WHAT WE'VE LEARNT

FROM COVID-19

Engaging parents in thelearning process

CA T H Y Q U I N N

Social distancing measures during COVID-19 put enormouspressure on teachers, parents and students to adapt to a newonline learning environment, with greater dependency onparents to facilitate learning at home.   Although there have been many concerns and frustrations,the upside is that it has shone a light on how we can betterdevelop relationships between home and schools to improvestudent learning outcomes.  Research over more than five decades has consistently shownthat children have better academic, social, and emotionaloutcomes when their parents are engaged in their learning,especially in the home.  However, parent engagement is often only perceived asnecessary when something goes wrong - whether that'sCOVID-19, or when a child is in trouble at school or fails atest.  This eBook explores how the learning lockdown hasinfluenced parent engagement and what we can take awayfrom this experience as we head back into the classroom. In writing this eBook, I hope we can establish a new 'normal'where parents and teachers communicate, collaborate andshare a mutual respect for each other's contribution.

Introduction

CathyBest regards,

A Ministerial Briefing Paper revealed that schools haveadopted one of four approaches to learning from home,which is dependent on the school's access to resources andthe needs of the local community (ACER, 22 April, 2020, p.13). These four approaches include:

Paper-based Teaching 

Paper-based teaching is where the school deliversprinted materials to the student's home. This modelcaters for those who don't have access to a suitabledevice or internet connection, but it requires a high levelof self-regulation and parental support.

Hybrid Teaching 

The hybrid model employs a combination of remoteteaching and paper-based materials. This modelcapitalises on the school's existing learning resources anduses technology to maintain the student-teacherconnection.

Online Learning

Online learning requires a learning management systemand allows for collaboration between students andteachers, including social connections.

Education during COVID-19

Remote Teaching 

Remote teaching is a direct replacement for face-to-faceteaching and requires video technology or similar forteachers to interact with students in real-time.

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The Ministerial Briefing Paper also stated that 'manyvulnerable children will have neither the family resources norenvironment to use the provided resources usefully forlearning.' (ACER, 22 April 2020, p.14). However, my researchshows that some positive outcomes emerged from remotelearning during COVID-19.  Since COVID-19, some schools have reported a significantimprovement in parent engagement as parents became'crucial partners' in their child's education.

Dr Michael StewartPrincipal at Our Lady of the Rosary School, Sunshine Coast

During the last few weeks, a genuine learningcommunity has evolved as teachers endeavoured tosupport parents in assisting with their child's learning.  I've seen a significant paradigm shift regarding howteachers teach and how they now view parents aspartners in educating children.

While children were learning from home, teachers needed tofind new ways of connecting with students and families whilealso taking into consideration the circumstances andresources of the families in their community. As teachers proactively sought to engage with parents abouttheir child's learning, open lines of communication wereestablished and parents became more engaged. Someteachers also reported that they were communicating moreopenly and with more transparency than ever before.

Research by the Centre of Family Engagement shows thatteacher outreach affects if and how parents engage with theirchild's learning. During COVID-19, we witnessed first-hand how some of thesehome-school partnerships lead to improved studentoutcomes and have positive benefits for schools and teachersas well.  Moving forward, we need to continue to proactively engageparents in the learning process - both early and often. Bydoing so, we can improve our parent-teacher relationshipsand more importantly, improve our children's learning,development and overall wellbeing. Subsequently, this also brings significant benefits to teachersand schools through improved family and communitysatisfaction and improved student outcomes. For teachers, the below steps will show you how toincorporate the six key components of parent engagementinto your lesson planning. For parents, the below strategies outlines the importance ofdoing what you did, sometimes instinctively, when you wereasked to oversee your child's learning during the lockdown.

What's next?

Parent Engagement Strategiesthat fit into lesson planning

Social-Emotional WellbeingAuthorative Parenting

Number One

The six key components of parent engagement are outline forteachers in the grey sections, and for parents in the bluesections.

