'Partnership with Parents' - conference report

ADES CONFERENCE ON “PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS”
PITTODRIE STADIUM, 1ST DECEMBER 2004
There were two parts to the conference – a presentation by the team involved in research on behalf of the Scottish Executive Education Department, (SEED) and four workshops.

There was a disappointingly small number of parents there – only two apart from myself. (this could be due to the fact that SPTC and other parents organisations were not informed of the conference until the very last minute!) The rest of the conference delegates included SEED representatives, teachers and various local authority representatives – a total of about 36 people.

Sue Granville and Kay Russell from George Street Research spoke about their findings. They presented it in a methodical way, using powerpoint. They seem to have done a workmanlike job for SEED, but I am frankly worried about the remit they appear to have been given. The research is “qualitative not quantatitive” - in other words, no statistical information has been gathered. The methodology was to gather a group of parents from a variety of backgrounds and conduct a series of Focus Groups with them as well as a small number of face-to-face interviews.

I felt that these groups were an unrepresentative sample of parents. My main concern about this is that Scotland has a population of well over one million parents of school-age children, and at most the number of parents consulted in this research amounts to 0.02% of the total number of parents in Scotland. The Scottish Parent Teacher Council has confirmed that they have not been consulted for the purposes of this research project on improving relationships with parents. How can there be partnership with parents if you aren’t connecting with them?

Another worrying part of George Street Research’s remit is the narrowness of the subject they were researching. The premise on which it was based is that “attainment (in school) is improved by parental involvement in education”. However, it seems that the kind of involvement envisaged by SEED is helping children to read and do their homework, helping in the classroom and on school trips, coming to parents’ nights, getting involved in the PTA, etc. Not surprisingly, the main findings of this qualitative research were predictable and are summarised below:

• Most parents don’t get involved much in their child’s school
• Most parents encourage their children to learn at home
• Parents tend to reduce their level of involvement in schools as their children get older
• Most parents are very busy, but are motivated by their own child’s needs
• Parents aren’t aware of the impact they have on their child’s attainment
• School-home communication varies in its effectiveness
• Parents need more information about things like the curriculum, how children learn, career-planning, transition points. They also need more information about what’s going on at school. They don’t like to be criticised
• Parents like surgeries, homework diaries, casual social events, online information and year-planners.
I’m pretty sure Judith Gillespie at SPTC could have told them this in a matter of minutes.
So, what is SEED thinking of?

Alan Armstrong of SEED spoke to us about parents’ expectations and what is expected of parents, (the old chestnut “you can’t have rights without responsibilities”). He mentioned a good practice guide produced by Aberdeen University which will go to schools, and support packages being produced to help parents help their children.

Again, rather worryingly, Mr Armstrong spoke of a Parliamentary Bill based on the above-mentioned research! (It’s possible I picked him up wrong on this – let’s hope so!). He spoke of doing away with the old 1988 Act which set up School Boards and having a Parental Representative Body. He spoke of a duty local authorities will have to promote and support parental involvement in education. He even mentioned the certainty that a new post will be created of “Parent Co-ordinator” at Learning and Teaching Scotland. Most of this sounds helpful, but is it really what the rest of us understand by improving parental involvement in education?

Feeling slightly queasy, I went along to my first workshop run by Dumfries & Galloway Council. This was based on a video showing a disabled child successfully integrating with his schoolmates. The emphasis was on integrated working with families getting involved in the planning and delivery of children’s’ services. Their aim is to restore a balance of “power” between teacher and parent – built on trust and respect, empathy and honesty, and a multi-agency approach. Four points around which this is built are commitment, listening, empowerment and method. D & G Council have set up PLUS – Parent Link Up Service – and have committed time and resources to building up links with parents. They realised the “risk” in giving parents more power, but are very pleased with the results so far and are now very positive about continuing this initiative. I began to feel a lot better.

Workshop 2 was presented by East Renfrewshire Council and I found it very inspiring. I recommend a look at their excellent website which gives a whole picture of the Council’s activities and initiatives and provides dozens of invaluable links to other key organisations.

The following workshop provided some useful video footage from Lanarkshire aimed at promoting discussion around issues of communication with parents. It was also interesting to meet a local authority representative who liaises with parents on a daily basis and has a difficult job coping with a large number of dissatisfied customers.

The last workshop was about the support for parents provided by Dundee Council. We saw examples of a large number of small initiatives, many of which were not council-led, so it was a bit difficult to know how much was actually being done by the Council. Many of these initiatives seemed to be based around helping younger primary-aged children and their families.

My conclusions from the day were as follows:
• I saw some very worthwhile and at times inspired individual initiatives in Dundee, East Renfrewshire, Dumfries & Galloway and Lanarkshire.
• East Renfrewshire provided an outstanding example of just how much can be done to support parents and school children by being open and honest with them and by consulting them on a regular basis.
• SEED are making lots of noise about consulting with parents but don’t seem to be listening to the views of parents’ organisations. Links with parents goes way beyond helping in the classroom and going to PTA meetings. Some parents want to be included in council meetings, invited to speak at conferences, to be asked to contribute to policy and legislation and to be allowed to have their say. I’m afraid that focus groups and “qualitative” research just don’t get anywhere near this.
• SPTC were given very short notice about this conference, but are sufficiently interested in the subject to provide a number of representatives to attend it. I’m sure that many parents would have liked to have been invited to it, but again it seems the message just didn’t get through to the vast majority out there – only three turned up.
• I very much hope that my own local authority – Highland Council – intend to be represented at next week’s re-run in Edinburgh.