What is parental engagement in education and how can it transform learning outcomes?

Parental engagement in education is the practice of actively involving parents and carers in their child’s learning. Schools, academies, colleges and other educational institutions will employ strategies for parental engagement, ensuring that parents have the information and tools needed to fully support their children and help them thrive.

Impactful parental engagement requires meaningful contributions from parents. There is a difference between parental engagement and parental involvement: a parent who is involved might attend sports day, meet with teachers at parents evening or help out with the parent-teacher association. A parent who is engaged has a deeper involvement in their child’s overall learning.

Parents who are engaged with their child’s education can:

1. Contribute to learning and development at home outside of school hours.
2. Offer encouragement and foster a proactive approach to learning.
3. Support the completion of homework and help develop skills such as reading.
4. Have open conversations about school, homework, learning and anything else that might be on their child’s mind.
5. Model positive behaviours and attitudes towards learning.
6. Help set healthy routines around the school day and studying.

Parental engagement generally involves ongoing two-way communication between schools and parents, both digitally and in person. Schools can also help parents develop the right skills and approaches to support their children at home. In some circumstances, parental engagement may include educational elements for parents, or programmes for families facing challenges as well as those in crisis.

Parental engagement is a core component of learning. The Education Endowment Foundation has identified that parental engagement helps children make an additional four months’ progress on average over the course of a year. The effects tend to be most prominent in early years’ settings and primary schools, so it’s important to involve parents from the start. Highter impact can also be seen when pupils have lower prior attainment — parental engagement helps level the playing field.

What does good parental engagement look like? 

Schools know they need to engage parents, but engaging them in the right way is crucial. First of all, the strategies offered need to be accessible to all parents, otherwise there is a risk that attainment gaps can widen. Parents’ own knowledge, skills and comfort levels also need to be considered. For example, the benefits of families and carers directly assisting with homework may be limited as teaching methods and curriculums change over time. It can be more beneficial for parents to signpost to additional resources, or help their children build good habits around homework.

Based on this, good parental engagement is:

• Accessible for all parents and guardians.
• Informative, without being overwhelming.
• Tailored to different age groups and pupils as individuals.
• Constructive, helping parents take an active role in their child’s learning.

Parental engagement in education has myriad benefits for students, teachers and the wider school community.

Benefits for students

Benefits for students are widely acknowledged — studies consistently identify a positive relationship between increased parental engagement and positive learning outcomes. Data from one study showed that students value moral support provided by parents more highly than other types of involvement. Support for students in their home environment is crucial for shaping their learning, interactions, aspirations and achievements in school.

Benefits for teachers

For teachers, having parents more involved in their pupils’ learning can help boost classroom attainment and increase rates of homework completion. And when two-way communication takes place between parents and the school, teachers gain a deeper understanding of their pupils and their individual needs. This helps with lesson planning and creating differentiation, as well as supporting early intervention should it be needed.

Benefits for schools

Through parental engagement, schools can deepen relationships with parents as well as with students, creating a sense of community and building a more positive, inclusive culture. With more transparency comes greater trust between parents, teachers and school leaders, creating a wider network of support for students. And with studies showing promising links between parental involvement and school attendance, there’s a lot to be gained. 

Overcoming parental engagement challenges

Increasing parental engagement — and doing it well — is challenging. These are some of the common obstacles schools might come up against, along with some practical solutions to help solve them.

Challenge 1: Time constraints mean parents already have so much to fit into their days. Time is the top barrier to parents being more involved in school life.

Solution: Focus on concise communication via easily accessible channels. Digital channels allow parents to consume content in their own time, in a way that’s convenient for them. You can also offer options like digital meetings with teachers to provide more flexibility.

Challenge 2: Parents may not know how best to support their child’s learning from home.

Solution: Offer resources and advice for parents, preferably in a flexible format that can be accessed at home. Schools can also offer office hours or provide contact details so parents can access further support should they need it.

Challenge 3: Language barriers can make communication more challenging.

Solution: Providing information and resources in multiple languages is important for accessibility. Technology can enable this more easily, offering translation tools and language selection features.

Challenge 4: Not all parents will be comfortable with or have access to technology.

Solution: To engage parents effectively, it’s all about offering options. Schools can note down communication preferences on students’ records and offer in-person meetings or letters for parents who need this.

Practical strategies to improve parental engagement

Parents want to be involved: Parentkind found that 85% of parents want to play an active role in their child’s education. However, only 57% felt listened to at school level. Here are some practical strategies to help schools continually improve parental engagement:

• Build clear communication channels. Provide regular updates via easily digestible newsletters and use channels like email and SMS where practical to keep parents informed.
• Provide informative resources. Tell parents how they can support their child at home and explain why the school recommends these courses of action to build support and understanding.
• Create a helpful, collaborative environment. Make sure it’s clear that open and transparent parent-teacher meetings are an option when needed. Ensure parents are invited to school events and meetings — while good parental engagement goes deeper than this, it’s a chance to build community.
• Personalise communication. Ensure parents have what they need to support their child specifically, on their unique learning journey. Parent portals can be a good option for this, creating one destination for parents to access everything they need.
• Leverage digital tools. Using simple, streamlined digital tools can revolutionise parental engagement in education. These tools don’t need to replace meetings, but they can do a lot of the heavy lifting in a simple, streamlined way. 

Technology is transforming parent-teacher communication, allowing parents to be involved more holistically in their child’s day-to-day schedule. School portals or platforms allow for more personalisation by providing a secure login where parents can access all information about their child. Parents can also receive messages and notifications in platform so there is one single destination for communication. This integrated approach creates a better user experience as well as making communication much simpler for school staff to manage, with automation helping to streamline tasks.

Access My School Portal provides a good example of a simple yet high-functioning parental engagement platform. Core features include:

• Interactive and customisable forms for simple data collection.
• Messaging and notifications in platform.
• Day planners for students.
• Online booking and payment systems.

How does it work for schools in practice?

“One of the really quantifiable values of My School Portal has been the immediate access to information, which has meant we can cut down on the unwieldy amounts of paper in the school.”

Alex Hutchinson, Headmistress - James Allen’s Girls’ School.

“The real value of Access My School Portal is having so many tasks, communications, and information in just one tool. It makes life easier for administrators, parents, and teachers alike.”

Katja Thornton, Database Manager - Bethany School

Harnessing the power of parental engagement

The right digital tools and education software can create a more inclusive school environment, engaging and empowering parents to support their children in ways that are proven to enhance learning outcomes. Explore Access My School Portal and find out how it can modernise the communication experience for parents and support pupil attainment.