First steps in parental involvement in primary education

Abstract

In the UK, the benefits of parental involvement in primary education are well known and documented in terms of both skills and attitudes. Moreover, parental involvement in learning is encouraged in the home-school agreements now issued by each school. This encouragement to participate was not always the case. I have been called one of the mothers of parental involvement because I have been associated with this movement since 1984 when the idea of parents as partners was virtually unheard of. Since that time, I have worked with thousands of parents and dozens of heads of primary schools, nurseries and with pre-school groups, working out practical first steps, seeing those steps through, evaluating what is going on and planning for the future. In this first article, I would like to look in detail at taking those first steps within a primary school setting. These are the steps which invariably feel the most vulnerable to those of us in the profession.