Even when everything in the world is running smoothly (which is rare, I admit), parent-school relationships can be hard to establish, and even harder to maintain. So amid the current Covid-19 chaos, you would expect getting positive partnerships right to be nigh on impossible.

But with parents now in charge of their children’s learning, it has never been more important for home and school to work together. What advice is there to help us?

Of course, there is very little research evidence on what schools can do in the face of a pandemic. That said, we can draw out insights from the existing evidence base on parental engagement.

The Education Endowment Foundation guidance report Working With Parents to Support Children’s Learning collates the best available research, revealing both the challenges and opportunities of building connections with home.

First, we need to better understand the barriers to parental engagement. Before the current Covid-19 pandemic, according to government-commissioned research, barriers to parents engaging in partnership included work commitments (for 44 per cent of parents), as well as a lack of confidence. For reading, a key determinant of success with shared reading is the literacy level of parents.

These challenges will need to be assessed and overcome.

Communication tools also need evaluation. Though a mobile phone may be the best means of contacting parents about their child’s learning, with the advent of ramped up home schooling it might be that broadband access and laptop ownership have become more vital starting points for the home-school partnership.

Though schools may not have it in their gift to provide hardware like IT equipment or broadband, they can tweak their communications to increase their likelihood of success. The aforementioned EEF guidance offers some key ideas for liaising with parents and enhancing partnerships.

The guidance also offers some overall considerations for your communications:

●As you monitor disengaged - or simply disconnected - pupils and parents, consider the frequency and timing of communications.

●Fewer, simpler messages may lead to greater success.

●Offer training for teachers on making home communications.

Unfortunately, there is no quick, silver-bullet guidance. The challenges of typical times have likely been magnified. Amid this fast-moving situation, holding to the best available evidence will likely prove more valuable than ever.

Alex Quigley is the national content manager at the Education Endowment Foundation. He is a former teacher and the author of the bestselling Closing the Reading Gap

This article originally appeared in the 15 May 2020 issue under the headline “How to keep the home fires burning for learning”