ENGAGING PARENTS IN THE EDUCATION OF GIFTED CHILDREN

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ENGAGING PARENTS IN THE EDUCATION OF GIFTED
CHILDREN
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The Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE)

• Dr Stephen Tommis
• ?????
• Executive Director

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Objectives of Presentation

• What is meant by parental engagement?
• Why should schools engage with parents? And
  parents with schools?
• How are effective strategies for parental
  engagement best identified?
• What are some of the difficulties/barriers to
  parental engagement?

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• Working with parents is not a new concept! In
  what ways does your school/organisation engage
  parents now?
• Try to relate what you already do with what is
  suggested in this talk

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All Coordinated GT Programmes should be designed
to improve

• Quality of identification, provision, and support
  (academic and pastoral) in schools
• Learner outcomes, especially attainment but also
  aspirations, motivation self-esteem
• Capacity of teachers and schools to personalise
  education for GT learners
• Parental engagement should support each of
  these objectives if it is to be effective

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Activity

• Now lets engage you!

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What are some of the key influences on childrens
success in schools?

• Q1 Do100 Do Not0
• Q2 Least important teacher salaries
• teacher
  curriculum participation
• hiring good
  teachers
• pre-school
  educational experiences
• Most important family background
• Q3 Intensive involvement of parents in their
  childrens schooling
• Q4 1 (4 of 538)
• Q5 Pre-school education parenting classes
  elementary counsellors
• Q6 Whether parents dropped out
• Q7 No time Dont know what to do
• Q8 From birth
• Q9 Ages 3 to 8 years
• Q10 3/4 years

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INVOLVEMENT OR ENGAGEMENT?
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Parental Engagement an audit from the UK (2006)

• 41 of parents knew their child was on the school
  GT register
• 8 parents said they had meetings with the school
  GT co-ordinator
• 55 of GT co-ordinators provided IEPs but only
  6 of parents had seen a copy
• Only 3 of parents had been offered additional
  support with homework
• 12 of parents had been offered information about
  enrichment resources out of school
• 3 of parents were offered information about
  local curriculum support

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Audit continued

• 82 of Heads surveyed parents but only 18 of GT
  co-ordinators and 10 of teachers in the same
  schools agreed that to be the case
• 10 of parents had been offered courses on GT in
  their schools
• 79 of parents were unaware of an LA Parent
  Support Service and only 1 of parents had made
  use of the service
• 27 of Heads said they shared information about
  local support groups with parents but only 6 of
  parents agreed they had been given this

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Why engage parents? Top Four Reasons

• 1
• Pupils with engaged parents are more likely to
• Achieve higher grades and test
  scores/reduce
• underachievement
• Have increased motivation higher self
  esteem
• Attend school regularly
• Have better social skills, show improved
  behaviour,
• and adapt well to school
• Enrol in and graduate from Higher
  Education
• Henderson Mapp 2002 A New Wave of
  Evidence The Impact of School, Family and
  Community Connections on Student Achievement

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Why engage parents? Pupils

• High levels of parental expectation,
  consistent encouragement and actions to enhance
  learning opportunities in the home were all
  positively associated with students high
  aspirations and college enrolments this
  regardless of students socio-economic status or
  ethnic background
• Catsambis S 2001 Expanding knowledge of
  parental involvement in childrens secondary
  education

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Why engage parents?

• 2
• Schools benefit from
• Improved teacher confidence and morale
• Higher pupil achievement in all ages
• Higher ratings of teachers by parents
• More support from families
• New funding for after-school and family
  support
• programmes
• Better reputation in the community

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Why engage parents?

• 3
• Most parents want to be involved in their childs
  education
• Parents express a genuine and deep-seated
  desire to help their children succeed in school
  regardless of differences in socio-economic
  status, race, ethnicity and cultural background
• Henderson and Mapp 2002 ibid

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Why engage parents?

• 4
• Recent studies consistently point towards a
  powerful association between parental involvement
  and student achievement and attainment
• Harris Goodall 2006 Parental Involvement
  in Education An Overview of the Literature,
  University of Warwick
• Empirical evidence shows that parental
  involvement is one of the key factors in securing
  high student achievement and sustained school
  performance
• Harris and Chrispeels 2006 NCSL Literature
  Review
• Family participation in education is twice as
  predictive of a pupils academic success as
  family socio-economic status and where engagement
  programmes are intensive it can be ten times more
  predictive
• Henderson Berla 1996 A New Generation of
  Evidence The Family is critical to Student
  Achievement, US

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Every Parent Matters

• Which forms of parental engagement seem to be
  the most effective in raising achievement and
  encouraging child welfare?

