When schools and families work together, whatever problems are present, children achieve more and stay in school longer. That’s a given.
But this isn’t happening and parents are losing faith in their children’s teachers.
With the educational system in such a mess, is it really any wonder? Looking at our schools through parents’ eyes is depressing. Ofsted, the Department for Education and schools are incapable of singing from the same hymn sheet. All sorts of things are wrong: children are judged on the data they produce or the uniform they wear - and let’s not forget about the headteacher with the 36 per cent pay rise…
If you want further proof of the lack of parental understanding or engagement, look no further than the recent data on unauthorised absences. There were 8.9 million unauthorised days taken in the last autumn and spring terms, compared with 7.4 million the year before. I can’t help but wonder how many of these were condoned by parents, disappointed by the relationship between themselves and their child’s school.
Working with parents
As disheartening as this can be, it’s crucial that we work with parents to get them to understand the difficulties facing our schools, rather than risk alienating them.
It’s all about communication. But if this communication focuses on the price of school uniform, the latest school rules or the next day’s closures, parents, understandably, get fed up.
They want to know that the school they chose understands their child - what makes them tick, why they are special, how they learn and how could this can be improved. In essence, they want to know how they can work with the school to achieve the best for their child.
Too many teachers - in particular, headteachers - keep parents at arm’s length, rather than embrace them and work with them as part of a team. Too much negativity exists and this results in a lack of trust.
The number of flaws in our system is ever-growing. We can’t afford to disengage the very people who could help improve our schools.
Perhaps if we educated those beyond our classrooms about the problems with funding, the lack of an appropriate curriculum, the reliance on data and the workload issues teachers experience, we could win their respect once more.
With this respect, schools, parents and pupils could push forward as a strong working unit that benefits us all.
Colin Harris led a school in a deprived area of Portsmouth for more than two decades. His last two Ofsted reports were “outstanding” across all categories. To read more of Colin’s articles, visit his back catalogue
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