Parental Participation in Schools (html)

Parental Participation in Schools

Training for parents in supporting their children's education

Portugal: Educating parents at school for the school

Gertrudes Amaro
Instituto de Inovao Educacional, Portugal

Vanda Menezes
Instituto de Inovao Educacional, Portugal

Joana Giao
Instituto de Inovao Educacional, Portugal

The case study which follows is an account of the teachers' activities to increase parental participation in school in two Priority Intervention Education Territories (TEIP) in Lisbon and Oporto.

Educating parents at school for the school

Background

The Priority Intervention Education Territories (TEIPs), which first appeared in the school year 1996/1997, aim at developing better learning conditions for students. TEIPs developed as a result of policies introduced to support underprivileged populations. They comprise groups of schools in which projects are developed to improve education standards, particularly attainment, and to promote innovation. The schools that belong to one of these Territories should develop joint work to devise an educational project in which the participation of teachers, pupils, Parents' Associations, the local government and cultural and recreational associations should be included. The educational project has to take into account certain pedagogical development priorities:

creating conditions to promote pupil achievement;
defining the training needs of teachers and other staff members, as well as the needs of the community;
promoting a close articulation with the local community;
operating integrated resource management; and
developing educational, cultural, sports and free-time activities.

The TEIPs in this case study are situated in depressed areas in Lisbon and Oporto. These are areas with a low social and economic level, characterised by very poor housing conditions and a great ethnic and cultural diversity. Overall, the areas displayed a marked lack of interest for school life. The study analyses the way in which teachers from schools with similar characteristics encouraged parental participation.

Pintor Almada Negreiros (TEIP Lisbon)

Structure

This TEIP consists of a nursery school association, two primary schools and a 5^th - 6^th grade school. It aims to develop a common educational policy with the following goals:

to improve the school/family relationship;
to fight social exclusion; and
to build a school open to the community.

Facing a population marked by under-achievement, both at school and in life generally, the schools in the TEIP needed to establish good working relationships and agree priority objectives. An action plan was organised for 1996-1998. This plan tried to:

improve students' achievements;
adopt more individualised and appropriate teaching; and
equip the schools with the human, technical and organisational resources to upgrade and revitalise them.

Partnerships were established with groups already working in the community, including a parent association, the city council of Lisbon, the local government and recreational, sports and charity associations.

Promoting school - parents relationships

Phase 1 - existing links

Before the existence of the TEIP, schools had already realised the value of links with the community and could build on them. In Escola Primria da Charneca (Charneca Primary School), the contact between families and community operated at three levels:

to support children's learning, for example, by teachers organising weekend sessions, which involved parents, for 60 students whose knowledge was poor;
to organise sports and free-time activities involving pupils, parents and the community; and
to train parents in health care and hygiene.

Galinheiras Primary School (an Integrated Elementary School) already had a parent association, whose president participated in the School Board meetings. As well as regular monthly meetings, the teachers organised large meetings of complete families every three months. Teachers also tried to attract the support of parents to school by less formal means such as social events.

In Pintor Almada Negreiros, parents liaised with the teacher in charge of their children's class. This school had carried out a pilot project of school family meetings in 1994/95. The project spread to the rest of the territory when the TEIP was formed.

Phase 2 - joint work among schools

The issue of training parents for their participation was considered by teachers and other educational professionals as fundamental to the project. Families were seen as a vertex of the educational triangle: school - family - community. To promote parental participation, teachers devised strategies to bring parents to school and involve them in school activities including:

an information leaflet to motivate parents to participate; and
an annual meeting of parents before the school year began which informed them of the school's policies and rules.

The family meetings involved:

School Boards;
Pedagogical Councils;
Technical Support Centres (involving social workers, a psychologist, teachers of handicapped children); and
class co-ordinators.

These meetings tried to raise parents' awareness of their important roles as educators and explain how children's achievement is helped by family atmosphere and support. Parents were encouraged to talk to these children about school, to make them more responsible for homework and to participate in school activities.

