PiXL is dedicated to giving school leaders the knowledge and resources they need to give the best possible support to their students.
Our members get access to a wealth of strategies, resources and how-to guides, based on the latest evidence and school-led intelligence, as well as a range of other benefits.
Click the link below to download a free resource looking at practical ideas around managing Parent-School Relationships so that you get the outcome you need, see the impact and engage your team.
Download our parent-school relationships document
Why write this paper?
In recent months (and particularly post-pandemic) our members are telling us that you are finding it more difficult to work with some parents. The things we are hearing from many of you are:
- There are more incidences of parents making demands that you feel you can’t agree to.
- There are more angry emails, calls and unexpected visits into schools.
- There is a feeling that some parents are backing the school less than they did.
- The expectations of some parents seem to have increased.
- The previous home-school contract seems to have been broken (perhaps by societal changes).
- Facebook parent groups are a common way for parents to be communicating with each other.
- There are societal issues that are impacting on the nature of the conversations you are having.
- Student attendance is sometimes more difficult because sometimes parents are supporting them staying at home (or find getting them in too difficult so they don’t enforce attendance).
A Teacher Tapp survey recently commissioned by ASCL showed that when it comes to absence of students in school, the following reasons were given by schools:
- 87% taking holiday in term time
- 76% had an event at home/with family
- 66% too anxious to come in
- 51% too tired to come in
- 32% were kept at home because of disputes with the school
If nearly a third of schools are stating disputes with parents as a reason for non-attendance of children, we really do find ourselves in a new and challenging situation where relationships and communication appear to be breaking down. No one wins when that is the case.
We know that working with parents is crucially important – we are, after all, jointly working with their child as the two significant parties in their life. Schools are literally in loco parentis of their children during the school day and on trips, yet the way we work with students, and the way we work with parents too, may be totally different: there may be rules at home that are different to rules at school; a difference in aspiration, expectation and understanding about what school is. It may be that sometimes parents feel they have more aspiration for their child than the school, and sometimes it is the other way round.
This document provides some strategies, suggestions and practical ideas.
