Developing the home-school relationship using digital ... - Futurelab

2.3 PARENTS’ ROLESParents’ role in directly engaging in theirchildren’s learning is only one of a range ofroles they take on in relation to children’seducation and, increasingly, parents arepositioned as ‘partners’ alongside schools ina joint enterprise of educating children. Aswell as being engaged in children’s learning,then, parents may also be involved in makingdecisions and choices about children’sschooling, working within the school,communication about school events andsharing information between schooland home 21 .However, there are big differences in parents’role construction. Some parents, particularlyparents from lower socio-economic groups,are more likely to trust the school to providefor children’s learning needs and do not seethe need or feel able to involve themselves 24 .Teachers also have their own expectationsof parents, which are not always explicitlycommunicated. When teachers and parentshave different underlying expectations aboutparents’ roles, for example parents andteachers have sometimes been found to havevery different expectations for how parentsshould support children with their homework, itcan lead to tension and conflict between homeand school 25 .RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.3 PARENTS’ ROLES2Parents’ role constructionAll parents have different views aboutthe nature and extent of their personalresponsibility for their children’s learning.Parents’ ‘role construction’ describes theactivities that parents consider to be theirresponsibility, and is influenced by their ownexperience of education and their expectationsof others’ responsibilities 22 . Parents’ roleconstruction will influence, for example, theextent to which they become involved withchildren’s homework, or with their children’sschool life and learning more generally.Nearly all parents highly value their children’seducation, and most want some involvement,with 70% wanting to be more involved than theycurrently are and over 50% believing they haveequal responsibility with the school for their children’s education 23 . Parents as partnersIn seeing parents as partners, schools andpolicy-makers acknowledge a sharing ofresponsibility for children’s education 26 .However, the terms of the partnership areoften defined by schools, with parents’ views,needs and concerns given little weight 27 . TheHome-School Knowledge Exchange projectfound that most of the communication betweenhome and school was ‘one-way traffic’, with fewmechanisms to discover parents’ concerns 28 .This one-way communication has been shownin Sure Start Children’s Centres to havenegative effects on parental involvement as itfails to establish a personal and meaningfulrelationship that respects parents’ knowledgeand input, and was seen as a barrier by bothparents and professionals 29 .2021. Parental engagement in children’s learning is seen as both supported by and a central part of a ‘partnership’ between parentsand schools, see Page, A, Das, S, Mangabeira, W and Natale, L (2009). School-Parent Partnerships: Emerging Strategies to PromoteInnovation in Schools. Family and Parenting Institute.22. Deslandes, R and Rousseau, N (2007). Congruence between teachers’ and parents’ role construction and expectations about theirinvolvement in homework. International Journal about Parents in Education, 1,0: 108-11623. Reynolds, J (2005). Parents’ involvement in their children’s learning and schools: How should their responsibilities relate to thoseof the state? London: National Family and Parenting Institute, Peters, M, Seeds, K, Goldstein, A and Coleman, N (2008). Parentalinvolvement in children’s education 2007. DCSF Research report DCSF-RR034.www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RR034.pdf24. Crozier, G and Davies, J (2007). Hard to reach parents or hard to reach schools? A discussion of home-school relations, withparticular reference to Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents. British Educational Research Journal, 33,3: 295-31325. Deslandes, R and Rousseau, N (2007). Congruence between teachers’ and parents’ role construction and expectations about theirinvolvement in homework. International Journal about Parents in Education, 1,0: 108-11626. The reform of Home-School Agreements and implementation of Parent and Pupil Guarantees and a Parent Report Card underlieand plan to give legal power to the parent-school partnership (DCSF (2009). Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21 st centuryschools system. Available from: publications.dcsf.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/21st_Century_Schools.pdf).27. Alldred, P, David, M and Edwards, R (2002). Minding the gap: Children and young people negotiating relations between home andschool. In R Edwards (ed), Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy or Connection? London and New York: Routledge, 106-120.28. Hughes, M and Greenhough, P (2006). Boxes, bags and videotape: enhancing home-school communication through knowledgeexchange activities. Educational Review - Special Issue, 58,4: 471-48729. Sure Start (2007). Parents as Partners in Early Learning (PPEL) Project: Parental involvement – a snapshot of policy and practice.PPEL Proejct Phase 1 report. London: Sure Start.