Why engaged parents are the key to closing to the attainment gap
Tom Rahilly, Save the Children’s Director of UK Programmes
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Parenting programmes, as evidenced by the recent Social Mobility Commission report, give parents vital skills and confidence, says Tom Rahilly of Save the Children
Recently I volunteered on one of our programmes that supports parents to engage in their children’s learning. Speaking to the mums and dads about their own experience of school, it was clear that it wasn’t always positive. And, even now, those memories and feelings made parents feel uncomfortable about engaging with their children’s school. It was something that they were working hard to get over.
That’s why it’s so good to see the findings of a new study commissioned by the Social Mobility Commission, which reveals just how effective programmes are when they give parents the skills and confidence to help support their children's learning. Teachers, nursery staff, support workers and charities who work with parents day to day know this from experience. Importantly, the academic evidence base backs this up, strengthening our commitment to this approach.
The research, which reviewed 28 parental engagement programmes across 13 countries, shows that programmes that support parents during their child’s early years can improve outcomes for those children. The study also highlighted the important role that programmes can play for closing the gap for children from low income families.
This isn't surprising considering that 86 per cent of children’s learning takes place outside school or nursery; parents have a huge role to play at a crucial period of their child’s development.
At Save the Children, our programmes give parents the skills and the confidence to continue supporting their child’s learning at home. We believe it’s vital that we support families by building stronger relationships with their child’s school and their community to make sure children get the support they need.
We’ve already seen amazing things working with primary schools across the UK, and since 2010 we have helped nearly 30,000 children through our Families and Schools Together (FAST) programme. Building on feedback from parents we have developed an innovative new programme, Families Connect, which aims to help parents support their children’s literacy and language development, numeracy, and emotional development.
Over eight weeks, these programmes provide a series of activities, techniques and games that parents and carers can do with their children at home. A mum in the school in which I volunteered told me that before the programme her son used to spend most of his time outside school on his own, watching TV. She now spends time playing with her son each day, talking about what he did and what he learnt at school. That change can make all the difference for children’s futures.
Crucially, our programmes are universal and accessible to all families with young children. The truth is that as parents, we all need a little support. If you throw material deprivation and stress associated with low income in the mix, then that support becomes vital.
A daily struggle to make ends meet can leave parents exhausted and stressed, and with less time to spend supporting their child's learning. For these families, increasing parents’ skills and confidence to support their child’s learning, along with practical support can reduce the impact of poverty on their child’s future.
We know how much work lies ahead, particularly in evidencing the long-term effects of parental engagement programmes. We also know that parental engagement programmes are only part of the solution. Alongside this work, we are calling on the government to invest in nursery staff and in our children’s futures by having an early years teacher in every setting.
Save the Children has nearly 100 years of history in helping families and children in the UK; from campaigning for the introduction of free school meals in 1944, to the creation of child-safe spaces in our hospitals. We are continuing to innovate new programmes, working in coalition with experts, sector bodies, parents and nursery staff that support us to raise the quality of early years provision before children get to school. It's a shared effort to ensure that every young child in the UK should have the best life chances, regardless of their background. It's not easy, but this report shows that by supporting parents, we can, together, make a huge difference.
- Find out more about Save the Children's UK programmes here
