Next Practice in Parents and Carers

"It was invaluable to have the school, employers and university in the same room, and now I feel like I can discuss my child's career with him, when beforehand it was all fog." - Parent, Sheffield.   

The Innovation Challenge

Many parents do not engage with school for a variety of reasons, such as bad experiences when they were young or an inability to understand some of the language used by schools and education systems. The challenge was to transform parental attitudes to education, engaging not just parents but schools, community organisations, employers and local government.

Our Approach

The Innovation Unit selected 12 different projects to explore different approaches to improving parental engagement.

The field trial sites were:

• Baby Matterz, Liverpool
• British Assocation for Adoption and Fostering, London
• Communicating with parents on choices at 14, Sheffield
• Engaging in Children's Literacy, Leicestershire
• Family Impact, National
• Fusion Parenting Course, Dorset
• Parents's TV.net
• Raising Community Aspirations, Doncaster & SheffieldReach Out, Nottingham
• Real-time reporting, National
• School Professional Industry Network, West London
• Shadow Board, Nottingham

Outcomes

Liverpool University conducted a comprehensive piece of research on Baby Matterz. The core of the research programme consisted of dialogues with parents to ascertain what the experience of being involved was like for them. The research also produced a cost benefit analysis on Baby Matterz. You can also download a report of the key themes that have emerged as a result of the work.

Family !mpact was developed in partnership with Cognisco. The tool was designed to help parents get more information about how they can help their child's development and learning at school. It also gives schools hard data as to where to invest their resources in support of parents.

Engage, a recruitment agency in Sheffield, was set up to employ parents in support staff roles, after volunteer placements and training. Half of the first cohort have already found jobs in local schools and both the schools and local council are benefitting from more motivated parents and skilled employees. The work is ongoing and seeking to expand and replicate across the UK.

Project contacts

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