Parents as partners in learning

Clackmannanshire launched its Positive Coaching Parents’ Forum last night in Alloa. The approach highlights where sport fits into Curriculum for Excellence. Through workshops and targeted materials it helps parents understand how they can be their child’s biggest fan by understanding what “winning” really means and how success is achieved through effort. Parents seemed really interested, and clearly found it easier to see how they could support their child’s development in this way, rather than trying to understand too much detail of Curriculum for Excellence. It helped, of course to have some sporting world role models - Tommy Boyle, Judy Murray and Sir Bob Gammell were all there to lend support.
It is a great initiative to promote parental involvement and I will be really interested to hear how it progresses.

I came across this recently published report on perspectives of parents on America’s High Schools. Some of it at least, could easily be talking about experiences of parents and teachers in Scotland. The introduction suggests that the debate around the role that parents play in the education often ends in the blame game - pointing fingers at parents who do not care enough or at teachers who do not do enough to include parent in learning. Sound familiar? The reality, as the report suggests, is much more complex. Its findings suggest that :

all parents, regardless of background or circumstances, recognise the importance of parental involvement;
all parents see a more demanding world for their children;
but not all schools are providing parents with the right opportunities to become involved.

So what does the research suggest:

give parents the resources and knowledge they need to support their children’s education
involve parents more in the successes;
build involvement around parents’ lives;
bring parents to the centre of education policy debate.

I would say we are working on all of these in Scotland as a result of the Parental Involvement legislation. The Parental Involvement Field Team are working with schools across Scotland where schools and parents are developing better ways of partnership working. I think we are making good progress but we still have some way to go before we reach One dream, one reality!

Lots of activity around parents and Curriculum for Excellence, despite recent suggestions in the media that “parents are being kept in the dark”. I think it is probably true to say that many are unaware of the changes but that’s not to say there are not efforts underway to raise awareness at all levels.

The DVD is beginning to get through to parents. More copies are being requested and organisations, schools and nurseries have fed back that they see it as a useful tool to begin discussion with parents on what Curriculum for Excellence means.

I also had the first of a series of meetings with a range of organisations who either support or represent parents to share with them the developments around Curriculum for Excellence and to encourage them to think about how some of the information could be shared through their channels. One immediate spin-off was the Scottish Muslim Parents Association having a stall on Curriculum for Excellence at their recent Eid celebrations in Glasgow. Parents were of course interested to know about the changes and how they will affect their child.

I am also aware that many Authorities and Schools are now running events to help raise awareness amongst parents and to involve them in taking developments forward locally. We know that parents are most interested about hearing about how their own school or nursery will be taking forward Curriculum for Excellence.

I had the pleasure of doing the final presentation - Presentation for Aberdeenshire Parents Conference, 27 September 2008 (not quite the same without the pictures but you can get the bones!) - at the successful event for Aberdeenshire parents, which focused on how they intended to take things forward in Aberdeenshire.
Parents in some cases, are naturally worried by some of the uncertainties, particularly around the National Qualifications consultation. It can be hard at times to get the focus back on how we can all work together to “make education a better experience for all young people” as oppose to teaching for exams.

The other key event recently was the Scottish Learning Festival, where along with the Field Team, I shared some ideas around how to engage parents with Curriculum for Excellence. I will put some of the resources shared and the presentations on the Curriculum for Excellence section of the Parents as Partners website.

We still have a long way to go if we want all parents across Scotland to engage with the changes. I think it is worth remembering that a lot of parents put their trust in their schools and nurseries to do the best for their child and although we may try to highlight Curriculum for Excellence and encourage them to get involved, for some this just won’t be high on their agenda.

Parents and staff are often asking what can parents do to support the learning going on in school. Eric Burton flagged this site up - Clydewaterfront Education. It is aimed at teachers in the main, but I see lots of potential for it to give great inspiration and ideas that could be adapted for parents!

Curriculum for Excellence - Sharing Practice Session

The second Sharing Practice Session was held at Stirling Management Centre on 1 September. The theme was Engaging Parents with Curriculum for Excellence. The idea was floated of “Curriculum for Excellence - The Musical” to share the messages with parents.

