Research evidence 1 shows that effective partnerships between schools and parents, whānau and communities can result in better outcomes for students. The better the relationship and engagement, the more positive the impact on students’ learning.
In this evaluation, ‘engagement’ is defined as a meaningful, respectful partnership between schools and their parents, whānau, and communities that focuses on improving the educational experiences and successes for each child.
The Education Review Office (ERO) undertook this evaluation in Terms 1 and 2, 2007. ERO gathered evidence for the evaluation from 233 school education reviews. This included meetings and discussions with parents, whānau and communities as well as with school personnel. Thirty-four discussion groups were held throughout New Zealand. These discussions were convened for specific groups including parents of Māori, Pacific, special needs, refugee, migrant, remote, and transient children. A parent questionnaire, available in hard copy and on ERO’s website, was completed by 501 parents. The data gathered provided different views and perspectives about engagement between school personnel and the parents, whānau and communities of the students who attended the school.
ERO investigated three areas:
What ERO found through this evaluation contributes to and complements existing research and evaluation studies about the importance of partnerships between schools and families. Although all schools have ways of involving and communicating with parents and families, six key factors have emerged as critical to enhancing and strengthening engagement.
Families’ perspectives conveyed some important messages for schools. No matter the type of school, its decile rating 2, location or roll size, ERO found that parents, whānau and communities have high expectations that the school will support their children to be successful learners. Parents are usually pleased and willing to attend school events and support activities such as fundraising. But it is the relationships that focus on children’s learning and achievement that are most highly valued.
Parents want schools to be open and inclusive places that respect and acknowledge each child’s background and potential to learn. When parents are engaged they feel well informed and comfortable interacting with school personnel, including their children’s teachers.
Most parents want to be actively involved in decisions about their children’s learning. Parents expect schools to keep them well informed about their child’s progress and about any issues that arise. They want honest, accurate and timely information about their child’s achievement and to be well supported to help their child at home. Parents hope that teachers will be accessible, approachable and non-judgemental, and that they will listen to what they want for their children.
The relationship that parents have with their child’s school and teacher(s) is often determined by their initial experiences. Times of transition into school, between classes, and between schools are crucial to the establishment of meaningful and respectful relationships. Positive experiences at this early stage generally lead to the development of beneficial home-school partnerships.
In this study, ERO found that schools with very diverse communities had some of the most successful practices for engaging families. These schools engaged with parents, whānau and families in ways that bridged cultural, language, and socio-economic diversity. The strategies they used built relationships, broke down barriers, and gave parents the confidence to become involved in their child’s learning.
The benefits of schools’ engagement with parents, whānau and communities were found to be many and varied. Successful engagement resulted in those involved having a common sense of purpose. Students, teachers, parents, and other people with strong connections to the school community shared responsibility for the learning and well-being of all students.
ERO also found that there are challenges to successful engagement. The most important challenge for schools was finding ways to involve and engage all parents, whānau and communities. The most challenging group were families that were ‘hard to reach’ or difficult to involve for various reasons.
For parents, whānau and communities, the most significant challenges were having the time to sustain engagement, living some distance from the school, developing and maintaining effective communication with the school, and feeling at ease in their child’s school environment. Parents believed that their partnership with schools could be strengthened through better communication, a more inclusive school environment, and increased opportunities for involvement in their child’s learning.
Through this evaluation ERO identified ways in which schools could develop or further strengthen their engagement with parents, whānau and communities. Nearly three quarters of the schools’ ERO reports included recommendations for improving engagement. Of these recommendations, about a quarter included developing or improving learning partnerships with parents. A further quarter highlighted the need for school personnel to develop or improve their approaches and strategies, particularly to engage parents, whānau and communities who are not yet actively involved in the school.
Fifteen percent of the schools had recommendations about the need to review the nature and quality of engagement with parents, whānau and communities. This was particularly so where the make-up of the school community was becoming more diverse. A further 11 percent of recommendations focused on improving or strengthening engagement with the parents, family and whānau of Māori students, Pacific students, and children from a wide range of ethnic groups. Other recommendations focused on improving communication processes with parents.
ERO has developed some indicators for successful engagement based on what worked well for schools. The indicators are included in the discussion section of this report. They can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of school engagement with parents, whānau and communities.
To improve their engagement with parents, whānau and the wider community, ERO recommends that schools:
Two companion reports to this study will be released later in 2008. These reports will provide schools with more in-depth findings about examples of good practice and about the perspectives of diverse communities of parents and families in their engagement with the schools that their children attend.
Biddulph, Fred; Biddulph, Jeanne; and Biddulph, Chriss. Best evidence synthesis: the complexity of community and family influences on children's achievement in New Zealand. Wellington: Ministry of Education: 2003.
A school's decile indicates the extent to which a school draws its students from low socio-economic communities. Decile 1 schools are the 10 percent of schools with the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities, whereas decile 10 schools are the 10 percent of schools with the lowest proportion of these students.