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The Power of Parental Engagement

Parents and teachers share a common goal: to facilitate the best educational experience possible for students. When both parents and teachers seek out opportunities for communication with one another they are able to work together towards this common goal. Current research clearly demonstrates the significant influence that parents have on their children’s engagement with learning, and on their children’s educational achievements.

When parents are actively engaged in their child’s learning, children are more likely to:

develop positive self-esteem
be motivated to learn
be positive about school
achieve good grades
maintain high aspirations
plan to go on to further education and build a career

Adolescents are less likely to:

have discipline issues
get involved in substance abuse
drop out of school

Parents can make a big difference when they:

hold high expectations for their children
show interest in the things their children are interested in
value learning and model the behaviours of successful learners
give specific, rather than general, praise, and
establish routines that promote health, well-being and regular study

Various studies have shown that, when parents are actively engaged in their children’s learning, their influence appears to outweigh factors such as parental education, socioeconomic background or the quality of the child’s schooling.

Our first Parent Teacher Conferences for the year are scheduled for Weeks 7, 8 and 9. If you have questions or concerns about your child’s learning you are invited to communicate with your children’s classroom teachers before then via an initial email or telephone conversation.

Research tells us that it is what parents do at home that really counts. I will touch more on how to make your home a rich environment for learning in our next newsletter.

Further information:

This article is based on the Queensland College of Teachers Research Digest, issue 10, ‘Parents and teachers: Working together to foster children’s learning’, written by Kate Perkins and prepared by the Australian Council for Educational Research and Aspire Hospital's article Teamwork: Parents and Teachers Working Together written by Mental Health Professional, Carol Gooch.

Leanne Gennat
Leader of Pedagogy