The event attracted CfE and Parental Involvement Contacts in Authorities, as well as some teaching staff and Parent Council members. Scottish Governmnent (Linda Kirkwood and Eleanor Jess) were there to bring everyone up to date on the current timelines and developments.

The new DVD for parents was shown, along with some of the other resources mentioned in the Engaging Parents with Curriculum section of this blog. You can also see the clip there of the Medieval Monk struggling to open a book - the way some parents may feel when we are trying to explain Curriculum for Excellence to them!

Consideration was given first to how Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) could be explained to parents clearly. Curriculum for Life was felt to be an appropriate explanation - trying to equip all young people with skills for life, work and learning. It was also felt to be about trying to develop all children as individuals to the best of their potential.

Some felt that schools were struggling with methodological change and were currently being asked to make many different changes. It was these changes that needed to be explained. There was much discussion around how it was much more helpful to focus on the “how” with parents as oppose to “what” CfE meant. Practical examples of how CfE was being delivered would be helpful to parents -

It was also felt important to show what it meant in terms of celebrating achievement in all areas and showcasing this to parents. Also using partnership working with libraries, arts, leisure and cultrue, community learning and others to engage pupils and parents could be worthwhile.

Clearly, all there are some key messages for all parents, but it was likely to be more meaningful when it was in relation to their own child at the level of their own school.

It was agreed that the barriers to parental involvement in CfE were the same as the barriers to parental involvement generally. Some ideas were shared as to how these barriers could be overcome:

• Enabling parents to share their “succes” experiences with other parents

• Combining fun events with Parent’s Evenings - where this has been tried, it has significantly increased attendance and improved the atmosphere

• Letting pupils choose what they want to share with parents or display

• Changing structure of Parents’ Night to a week when parents can come in anytime and parent only sees tutor - this has been tried and attendance improved from 30% to 80%

Previous Sharing Practice Sessions
The first Sharing Practice Session took place on 16 June. It was aimed at Parental Involvement Officers in Authorities and their colleagues who may were interested in exploring parental involvement in relation to Gypsy/Traveller Families. We also tried to link this with how some of the resources /lessons learnt from working with this group of families may have some bearing on working with Immigrant families eg newly arrived Polish families. It seemed to go well and there were lots of ideas and resources exchanged.

At the National Conference for parents on 7 June in Glasgow, Fiona Hyslop stressed the importance of the involvement of parents in Curriculum for Excellence. Keir Bloomer, the keynote speaker at the event, also urged parents to become involved in the developments.

It was clear from the discussion that parents are at different stages in their understanding and knowledge of the changes.

On the Curriculum for Excellence website there is a presentation and handout which can be used to start parents thinking about why the changes are happening. Other parents will want more detail about what is happening in their particular area or school.

Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to pick up good examples of where Authorities and schools are engaging with parents. I have seen some great newsletters and events which try to explain the interdisciplinary approach of Curriculum for Excellence, as well as the four capacities. I am sure there are many more examples out there. Please share them.

One of the reasons I set up this blog was to share some of the good practice I knew was going on across Scotland in terms of parental involvement. This week, I had two experiences which gave me inspiration and encouragement. On Monday I took part in Glasgow’s Leadership event at Hampden Park. Parents - being encouraged to become leaders in their own schools and within their Authority, but also having a role to play in determining the type of leadership that Glasgow wants in its schools and in its departments. Not to forget their role as shaping children and young people as leaders of the future. There was a general engagement amongst staff and parents - where views were being valued and shared. Great stuff.
I then had the privilege to meet with Jan McGhie and Christine Percival from Strathclyde University’s Innovative Routes to Learning team. Parental Involvement seemed to be embedded in most of what they do, but I was particularly interested in the Study Skills for Parents events that they run for Secondary Parents - helping parents support their son or daughter’s learning. http://www.strath.ac.uk/irl/studyskills/studyskillsforparents/#d.en.84859

I came across this on ted.com. What do you think? Is this what we mean when we think of learning at home. The most interesting bit for me are the comments from parents who have seen the video!

There are some fantastic examples out there from parents, Parent Councils, schools, nurseries and Authorities where people are trying out new approaches, trying to find ways to reach out to work more effectively with parents.

Here are some examples which are I have picked up recently. They won’t work for everyone and every establishment but they might just give you that inspiration!