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UK DfES Report 2003

• Parental involvement continues to have a
  significant effect through the age range.
  Although the impact for older children becomes
  more evident in staying-on rates and educational
  aspirations than as measured achievement. Of the
  many forms of parental involvement, it is the
  at-home relationships and modelling of
  aspirations that play the major part in impact on
  school outcomes.
• Desforges and Abouchaar 2003 The Impact of
  Parental Involvement DfES

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Main Research Findings on Parental Engagement

• Studies reinforce the impact of parental
  involvement in learning in the home with better
  cognitive achievement, particularly in the early
  years
• Parental involvement that takes the form of
  in-school activity has little effect on
  individual attainment though it can be valuable
  for community relations
• Deforges Abouchaar ibid 200328

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The Key Standards of Parental Engagement

• Communication
• Basic Obligations of Schools to Inform Parents
• Communicate with families about school activities
  and pupil progress through meaningful
• and effective school-to-home and home-to-school
  communications
• Parenting
• Basic Responsibilities of Parents
• Assist families with parenting and child rearing
  skills, understand child and adolescent
• development, and setting home conditions that
  support children of all ages and levels
• Pupil Learning
• Involvement in Learning Activities
• Involve families with their children in learning
  activities at home, including homework, and
• outside of school hours

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The Key Standards of Parental Engagement

• Volunteering
• Involvement at the School For the School
• Recruit and train parents on different ways to
  volunteer
• School Decision-Making
• Participation and Leadership
• Include families as participants in school
  decisions, governance and advocacy through
• councils, boards, PTAs and other parent
  organisations
• Community Collaboration
• Co-ordinating resources and services for families
  and pupils
• Utilising local resources (business, agencies,
  charities) to strengthen schools, families
• and pupil learning
• Modified from Epstein J 1995
  School-Family-Community Partnerships

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A Framework for Developing Parental Engagement
Strategies in Schools
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The Barriers to Parental Engagement

• Parents Viewpoint
• I dont know what schools can/should do for
  gifted children
• Im not sure if my child is gifted
• The school doesnt understand the particular
  needs of my child
• I dont want to be seen as a pushy parent
• Ive spoken to the teacher to no effect and I
  dont know what else I can do

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Parent-Viewed Barriers

• No recognised route for communication with school
• Many parents do not know how to help their
  children, especially those who are gifted
• Teachers not available to talk with
• Parents usually not available during school hours
• Parents not made to feel welcome or opinions
  valued parents lack confidence
• School does not identify and make opportunities
  for parental engagement

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The Barriers to Parental Engagement

• Schools Viewpoint
• We havent the time to deal with a small
  minority of children
• We need more resources to properly provide for
  GT pupils as with SEN
• All children are gifted. We dont believe in
  labelling children
• We have our GT register but it is our policy
  not to tell parents
• If Xs behaviour was better we would feel more
  inclined to help with her academic progress
• Were the professionals parents should let us
  get on and teach

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School-Viewed Barriers

• Teachers feel unprepared to work with families
  not in certification requirements, little in
  Inset one of top challenges
• Not all Heads are convinced of the need in busy
  schedules and with pressured staff
• Parents do not read school communications ESL?
• Parents are not available during school hours
• Parents do not attend events such as parents
  evenings
• Parents do not respond to requests for engagement

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Characteristics of Successful Parental Engagement
Strategies

• Dedicated and resourceful teachers who understand
  and value parental input
• Heads who adopt an open-door policy, encourage
  parents to participate, and who work with the
  community to create support services
• Parents viewed as a resource rather than a
  deficit including support staff
• Schools who have a driver for initiating,
  developing, implementing and evaluating
  programmes
• Schools who provide parents with appropriate
  information/resources/workshops on how to
  encourage student success
• Schools that recognise diverse family backgrounds
  the hard to reach parents
• Bilingual materials made available where
  appropriate so valuing the home language

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Further Characteristics.

• Recruitment strategies centred on personal
  approach
• Dedicated parent centres established in schools
• Parental support in key areas recognised child
  care, interpreters, transport
• Events organised to make it easy for parents to
  develop social support/new friendships
• Activities that are creative, diverse and
  flexible
• Recruit volunteers to provide (specific tasks)
  information to parents about events and post in
  areas to greet
• Follow-up calls
• Involve the pupils wherever possible

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Parents and Families are more likely to become
engaged when they

• Understand that they SHOULD be involved
• Feel CAPABLE of making a contribution
• Feel INVITED and WELCOME by the school and their
  children

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SUMMARY

• Parental engagement is a key mechanism to raising
  standards in schools
• Parental engagement recognises the needs of
  individual children, including GT, and lowers
  the threshold for a genuinely personalised
  education
• Schools and parents need help to understand the
  needs of gifted children and to make provision
  that is truly appropriate these Standards
  contribute to that
• GT parental engagement templates can lead the
  way for ALL pupils inclusive and not elitist!

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Thank you for listening????