Reporting to Parents in Primary School: Communication, Meaning ...

Reporting to Parents in Primary School: Communication, Meaning and Learning
2.2 rESEarch mEthodology
In order to address these questions, and in particular to identify ways
in which the reporting process could be improved, it was necessary
to explore the wider context in which reporting occurs. This
includes the role of reporting in relation to the accountability of
schools to parents, and the part it plays in the partnership between
parents and schools in promoting children’s learning and
development. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods was
used to conduct an empirical investigation of the ways in which
schools communicate with parents about their children’s progress. It
sought to document the views and experiences of the various
interest groups – principals, parents, teachers and pupils. This mixture
of quantitative and qualitative elements was chosen as most likely to
give meaningful and valid insights into the topic under investigation.
The qualitative case studies undertaken in six schools of varying sizes
and demographic backgrounds generated rich data, from which a
number of themes emerged. Initially, case studies were conducted in
five schools; this took place in May/June 2007. Following feedback
from the NCCA to an interim report, a sixth case study school was
added. This school was chosen because of its high incidence of
diverse learners, most of whom do not have English as a first
language and very many of whom are at an elementary stage in their
learning of English. In addition many of their parents do not speak
English or have very little English and so it is important to provide
evidence of their experiences and perspectives of the reporting
process as well as further detail of how schools respond to the
reporting needs of these new learners and their parents. Chapter
Three presents the findings from the case studies.
The second major element of the study was an on-line survey of a
stratified random sample of 412 of the 3292 primary schools in
Ireland, conducted in October/November 2007. This survey is
48