Strengths
Areas for improvement
Education authorities provide appropriate translating and interpreting services to help schools engage with parents. The majority of authorities provide key information leaflets in the main home languages. A small number of authorities facilitate parent forums for Polish and Chinese speakers.
Some schools have formed positive partnerships with newly-arrived parents and are helping them to be involved in their children’s learning. They have made parents feel welcome in school and involve them directly in using their skills to contribute to the work of the school. For example, parents take part in multicultural events and extend the school community’s understanding and appreciation of different cultures and traditions. A few schools have special welcome events for parents and actively encourage them to make regular use of an allocated parents’ room to meet with each other. There is scope for schools to be more proactive in involving parents in their children’s learning and in the life of the school.
Schools make effective use of authority information leaflets and interpreting services to communicate and engage with parents. However, it is sometimes difficult for schools to access the services and to sustain the costs involved. A few are using bilingual support assistants effectively to help facilitate engagement with parents. HMIE found that, contrary to advice in Learning in 2 (+) Languages (Learning and Teaching Scotland 2005), a few schools are using settled newly-arrived young people, parent helpers or family members to help out by translating discussions. Staff are not always aware that using family members, friends or other pupils may compromise the child’s right to confidentiality. Where possible, EAL/Bilingual Services provide staff to interpret at school meetings with parents.
Parents appreciate having someone to talk to them in their home language about their children’s education and to have key school documents translated into their language. Only a few schools had school information booklets available in any language other than English. Translations are not always of a sufficiently high quality. They may be inaccurate and convey the wrong tone. There are situations where children have to translate documents for their parents, including school reports on their progress. Overall, newly-arrived parents are not well informed about the Scottish education system. This is a barrier to parents being involved in their children’s learning. Schools are not always aware or sensitive to other barriers that may be hampering parental participation. Such barriers may include having come from an education system that does not expect parents to be involved, or past experiences in their own country that may make them wary of contact with authority and schools.
Schools recognise the importance of gathering parents’ views but difficulties in accessing interpreting and translating services are hampering attempts to gather and respond to the views of all parents. Where possible, EAL staff work directly with parents and learners to facilitate home-school links and involve them meaningfully in giving views on their learning experiences and making choices about their education.
A few authorities are providing valuable opportunities for adult and family learning through community learning and development activities. In some authority areas, colleges have formed effective partnerships with schools and are providing English language courses for parents and families. Two authorities have specific projects such as ‘Play-a-long-Maths’ and home reading initiatives to actively involve parents in their children’s learning.
EAL services are key partners in supporting newly-arrived children and young people. They make a significant contribution to enabling them to access the curriculum and to develop English. All of the schools visited said that the biggest challenge lay in trying to meet the needs of newly-arrived learners without sufficient specialist input from EAL/bilingual services. The majority of schools reported that they had experienced a reduction in levels of support due to the increasing demands upon already limited services.
There were a few examples of establishments from all sectors working well together to ensure that children and families received effective support at important transition stages. In one secondary school, the school’s EAL specialist teacher visits newly-arrived children at P5 through to P7 to build relationships and support children’s achievements.
A few authorities have developed positive links with key community groups. They support cultural events and community language schools to enable children to maintain and develop their home culture, language and religion. Community learning and development activities provide the main vehicle for facilitating positive and supportive interactions with community and faith groups in some authorities. A third of education authorities who responded to the survey are not currently interacting with community and faith groups. Some denominational schools have established positive links with the Polish community. However, the majority of schools have limited or no interactions with cultural or faith groups in the community.
Improving education for newly-arrived children and young people
Supporting children and young people in their learning involves a range of people – parents and carers, nursery teachers and nurses, primary teachers, secondary teachers, support staff, college staff, psychological services, Skills Development Scotland, volunteers and workers from voluntary organisations and local authority youth work provision. It is important to work in partnership to ‘Get it Right for Every Child’.
Building the Curriculum 3
Staff take active steps to encourage parents to engage with the school and, in particular, to reach out to those who may need help to overcome barriers of various kinds. They discuss a range of issues with parents, for example, arrangements for learning, individual aspirations and expectations, learning targets and approaches to learning. Staff maintain particularly close contact during settling–in and vulnerable periods.
The Journey to Excellence, Part 2, Page 72
Issues to consider |
|
School: St Columba’s Primary School, Fife |
Focus: Working with parents, other agencies and the community Description of practice The school places a strong focus on engaging with parents as partners in their children’s learning. In partnership with Elmwood College, it set up a family learning group for children and parents, whose first language was not English. The group provided a social network for migrant families and supported them in learning and understanding English. All families with English as a second language were invited to join in with a range of activities geared to support families to learn together and share experiences. The group met on Thursday afternoons for an hour after school. The group was staffed by an English Language tutor from Elmwood College and a school class support assistant. The headteacher and other teaching staff from the school dropped into the group’s activities from time to time to build relationships and establish positive links. Each session was very informal and relaxed with refreshments and snacks available. A range of child/family-centred themes were covered with the tutor and class support assistant intervening sensitively in activities to provide prompts for discussions and further activities. Children and parents were encouraged to share learning experiences, such as pieces of work or new games. Staff engaged with parents about general topics and provided advice and explanations on, for instance, letters home from school and how to access local services. There was usually a set piece of targeted language learning based on a theme with supplementary activities designed to reinforce the language introduced during that session. This practice encouraged both children and parents to engage with the target language in a meaningful context. Great care was taken to ensure that the group’s activities were not simply an extension of classroom lessons and the focus was very clearly on family learning which was relaxed and enjoyable. The school was successful in:
Outcomes
|
School: Edinburgh EAL Service and St John Vianney Primary School |
Focus: Working with parents, other agencies and the community Description of practice Staff from Edinburgh EAL services supported the school in carrying out consultations with newly-arrived and bilingual parents. They recorded the discussions and parents’ views. The information was then used to inform school and EAL services policy and practice. Parents agreed that they would like to have a stronger profile in the school and the school has successfully encouraged and promoted their involvement. A member of staff has a role as coordinator for children from migrant families. The school involves parents directly in celebrating their culture. Keralan parents have talked at assembly about their most important festival called Onam. Filipino parents have organised an assembly where they presented their culture in dance and costume. The Polish custom of egg painting is a school activity. Parents join in celebrations of Scottish culture by participating in Burns Day activities. In the entrance hall of the school there is a world map identifying the original countries of all the children. This helps all parents and children feel valued and welcomed, and fosters respect. Newly-arrived children and parents have formed strong friendship groups across and within the various nationalities. The school has been welcomed into the Keralan community. Four members of staff attended end of year celebrations as their honoured guests. The school successfully encourages parents from migrant families to serve on the Parent Council. Parents are very keen to attend parents’ evenings, provided they are given ample warning to enable them to arrange their work commitments accordingly. They feel that their children are happy at school and that they are given good support at transition to secondary school. Because of their satisfaction with the school they recommend it to new families coming into the neighbourhood. The children themselves feel they belong to the school and they enjoy taking part in the extra-curricular activities provided. The school is successful in:
Outcomes
|