National Network of Partnership Schools, Essay Example

The impact produced by parents’ involvement in school life was recognized quite a long time ago. However, the issue of parents’ engagement is still acute today, since the rates of parental participation are rather low. Even the prominent work of Epstein (n.d.) has not produced much effect on school-family-community relationships covering six different aspects – parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at work, decision making, and collaborating with the community (Epstein’s Six Types of Involvement, n.d.). The situation may be explained by the traditional approach to the issue that seems inappropriate. Most of the teachers appeal to parents regarding active involvement in school activities and events at regular meetings. Their duration is frequently not enough to provide parents with the relevant information to the fullest extent, and to pay attention to each parent and his or her child. As a result, the majority of parents do not clearly understand the importance of their participation in school life. Thus, their personal and professional troubles and lack of free time seem to be of more significance than the state of things at school.

The emergence of new technological advancements allows applying a new approach to the issue of attracting parents to school-related activities. There is no need to teach parents how they should get involved; it may be offensive for adults who consider themselves quite smart and wise for bringing up their own children. Besides, it has been proved that people learn better on practice when they experience world phenomena themselves than when they acquire theoretical knowledge. Modern technology tools and literacies are applied to the educational curriculum to provide students with more freedom and responsibility, which results in better outcomes. Therefore, it is essential to the advancements of the technology process to increase parents’ engagement in school activities.

First, it is considerable to implement the practice of common tasks to be performed by a student and parents at home. For instance, it may be a creation of a podcast on the topic learnt at the lesson. The activity is likely to be interesting and useful for both parties – drill of the material content by a student and active participation in a child’s learning process. Since podcasting practice requires some knowledge of software and Web applications, it will improve technology literacy of a student and parents. A child who has already acquired some skills on podcasting in the classroom may act as a teacher for parents making this common experience encouraging as an opportunity to learn something new. In their return, parents may provide explanations of some issues left unclear. Thus, a common learning activity in the domestic environment is likely to provoke revision of the material, to improve student comprehension of the content, to increase parents’ awareness of a child’s progress, and to facilitate communicative and collaboration skills.

Due to the spread of such technology devices as cell phones, laptops, iPods, etc., the teacher is able to establish individual communication with students’ parents. This practice does not require much time, but needs regularity. It may be performed through phone calls and online talks, but it is essential to keep in mind that it is hard for the teacher to adjust to free times of students’ parents. That is why, it is better to use such cell phone option as texting. If it is done in a regular manner, it takes little time to send messages reporting about students’ daily progress at school. One more advantage of such notification system is that access to computer, Internet, or school setting may be limited due to some reason, but cell phones are always with their owners. However, the practice of regular texting to parents does not eliminate regular (weekly or monthly) personal meetings in the school environment where parents may discuss various issues, share their experiences, and receive teacher’s advice.

School websites are also a good tool to increase parents’ awareness about school-related events and issues. There may be a wide range of sections covering numerous aspects of school life. Thus, parents may learn about student conferences, workshops, and meetings dedicated to particular subjects or scientific problems. There may be a list of after-class activities requiring or welcoming parents’ attention and attendance. There also may be sections reporting about administrative issues like various payments and tuition fees, needs of school library and sport departments, healthcare aspects, or meals’ menu. Events and activities of the school government, trust committee, parents’ organization, etc., may also be reflected at the school website. The opportunity of establishing a personal account is likely to motivate parents not only to get acquainted with the school state of thing, but also to take an active part through providing personal ideas, suggestions, or arguments.

There is a good tradition in primary schools to invite parents to the classroom to tell about their professions and careers, or to share their knowledge and life experiences. In secondary schools, this practice seems to be inappropriate, since students are occupied with more intellectual issues, and parents do not see the need of their presence or participation in the learning process. It is also considerable to take into account that parents of older children are mostly working people who experience a constant lack of free time. Hence, the primary school practice may be transformed in online conferences and discussions. Almost every employee may spend 10-20 minutes to participate in his or her child’s school life from the working place. For parents, such experience is a valuable ability to spend more time with a child, to see the school life from inside, and to make their contribution to children’s progress. For students, it provides the opportunity to get closer with parents, to feel an equal part of society, to see the factual (real-life) side of school studies, and to develop communicative and collaboration skills. For the teacher, this activity is an opportunity to increase parents’ involvement, to train students’ skills on practice, and to diversify classroom projects.

Therefore, the availability of modern technologies facilitates the task of the teacher to attract parents to different school-related activities. In addition, they make the process more interesting, encouraging, and convenient for both students and parents. However, there are some traditional occupations that should not be forgot either. For instance, the teacher should host a wide range of special events to provoke student-teacher-family meetings and communication. It is also helpful to conduct celebrations of scholar achievements and accomplishments to praise parents and their children. Hence, the teacher should apply much energy and creativity to achieve the desired outcome of parents’ involvement.

References

Epstein’s Six Types of Involvement (n.d.). National Network of Partnership Schools. Retrieved from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/sixtypes.htm