Greg Whitby: Why it’s important to be part of your child’s school

SCHOOLS strive to deliver the best outcomes for their students.However, schools sometimes miss a golden opportunity to do even more for their students when they fail to engage parents as partners in education.

In the era of cyber bullying, it’s never been more important for the teachers to communicate with parents.

• Why principals are stressed out
• How to deal with drop-offs

SCHOOLS strive to deliver the best outcomes for their students.

However, schools sometimes miss a golden opportunity to do even more for their students when they fail to engage parents as partners in education.

We know that parent engagement is critical in supporting student learning and development. It is also key to addressing the growing rates of cyber-bullying and mental health issues among young Australians.

Teacher talking with parents at school.

Research here and overseas tells us that parent engagement has a positive impact on many indicators of student achievement.

Things like higher grades, lower school dropouts and post-school study.

Parent engagement is also linked to positive student behaviour like increased attendance, better social skills and student self-esteem. Older students benefit just as much as younger students do when their parents are actively engaged in their lives.

It is important for parents of students to keep in regular contact with teachers.

When we talk about parent engagement, we need to go so much deeper than canteen duty, fundraising activities, parents and friends associations and parent/teacher interviews.

Seeing parents as partners means providing regular opportunities for parents to better understand the learning and teaching and to see it in action.

It is also about providing opportunities for their feedback and for them to make meaningful contributions to issues that are important to the school. This needs to be done with the understanding that parents today are extremely busy.

Simple ways of increasing engagement could be inviting parents to contribute to discussions on the nature of the curriculum and using technology to communicate regularly to parents on what is happening in schools, how are students learning and how best to support them.

The schools that recognise parents as genuine partners tend to do better across all indicators.

Meaningful parent engagement can have a very positive impact on the learning and the wellbeing of students. That is, after all, what schools are all about.