Families as Partners in Learning

1. Families as Partners in Learning Principals and teaching staff Why are partnerships important?

2. The National Context Commitment to Action: Developing stronger partnerships “Parents, carers and families are the first and most important influence in a child's life, instilling the values that will support young people to participate in schooling and contribute to broader local and global communities.” (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, December 2008) The Victorian Context School – Community Integration “Parental and family involvement in schooling and learning is a key lever to improving outcomes”. “Through integration with parents, the local community, business, government and community organisations, schools can lift outcomes for their students” (Minister Dixon’s Victoria as a Learning Community presentation, November 2011)

3. We need a change in focus • From: • Involving families only when it suits the school • The attitude: “this is the way we’ve always done it” • Family engagement is just helping with homework • “Parents in this school are not interested in their child’s education” • To: • All families can play a role in their child’s learning throughout their school years. • Family engagement in learning can take many forms and includes: • asking their child to explain what they are learning • ensuring their child has a space to study • helping their child access sporting or community based programs • ensuring the child is getting adequate rest.

4. “…if educators make use of the informal learning that occurs in the homes and communities of students, the achievement gap between marginalized students and mainstream students can be reduced.” (LIFE Center – University of Washington, Stanford University & SRI International supported by the National Science Foundation)

5. Life-long and life-wide learning Source: LIFE Centre: http://www.life-slc.org/life-center/about

6. The research in unequivocal… • Family involvement can have a major impact on student learning, regardless of the social or cultural background of the family • High performing schools have high levels of family and community involvement • Family participation in education has been found to be twice as predictive of students’ academic success as family socio-economic status

7. Benefits for children & young people • Improved literacy and numeracy outcomes • Higher self-esteem • Improved social competence and language skills • Increased retention rates • Increased enrolment in post-compulsory education • Improved attendance and homework completion • Improved connection to culture and sense of pride

8. Benefits for families • Their children do better and achieve more • More aware of their children’s social, emotional and intellectual developmental needs • Better able to help & encourage their children • Have more information about their children’s education • Build their own confidence & skills • Improved relationships with school staff • Concerns are quickly addressed when parents have a positive relationship with staff

9. Benefits for staff Improvements in: • communication to and from families • community support Additional support from families by: • bringing skills which complement the teacher’s skills & expertise • reinforcing the learning from school at home Which ultimately lead to better: • student behaviour • student achievement

10. Barriers to the formation of Partnerships Parent perspective: • Feel they have little to offer • Embarrassed about own education level / linguistic abilities • Feel unwelcome / intimidated / talked down to by the school or its parent organisations • Have little time during the school day to come into the school but no other avenues of partnership offered • Teacher's assumptions of parental disinterest or inability to help with children's schooling • Have negative memories of their school years

11. Barriers to the formation of Partnerships School perspective: Perception that families: • don’t understand the school or the education system • don’t care about their children/don’t know how to parent • are too demanding and interfere too much in the school Other factors: • Lack of knowledge of research on the value of family partnerships • Little understanding of how to effectively engage with parents • Structural constraints e.g. lack of child care, access to transport • Schools only contact families when something is wrong • Language & cultural differences

12. Leadership is critical • School leadership • Principal critical in signaling intent to engage families • Need to role model effective engagement with families • Encourage whole of school approaches • Provide orientation / training for parents • Parent leadership • Schools tend to rely on pre-existing capacities of a small number of parents • Alternative is to increase capacity of larger number of parents – eg via training and support

13. So what does this mean for our school? • 1:3:6 discussion, consider: • What does this means for our school? • Where might be opportunities for exploring, commencing or building partnerships? • What barriers might exist? • What are the implications of not doing anything to advance family-school partnerships? • Be prepared to share your responses with all staff

14. Families as Partners in Learning website For early childhood services and schools DEECD’s vision of family partnerships Provides information on the importance of family partnerships Summarises the research and evidence around effective family partnerships Outlines the benefits and challenges to effective family partnerships • Resources for Schools section • Conversation starters for staff and families to raise awareness • Identifies 7 dimensions of Family School Partnerships and provides for each: • Examples of success including case studies of effective practice • Links to other DEECD resources • Tools

15. The website is a tool that you can dip into at your own pace Schools are not required to implement every strategy across each dimension   The website contains a number of surveys to help schools reflect on their family-school partnerships. These include: Understanding family engagement in your school Teachers beliefs about family involvement Teacher reports of invitations to parental involvement Teacher beliefs about the importance of specific involvement practices Preparing for family-school partnerships How to get started…

16. For further information • Families as Partners in Learning website, DEECD (www.education.vic.gov.au/partnerships) • Family-School & Community Partnerships Bureau (www.familyschool.org.au)