I’m Dr Diane Delaney, the Training Associate for Connect, where my work, alongside colleagues, focuses on supporting educators, parents and families to strengthen partnership working and parent engagement in children’s education.
This is also an area that has been explored in my own research, with my PhD exploring the role and value of parents/carers as they interact with professionals about their children’s health, wellbeing and development. My research highlighted examples of authentic partnerships in practice, where parents were recognised for the knowledge and contribution they brought to discussions about matters affecting their child and family, and where they felt involved, listened to and supported. These findings have reinforced to me the importance of creating genuine opportunities for parents and professionals to work together as partners, and with a new school term, there is no better time!
As a new school term begins across Scotland, there’s something special about the sense of a fresh start. New faces, new relationships, new ideas and new opportunities to help children and their families thrive.
For educators, the start of a new term is a chance to reconnect, build relationships and create a positive foundation for the year ahead. It’s a time to get to know children, their families and their communities, and to create the conditions for wellbeing, learning and achievement to flourish. For those relationships that already exist, a new term provides the opportunity for these to be strengthened.
It is a great opportunity to think about the important partnership opportunities between educators, parents, children and families, and how to continue to strengthen them.
Together, we can make a difference
Parents and families have a unique understanding of their lives, children, histories, culture and community. Their knowledge, experience, hopes and aspirations can be a valuable insight into the work of schools, educators and early learning and childcare settings.
When families feel welcome, included, listened to and valued, they are more able to play an active role in their education. This was a key finding of my PhD research project and echoes existing evidence.
Meaningful parent engagement is about so much more than keeping families informed about what is happening. It is about creating opportunities to participate, contribute, share ideas, ask questions, give feedback and have a voice in discussions, planning, decisions and in their children’s wellbeing, learning and education journey.
Building these strong partnerships takes time, trust and positive relationships. It can be incredibly rewarding for everyone when this is achieved, especially for children.
A new term, new opportunities
The start of the school year is a great time to pause, reflect and think about what can be built upon, asking and reflecting on:
- How do we make sure every parent feels that they belong in the school community and has a voice?
- How do we move beyond communication with parents towards genuine partnership?
- What opportunities are we creating for parents to contribute further to their children’s learning journey?
- How do we ensure that our approaches work for the diverse families and communities we serve?
- What could we do differently this year to strengthen parent engagement?
There’s no 'one size fits all' approach. Every school, community and family is different. What works well in one place may look very different somewhere else.
That’s why effective partnership is about getting to know one another, building strong, trusting relationships, listening, responding, supporting and being open to new ideas. Sometimes it is the smallest change such as a different conversation, a new opportunity to contribute or making more space to listen and build relationships that can make a real difference.
Supporting you in your practice
At Connect, our work is focused on supporting families, parents and educators to strengthen parent engagement and involvement in children’s education, recognising parents as important partners.
We know that educators are already doing so much to build positive relationships with families and communities. Our role is to support you with ideas, resources and opportunities for professional learning that can help you build in that work.
We have a range of resources to help you explore what effective parent engagement can look like in practice, reflect on your approaches and discover ideas you can take into your own school community.
So, as you start the new term, why not look at MyConnect our growing digital library of information, support and resources. Come along to our live, interactive information sessions, or watch some of our on-demand videos.
Whether you are looking for fresh ideas, reflecting on your current practice, working with colleagues or your Parent Council, or keen to explore how you can strengthen partnerships with families, our resources are here to support you.
Building strong relationships, a step at a time
Let’s make this new term an opportunity to continue building strong, positive and meaningful partnerships with parents and families. When parents, families and educators work together, with children’s wellbeing, learning and progress at the heart of what they do, stronger communities and better opportunities are created for every child.