Supporting social-emotional and physical wellbeing is a keyarea to parent engagement according to Australian researchAlliance for children and youth (ARACY) Parent engagement: AReview linking policy and programs (April 2016). While learning at home during COVID-19, parents were askedto tune in to their child's wellbeing. Schools sent homeresources and guidance to support parents as they strived tomonitor their child's stress levels and online safety, andestablish routines. But why should this fantastic initiative be confined to thecurrent learning situation? I'd like to see teachers and parentscontinue this exchange of information as students make itback to school.

By continuing to share this information on a regular basis withparents, they can continue to be engaged in the children'ssocial and emotional learning as they have done so wellthroughout COVID-19.  According to research, this type of parenting, known asauthoritative parenting, is one of the six most importantthings that a parent can do at home for the child.

The second of the six key components of parent engagementin their child's learning in the home was highlighted by schoolsduring learning at home during COVID-19. Schools asked parents to monitor their child's work habits andto help the child develop a routine that suited the familycircumstances and the child's ability to be self-motivated.  Although it depended on the mode of learning adopted by theindividual school, for some families that meant breaking thelearning into smaller chunks and having physical activity inbetween, for others, it meant focusing for extended periods oftime until the work was completed.  Parents were able to adjust the schedule to suit their child'sindividual needs while getting the message across to thestudents that learning was important. In doing so, parentsinstinctively put emphasis on the value of learning and hencethe second key component of parental engagement in thehome.  Teachers can continue to get the message across to parentsabout how important it is to develop in their child a love oflearning and the importance of learning to their life success. Teachers can share information with parents about thebehaviours of successful learners and how these can bedeveloped in each child.

Communicate the value of educationDevelop a love of learning with your child

Number Two

The third key component of effective parent engagement inthe children's learning is holding and passing on to the childhigh aspirations based on realistic expectations. According to the ARACY paper, Parent engagement– A reviewlinking policy and programs (2016), this strategy has proven tobe the most influential aspect of parent engagement. "Parent's expectations shape children's own beliefs abouttheir potential, sense of academic competence, the value theyplace on learning, and aspirations to complete school andcontinue into further education." ARACY (2016, p. 12) Parentengagements– A review linking policy and programs.

Personalise learningPass on high aspirations but realisticexpectations

Number Three

I think remote learning has highlighted that parents have agreater understanding of the abilities and strengths of theirchildren. If this information is sort by teachers and schools ona regular basis like it was during COVID-19, all students willbenefit. During this time, teachers had to rely heavily on feedbackfrom parents and students as to how they were coping withtasks. If we could harness these two-way conversations usingnewfound skills and technology so that this could occurregularly, this would result in the personalisation of learning tothe individual needs of each student.   Teachers have enlisted the help of parents during this firstpart of 2020, so let's continue this highly effective practice aswe move back into the classroom.

HomeworkLead learning in the home

Number Four

The fourth component of effective parent engagement istraditionally known as homework, but COVID-19 has taught usthat parents play a much larger role in their child's learningthen may have been previously recognised by the school.  Children are only in front of the teacher for a short time in 24hours. A lot of learning takes place in the home by parents,grandparents, siblings and peers.

We've recently seen that parents can be very creative andadaptive in using everyday household tasks, chores andequipment to teach the content required. Many teachers alsobecame very creative and used multiple digital technologies todemonstrate the lesson - for both the students and theparents.

"Family conversations can have a strong influence onchildren's cognitive skills, the value they place on learning andenjoyment of learning. This includes conversations around theschool and learning directly, but also family discussions aboutnews, political and social issues, books, TV and movies, andfamily storytelling." ARACY (2016, p. 12) Parent engagements– Areview linking policy and programs.

Homework could become ashort video demonstrating aparticular higher-orderthinking skill for olderchildren or a literacy skill foryounger children, which theparent and child watchtogether and have a shortnumber of questions todiscuss. 

