Lack of communication with child’s school could be putting their education at risk

An extensive report, commissioned by Becta into Online Reporting, involving 2,000 parents and 1,000 teachers from around the U.K shows that over half of parents are in contact with their child’s teacher just once a term or less and for various reasons are taking a back seat in their child’s education.

A considerable proportion of teachers (42 percent) involved in the report felt that the reason some parents have so little contact with their child’s school is due to a lack of confidence in talking about their child with teachers. Nineteen percent of the parents involved said that they are worried about taking up teacher’s time and bothering them, with twenty-two percent saying that they don’t want to add to the teacher’s workload. This lack of confidence and break-down in communication could be putting children’s education at risk as parental support is vital to a child’s learning development.

The report also reveals that some teachers believe parents are a great source of support but they don’t always know the best ways to get in contact. However, some of the teaching staff said they would welcome ways to show parents how they could contact the school and teachers.

“Parental engagement is vital to a child’s learning and known to help raise attainment. To do this effectively, there needs to be a meaningful dialogue between parent and school, keeping the parent informed and updated,” said Niel McLean, Executive Director of Becta.

Becta is the government agency, which aims to encourage the creative use of technology throughout a child’s learning experience. It aims to make use of technology in order to create a more exciting, rewarding and successful experience for children no matter of their age or ability, enabling them to achieve their potential.

The report is part of Becta’s ‘Next Generation Learning’ campaign, which urges parents to talk to their child’s school and find out how and if technology is already being used, and how it can help improve communications between parents and schools in future. The use of new technology should enable parents to improve communications by keeping track of their child’s work, by viewing their reports, attendance records and grades at any time of the day via Online Reporting.

To read the Schools & Parents: A New Partnership report in full or for more information regarding Becta and the ‘Next Generation Learning’ campaign log on to www.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk

For more information, please contact:
Sophie Jackson 0207 025 6412 / Sophie.jackson@redconsultancy.com
Catherine Sharrott 0207 025 6589 / Catherine.Sharrott@redconsultancy.com
Kate Cox 02476 797146 / Kate.Cox@becta.org.uk

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