How can schools get better at involving parents?
Introduction
Parent involvement in schools is an ongoing challenge for educators. Many schools would like to be able to include more parents in their kids' lives, but this task is made complicated by busy schedules and the fact that some parents are just not interested. Ideally, all parents would want to be involved in their children's education and would gladly make time to attend PTA meetings or volunteer at school functions; however, this rarely happens. Some families have a parent in prison or lost employment, while others don't live near enough to participate regularly.
Notice when there is a communication barrier.
It's easy to assume that a parent isn't involved in their child's school because they don't care. But there are plenty of reasons a parent might hesitate to get involved.
It could be that the process of getting involved is intimidating or confusing. Maybe the parents don't know what to expect from school involvement or feel it would be more work than it's worth. It could also be that the school hasn't done enough outreach about how they can help parents become more involved. Often there are long-standing communication issues between teachers and parents that can be sorted before anyone can get excited about signing up for things at schools like field trips and student council events.
Pick a suitable method of communication.
Pick the best method for communicating with your parents and carers. Make it easy for them to find the correct information from you, so they don't have to go hunting for it.
Please choose a communication method that will likely attract and hold their attention long enough for them to read what you want them to read.
This could mean choosing an email template that's more visually appealing than a plain text one—or even using images in your emails instead of just text! Or maybe using an online platform like Trello or Basecamp can help keep parents engaged with weekly updates on progress toward goals? Whatever it is, ensure the format allows them time and interest in reading what you have written!
Finally, please choose a method of communication that makes sense given where parents are in life right now (and how much time they have). For example: if you know most families don't have smartphones yet (like mine does), then sending out important notifications through SMS messages would probably be less effective than sending them via email or Facebook Messenger since both platforms work on any device with internet access anywhere, anytime.
Find out how many parents want to be involved.
The first step to involving parents is finding out how many want to be involved. There are two different ways that you can go about doing this:
Ask parents what activities they would like to participate in at the school. Please don't assume that because they are parents, they will want to spend their time on one specific activity or project. Invest time by asking them how they'd like you to help, and you'll have a better idea of what will work for them and your school's needs later on when it comes time for events or meetings.
Be honest about the challenges you are facing and what is not working for you and your school.
Everyone has much at stake in this process. It is in all of your interests to work together. Be honest about what's working for you, what isn't, and how you might be able to improve things with their help and involvement.
Don't ignore challenges or problems that have happened.
No one likes being lied to or misled by others who should know better. It's only human nature for parents to expect more from an organisation when they think it has all the answers and can solve every problem—which means that it's easy for them to feel let down when they discover otherwise. Suppose we don't tell our parents how we're doing. In that case, our schools risk losing credibility with them over time and losing opportunities for improving our programs together at each step along the way."
Offer activities that fit busy family life.
If you want to make parents' lives easier, offer activities that fit into their busy schedules. This means more than just finding out what they're interested in—it's also about ensuring the activities can be done during evenings and weekends (when most people have free time) and don't require too much money or time commitment, particularly in these challenging financial times.
You can find out what parents are interested in by talking with them at open meetings, but have a look on social media to see what issues and challenges are cropping up there. You may be able to find clues there about what types of things they like doing on their own time—and then try running those events for them. For example, suppose a parent is constantly posting photos from yoga classes or rock climbing trips on Instagram. In that case, they might be interested in participating in an after-school program that offers those same activities for teens.
Work with your school's community to find out what is essential to everyone.
To get a clear picture of your school community:
Ask everyone what they want.
Talk to parents about what matters most to them and how you can help them be more involved in their children's education.
Speak with teachers to learn what tools they would like to have and any barriers that might be preventing them from achieving their best.
Ask pupils themselves—the ones who are currently in or recently left school—what their experiences were like and what they would suggest as improvements.
Finally, discuss the needs of your institution with the school board so that you understand its priorities going forward (and vice versa). Make sure everyone is clear about these before moving forward with any plans for change; this way, everyone will know where there is overlap and where there may be some disagreement between groups at different levels within an organisation.
Plan events that cater to different times of day, days of the week, and year-round.
For example, a school might try to have an event during both the morning and afternoon. This could be done on days when there are no major televised sporting events or other activities that parents can't attend. Another option is to plan events for different times of year (summer vs easter break) or days of the week.
Try to make sure your events are accessible—for example, if you're having one in the evening and it's too far away for many of your families, consider "skipping ahead" by having an early event as well! It would be best if you also thought about how many families will be able to attend with their children. For example, if there's going to be food at your event, consider whether parents would need childcare or transportation assistance so they can bring their kids along.
Plan with parents in mind, even if they aren't interested yet.
If you're starting a new initiative, plan for parents to get involved. Even if they aren't interested yet, you'll be able to reach them later. If a parent knows that the school has an open-door policy and can walk in at any time, they will feel more comfortable getting involved when it's convenient for him or them.
Parents already have busy lives and schedules, so don't make them do all the work for your initiatives. Letting go of control is vital here: find out what your school is doing well, then figure out how you can support it without making everything revolve around you.
Get parents more involved at home by encouraging them to talk about school with their kids.
The first step to getting parents involved at home is encouraging them to talk about school with their kids. Parents can help kids with reading, math, science, social studies, art and music. Encourage parents to read along with their children and ask questions about what they're reading. Help kids practice their addition skills by asking them questions like "How many cookies do you want?" or "How many pieces of pizza would you like?" Ask your child to explain why they think a sentence is correct using their knowledge of grammar rules. Please help your child write down steps for solving math problems or doing art projects so they can remember what order things go in when working on a project at home instead of relying on memory alone (and possibly forgetting one step).
Conclusion
Meaningful involvement of our parents and carers is an integral part of education. Getting parents involved in schools can be difficult, but it's worth the effort and crucial that we make it meaningful. The more we work with parents, the stronger and better our communities will be!