Paul Campbell – Clarkston Primary SchoolNorth Lanarkshire Parent ConferenceMarch 2013

- Japanese Proverb

But I don’t claim to have a panacea, to know everything about effective

parental partnership in

learning or to have all the answers to the questions I am

raising.

Provocative and challenging

ideas/questions?

I can promise that.

• Commitment to the area of working with families.

• Recognition and understanding of wider policy area and implications on practice.

• Focus for practice, professional learning and development and under continual review.

• Engagement with the wider education debate.

• Share, discuss, challenge ideas, engage with a wider demographic of partners in education.

• Share what we see as important and key next steps for progression and improvement.

• Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) – Building the Curriculum

• Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC)

• Advancing Professionalism in Teaching – McCormac

• Teaching Scotland’s Future – Donaldson

• Commission on School Reform

• Quality and Improvement in Scottish Education Report

• Curriculum for Excellence Impact Reports

• The Journey from Good to Great to Excellent

• Involvement, expectations and rights of the relevant partners in the education and learning of our children and young people

WHO?HOW?

WHAT?

• Time • Family circumstances• Geography• Lack of confidence• Unfamiliarity

With barriers come ideas and approaches that can overcome them. But it takes time, as well as active and sustained dialogue between relevant stakeholders with a practical focus on improving experiences, achievements and outcomes of all learners.

• System wide variation: Healthy but practically there are wide unfortunate

variations. How do we embed the key elements – agree the key

elements?

• Agreed broad national framework to allow for local interpretation:

Positive and necessary but can be a potential challenge.

• Sharing local innovation.

• Redefining the policy-maker.

‘Society is lacking sophisticated

ways to articulate new ideas about

systems and the ways they relate

and interlock.’

- Recipes for Systemic Change

• What is parental involvement? Consider the following reflective questions in groups

of 2-4.

1.What do you consider to be effective parental involvement and in what way does it happen in your establishment/ associated educational setting/ sector?

2.How are you supporting/ encouraging effective and meaningful involvement of parents in their child’s learning?

Effective partnership and involvement has to start with communication.Communication is key to having effective and meaningful partnership

with parents. It takes a tailored, relevant approach agreed by all involved.

This can be done in a variety of ways:- • Face-to-face appointments• Chats at the gate• Letters/notes• Phone calls • Class blogs• Twitter/ Facebook/ GLOW page and updates• Drop in sessions• Open mornings/afternoons

Considerations (not exhaustive): communication preferences, time commitments and constraints,

personal and social circumstances, required tools/ input, expectations

• Establishing effective practice at local levels with mechanisms to collaborate a share between professionals, parents and community partners, devised, developed and sustained locally.

• Broader range of communication tools and mechanisms advocated and in place; harnessing the full potential of technology and social media.

• Greater involvement of the ‘everyday, busy’ parent and teacher (children’s learning, school life, policy development and decision making)

• Move beyond the ‘call for evidence’, ‘opportunities to respond’, ‘representatives from all parties’ to a model of localised community partnership working/implementation (and interpretation)/review groups (e.g. curriculum, qualifications, assessment, reporting, partnership mechanisms) …with regular meaningful opportunities for feeding back to national groups/bodies.

• We know it’s right.

• Our children deserve the best; better than we are doing.

• The school as the community hub.

• Reconceptualising the learning process – there is still work to do. Not just at policy level, but practically and meaningfully.

• Valuing what our children and young people value.

• Curriculum News / Newsletters and updates• Homework Log – tips/hints and two way communication• Letters communicated to and from parents• Being available to talk to parents outside at the end of the day• Appointments to talk to individual parents• Open door system for all • Open days• Meet the Teacher• Display of Work• Parent helpers • Class Blogs• Shared Learning Journals• Personal Learning Plans

• Peer-initiated and led professional learning networks• Openness to new ideas and approaches• Engagement in the wider policy debate• Commitment to career long professional learning and development• Commitment to engaging with parents, families and community

partners to ensure the best experiences and achievements possible

• Complete the table by identifying all the parental involvement opportunities that are offered by your school or establishment.

• On a scale of 1 to 6, grade their success in terms of (for example) raising achievement, positive pupil attitudes, behaviours and attendance, and encouraging parental participation (with 1 being the least successful and 6 the most successful).

• Identify what made it successful.

- Japanese Proverb

There isn’t a panacea, there

aren’t answers to all the challenging

questions. But there are actions to go with visions.

Reflection.Ideas.

Communication.Evaluation.Revolution.

Transformation.