In case you missed it: key takeaways from our recent webinar with the Education Endowment Foundation (and a free recording!)
In our latest webinar, we were joined by Dr Cat Jones from the Education Endowment Foundation, who shared the key messages from the Parental Engagement strand of the EEF’s Teaching & Learning Toolkit. Cat explained how they carry out a systematic review of all the evidence available for each strand to avoid cherry-picking data. Using the Toolkit allows schools to consider cost, security, and impact simultaneously, to look beyond the headlines, and to combine the most up-to-date evidence with your professional expertise, all informing how you engage with parents effectively.
Cat highlighted that the average cost of implementing their Toolkit’s parental engagement approaches is very low, whilst the strength of the evidence base is extensive and rated very high, drawing from 124 studies – this means that schools can make a real difference to strengthening relationships with families in a way that is achievable and cost-effective. Cat also reminded us of the power of parental engagement: it results in an average of an additional four months of learning for children per year.
One message that stood out was that a universal approach works best. Cat shared this in one of their key findings: it is crucial to consider how to engage with all parents to avoid widening attainment gaps. All of the Learning with Parents programmes are modelled on this approach.
What are the most significant barriers to parental engagement?
To communicate effectively with families, schools need to understand the challenges that families may face. Our Programme Director, Gemma Davis, shared some of the most common barriers:
- Time – particularly for parents juggling multiple children, shift work, or caring responsibilities
- Confidence – especially for parents whose own schooling was different, or who didn’t enjoy school themselves
- Language – for families where English is an additional language, education terminology and instructions can feel inaccessible
- Resources – not all families have access to devices, materials, or quiet space for learning
With the right support, these barriers can be reduced!
What works: meeting families where they are
Based on what we hear from teachers and parents, the most effective home learning activities tend to share three qualities:
- They’re woven into everyday life. Activities that require a special time, a particular resource, or significant preparation are harder to sustain. Families thrive when learning can happen on a bus ride, during a walk, or on the sofa.
- They use familiar language. Education jargon creates distance. When activities explain concepts simply – like our short, accessible videos – parents feel confident rather than confused. One school using our programmes noted that families with English as an additional language were using the videos to practise their own English alongside their children.
- They celebrate what families are already doing. Our digital reading log, for example, lets families record anything they’ve read together, not just school books. One parent told us the ‘something else’ button had opened up a whole new approach to reading with her child. We have seen everything from board game instructions, to street signs, to bedtime stories and audiobooks logged!
Building meaningful relationships with families
Parental engagement is all about partnership – our programmes facilitate two-way communication between home and school, so that families can truly feel part of their child’s education, whilst teachers have a genuine window into learning at home. Our universal approach allows schools to celebrate the learning that’s happening at home, to understand how engagement may look different for different families, and to identify those who may benefit from a little extra support, without singling any children out.
As one of our partner schools put it:
“The dialogue between home and school is now supporting children in making progress. Parents are using the audio part of the Learning with Parents platform to record their children’s reading and this is supporting teachers to provide feedback on how to support their child at home. Parents are implementing advice given to them during parents’ evening.”
This kind of partnership is what moves parental engagement from a tick-box exercise to something that powerfully supports children’s long-term learning.
