Critical lessons from practices for improving the quality of

communication between parents and schools

Paper 9th ERNAPE International Conference. Families, Schools and Communities: Learn

from the past, review the present, prepare for a future with equity University of Lisboa,

Portugal, 4th-6th September, 2013.

Theme B. Critical lessons from implementation of practices

Frederik Smit & Geert Driessen

Abstract At the request of Better Performing, the collaboration programme of school boards and the

municipality of Rotterdam, research institute ITS of the Radboud University Nijmegen, the

Netherlands conducted a study into the functioning of the parental involvement policies in

primary and secondary schools in Rotterdam.

In Rotterdam, a city with 600,000 inhabitants and some 180 nationalities, two-thirds of the

youth grows up in immigrant families. In many homes of these second- and third-generation

immigrants Dutch is not the language normally spoken among parents and children. One in

three children grow up in a family with low educated parents. These youngsters rarely go to

higher forms of education and many of them acquire only a basic qualification for the labour

market. The socioethnic composition of the city’s population thus poses a particular challenge

for policymakers and school staff.

One of the objectives of the Better Performing programme is that every school in Rotterdam

should demonstrate progress in parental support of their children’s learning process. Parents

should exhibit more effective teaching supportive behaviour at home and more parents should

be actively involved in the school career and job choices of their children. Basic ingredients

of the Rotterdam approach are partnership and two-way communication, with an emphasis on

intake interviews and discussion of the role of parents in choosing a school and school career.

Summary

Research questions To what degree does teaching supportive behaviour of parents at home involve the school

career of their children in primary and secondary education? What are the views of head

teachers and parents on parental involvement in Rotterdam and in the rest of the Netherlands?

Does the policy of school boards and the municipality of Rotterdam to stimulate parental

involvement result in more attention to this subject in schools? What are the results of this

Rotterdam policy for the learning process of pupils? What are experienced problems and

desired solutions? What aspects of the Rotterdam policy need improvement?

Research design

Review of the literature An international literature review focused on research findings regarding the relationship

between parents and primary and secondary schools in Western Europe, Canada and the

United States. This review was an update of earlier ITS studies of the functioning of parental

participation and involvement in Rotterdam (Smit & Driessen, 2005; 2006). The present study

focused on developments during the last two decades. Themes in the review of the literature

were ‘educational supportive behaviour’, ‘educational partnership in a multicultural,

metropolitan context’ and ‘learning outcomes of pupils’. The review included the

Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders), England, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Canada and

the United States. The reasons underlying this choice were: the similarity of the situation in

these countries; the countries have a long tradition regarding parental involvement; and, in the

case of the USA, the amount of research done. For the selection of studies two criteria were

used: they should report on empirical scientific research and the research must meet current

methodological standards with clear definitions. The function of the review was to provide a

framework for interpreting the results of the survey among head teachers and parents.

Survey among head teachers and parents All head teachers in primary education (n=190) and secondary education (n=75) in Rotterdam

were approached. In addition, head teachers in the rest of the Netherlands were approached

(n=1,500). Parents with children in primary and secondary education were asked to participate

in the ITS Parent Councils Panel (n=2,500) and the Linkedin groups Parents, School and

Neighbourhood and Active Parenting (n= 1,500).

Main results In the literature parental involvement is regarded as one of the major components or

characteristics of effective schools. Partnership between parents and school is not an end in

itself, but a means to serve the common interests: creating optimal conditions for the

development and learning of children.The results of research into the correlation between

parental involvement and academic performance are (mostly) positive in primary and

secondary education. In the strategy of schools to work with parents to improve educational

outcomes, the vision on parent involvement, creating support for an integrated planned an

tailor-made approach play an important role.

The survey among head teachers and parents show that in Rotterdam teachers in primary

schools conduct home visit more often than their colleagues in the rest of the Netherlands. In

Rotterdam, parents with children in primary education are more likely to consult the school

with regard to helping their children at home than in the rest of the country. Parents in

Rotterdam are slightly more positive about the contacts with school than parents in the rest of

the country.