According to Clinton, Hattie, and Dixon (2007) and Hattie(2009), sharing the language of learning between home andschool allows parents to have greater in-depth conversationswith their children and hence greater in-depth learning.

According to Goodall (2013), another key component ofparent engagement is to start early when the child is youngand remain engaged right through to high school. High schoolcan actually be one of the more important times that parentsreally do need to connect with their child's learning, especiallytheir social and emotional wellbeing.  The problem is that this time of adolescence is spentbalancing the need for independence and the need for familysupport. It is also time when the curriculum is probably notsomething that parents can be of assistance with - takechemistry, for example.  Again, teachers can play a great role in sharing the languageof higher-order thinking with parents so that they can discusswith the child what the task is asking them to do. Parents canscaffold the task for the child because of their uniqueunderstanding of the child's strengths and weaknesses.  Teachers can do so much as they have done during thisunprecedented time of the coronavirus to engage the parentin their children's age-appropriate learning activity.

Get parents involved earlyTake an active stance

Number Five

The home learning environment was crucial during thelockdown and remains critical to a child's education as wereturn to the classrooms. Dialogue between parents andschool is crucial to the child's success. I am sure you havefound that schooling during this time was relationship-basedand required quality two-way communication and meaningfuldialogue between home and school.  Schools that successfully engaged parents in learning duringthis time tended to communicate with them openly, clearlyand frequently and offered a wide range of reciprocalcommunication opportunities for parents and school staff.

Regional Director of schools during COVID-19

What would have taken the next five years to achievein terms of digital pedagogy using digital learningmanagement systems has been compressed into fourweeks. It just goes to show that if the purpose and urgencyare there, people will rise to the occasion.

Give effective feedbackBuild a home-school relationship

Number Six

These six strategies form my conceptual model of effectiveparental engagement and take on a different shape indifferent schools. It's based on the work of Janet Goodall(2013), a parent engagement expert in the UK, and thecontinued work of ARACY in Australia.  Let's take the learnings we've gained during this time andexplore the newfound value of parental engagement in theirchildren's education.  Let's be adventurous and see it not as an add-on, but rather avalue-add, and align parental engagement in the children'slearning to a new school strategic direction and which canonly enhance the framework for teaching and learning andthe outcomes for students.

For more detail on parentengagement strategies head tocathyquinn.com. Cathy has programs with the latestresearch, resources and informationon effective parent engagement. Each of her programs are specificallytailored for parents, teachers orschool leadership.

Want more?

Cathy Quinn specialises in professionaldevelopment for Principals, Teachersand Parents in the area of parentalengagement in their child's learning.

About Cathy...

A dedicated teacher with a decade of experience as a school principal, Cathy moved out of the principal role and devoted her time to bringing up her three children through theircritical teenage years.

Cathy Quinn has devoted the past ten years to refiningstrategies for parental engagement and developing acomprehensive program with particular emphasis on meetingthe Australian Professional Standard for Principals andTeachers. Now a full-time educational consultant and completing a PhDin this area, Cathy's credentials include a DIP Teach, BEd, BAand a Masters of Educational Administration. Please feel free to email cathy@cathyquinn.com if you wouldlike a free bookmark as a reference for teachers and parentsor visit my websites for free posters and fridge reminders ofeach of the six strategies for parents. 

During this time, Cathy became aware of developmentsregarding "Parental Engagement in Schools" and beganstudying and researching the latest academic findings.

Australian Research Alliance for children and youth (ARACY).(2016). Parent engagement: A Review linking policy andprograms, available at  https://www.aracy.org.au/ Clinton, J, Hattie, J, Dixon, R. (2007) Evaluation of the FlaxmereProject when families learn the language of school, available athttp://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/10001,accessed January 2016.  Goodall, J. (2013). Parental engagement to support children'slearning: a six-pointmodel. School Leadership & Management,33(2), 133-150. doi:10.1080/13632434.2012.724668 Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800meta-analyses relating to achievement. New York: Routledge.

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