastic teachers who work in them and the
welcoming and less likely to be confident they could make a difference. Those parents who great results they achieve. Parent (Female, secondary)
reported being neither involved nor uninvolved were least likely to want more involvement,
reflecting a group of parents that take up an indifferent middle-ground. In terms of responsibility
Research evidence has consistently demonstrated the influence that families have on their
for education, a vast mismatch became apparent between what parents thought, and what
childrens academic and social development. There is little doubt that when families and schools
schools perceived parents to think. Schools with less affluent catchments were more likely to say
work together to support learning, the children not only achieve better results or stay longer in
that engagement has gotten easier.
school, but are also more likely to enjoy school and develop lasting enthusiasm for learning.

14
Schools and Families: Working Together
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