Nearly half of the head teachers of primary and secondary schools in Rotterdam state that

their teachers were encouraged in the past two years by the Better Performing programme to

pay more attention to contact with parents, to undertake training and to formulate ambitions

regarding educational partnership, to conduct extensive introductory talks to provide parents

with more detailed information about the school, the class and what children learn in school

so they can better assist their children at home. Schools in the city of Rotterdam were also

stimulated to express and discuss the mutual expectations of school and parents, to encourage

education supportive behaviours of parents at home, to invest in home visits and to make use

of consultants who can inform and advise parents about education supportive behaviour and

the involvement of parents in the choice of continuing education and professional orientation.

According to parents in Rotterdam with children in primary and secondary education the

communication with the school is not always spotless. One problem parents frequently

mention is head teachers and teachers are often not accessible by telephone an de-mail. In

addition, parents complain about the poor quality of communication (vague letters, no or late

responses to emails, no feedback after ‘incidents’, no initiative to contact). Parents see as

solutions to such communication problems: the head teacher establishes a consultation hour,

the teachers can be reached via e-mail, the school takes a greater account of working parents,

and teachers conduct more home visits to keep in touch.

According to the head teachers in Rotterdam the following are the bottlenecks in the contacts

with parents: the low turnout at parents’ evenings; the difficulty of making appointments with

parents; the absence of the right attitude (no shared responsibility for education) and skills

(the parents are illiterate, do not master the Dutch language, do not understand the

assignments for the pupil support at home); and the lack of time (single parent families, both

parents have a job). Parents are sometimes in a power struggle with the teacher about the

approach and parents sometimes use a pedagogy that they know from their own time at

school.

Head teachers see as solutions to the problems: more space in schools for consultants; more

group meetings with parents about educational supportive behaviour; cooperation with other

educational and welfare institutions; and making the parents co-responsible at the policy level.

More than half of the head teachers in Rotterdam say that they have no idea what the effects

are of the focus of parental involvement in the Better Performing programme on their pupils’

academic performance.

Implications

The focus of the Better Performing programme could be more explicitly focus on the head

teachers in primary and secondary education who have no idea regarding the effects of

policies aiming at raising educational achievement. They should receive (more) information

about the role that educational supportive parental behaviour may have on the learning

outcomes of the pupils. In developing policies, schools could focus on increasing the contact

options, especially by listening to the concerns of parents and their specific questions and

needs in order to improve the two-way communication. The cooperation between schools and

parents could be more deepened by showing that parents, as important role models and co-

partners, can contribute to the desired ‘results-oriented culture’ of the school. The mutual

parent contacts could be strengthened by the use of knowledge, experience and networks of

parents in an integrated planned approach.

Literature

Smit, F. & Driessen, G. (2005). Parent-school-community relations in a changing society:

Bottlenecks, pitfalls and solutions. In R.-A. Martínez-Gonzáles, Ma. del Henar Pérez-Herrero

& B. Rodríguez-Ruiz (Eds.), Family-school-community partnerships merging into social

development (pp. 171-190). Oviedo: Grubao SM.

Smit, F., & Driessen, G. (2006). Ouders en scholen als partners in een multiculturele en

multireligieuze samenleving. In C. Hermans (Ed.), Partnerschap als waardegemeenschap (pp.

103-122). Budel: Uitgeverij Damon.

Smit, F., Wester, M., & Kuijk, J. van (2012). Beter presteren in Rotterdam. School en ouders

samen. ITS, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen.

Smit, F., Driessen, G., Sleegers, P., & Teelken, C. (2008). Scrutinizing the balance: Parental

care versus educational responsibilities in a changing society. Early Child Development and

Care, 178, (1), 65-80.

Contact dr. Frederik Smit

F.Smit@its.ru.nl