Fact Sheets
Parents engaging with children’s learning
People who work with children and young people, and teachers themselves, report the involvement of parents as a key factor in providing good educational support for children.
Taking responsibility for educating your child and supporting their learning at school is considered important. Parents are seen to have a valuable role in encouraging and motivating children to learn and do well at school. Education is seen in the widest sense: i.e. not just academic education but educating children on values and acceptable standards of behaviour. Schools are seen as a big source of potential support for parents particularly in giving advice on how to help their children.
The Children's Plan Commitment
We know that parental engagement is the single most important determinant of children’s achievement at school. The Government wants to help parents become more engaged in their children’s education, by providing them with more information about their children’s learning and development, and providing their children with a key person in school who knows the child in the round and acts as a first point of contact for parents.
This would provide parents with a personal record of their child’s development to help them support their child growing up. Parents would be in charge of this book (rather than the Government).
The book could be used to:
- Record key events in their child’s life from pre-birth – 11 (e.g. vaccine dates, achievements)
- Help parents follow their children’s progress
- Provide useful information when the child goes to secondary school or changes school
- Help parents and people that work with children (e.g. nurses, teachers) to spot issues early on and get them the help they need.
We would expect the book to improve the way that parents engage in their children’s education – we know that improved engagement is a key factor in improving achievement.
Real-time reporting
Parents will receive regular, up-to-date information on their child’s attendance, behaviour and progress in school. We expect more frequent reporting to facilitate a richer conversation between the child, school and parent about what is expected from the child and how the parent can support their child.
Questions
The Department is interested to hear your views on the questions below. If you would like to feed in your comments to this continuing dialogue, please email your responses, stating which fact sheet and which question you are answering, to timetotalk.feedback@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk.
- What levels of drinking by young people are acceptable – and who should decide?
- What is the role of parents in regulating their children’s drinking?
- Which policy measures are most likely to have an impact on young people’s drinking?