Three family meetings each focused on a particular issue:

health and hygiene;
promoting mutual respect among teachers and parents; and
youth sexuality, for which few parents attended.

Overall, the participation rate was small in proportion to the number of families invited, due to parents' strict working hours rather than apathy. Those who attended, disseminated the information to the others through the good neighbourhood relationships.

Teachers assessed the success of the family meetings through questionnaires to the participants, analysing how receptive parents were and to what extent the topics and their presentations were clearly understood. Through informal contacts, teachers and other school members noted positive changes in the parents' attitudes. Pupils appeared more motivated, were punctual and more aware of hygiene.

However, the TEIP faced some difficulties in promoting the family meetings scheme.

An attempt to create a committee to support families, which included class co-ordinators, school social workers and psychologists, failed because working hours were not compatible.
Motivating and valuing the teachers' work was difficult as they were not rewarded or valued for the extra effort involved.
Parents needed a greater awareness of the benefits of working together and joining associations.
Activities organised by existing Parents' Associations registered the lowest attendance, much lower than those organised by teachers.

However, the importance of Parents' Associations should not be under-estimated. It provides a useful pressure group which helps promote particular initiatives such as improvements in facilities.

Areosa TEIP

The TEIP in Areosa consisted of a primary school, a 5^th and 9^th grade school and a 1^st to 6^th grade school.

The TEIP co-operated with several external institutions including:

educational research institutes;
parent and recreational associations;
the local health unit;
Catholic centres;
a government anti-poverty organisation; and
a professional school providing training for school leavers.

The 1st to 6th Grade school, Escola S. Joo de Deus is particularly interesting, It did not have a Parents' Association so teachers developed an initiative called Family Club to help form one. The school operates in a building belonging to the City Council of Oporto. Its transformation into an Integrated Elementary School required great effort on the part of the teaching and non-teaching staff. For example, there was no gymnasium and arrangements had to be made to use a local sports club. Around 80% of pupils have significant learning difficulties. The local community is characterised by low moral, cultural and social values. Children showed low esteem and lack of motivation.

Promoting school-parents relationships

S. Joo de Deus School aimed to improve the quality of the provision for meeting pupils' social, cultural and emotional needs. To help achieve this, better working conditions and training were provided for teachers and other staff and meetings held with the parents.

Parent training was seen as fundamental so school teachers organised seminars to:

train and inform parents and the community as a whole;
improve relationships between the school and the community;
value parents and pupils as individuals; and
use the improved relationships to work in partnership with parents and pupils to improve the quality of education.

Teachers had collaborated with the parents for six years before joining TEIP. Initially, relationships between the school and community were strained. Teachers distanced themselves from parents. Parents were uncertain about forming formal associations.

Although the efforts of the school and teachers to develop links with parents have been partly successful, there is still some way to go. Parents fear criticism within the community if they become too involved with the school. Informal contacts are still preferred so no Parents' Association had been formed.

However, the school and teachers have gradually gained parents' trust and improved relationships by:

informing them about acceptable behaviour in contacts with the school and teachers;
revising the dress code; and
generally improving self-esteem, attitude and behaviour.

Efforts met with success.

Before this work, there were no school trips because of bad behaviour. Now the situation has improved greatly and families are willing to work to raise the school image.
Subsidies from the City Council for such trips have been much appreciated by parents.
Teachers and parents have come to an understanding about the need for appropriate changes of clothes for physical education.
Arrangements were made for a room to be set aside to help parents and their children meet socially.
Family Clubs have been introduced on a monthly basis attended by teachers and parents. Refreshments are provided to help everyone feel comfortable. These clubs have enabled parents to feel part of the school and provided an opportunity for teachers and parents to talk and share issues.

The special attention given to the problems faced by the children and their families is starting to show promising improvements in the parents' attitudes. Teachers are viewed very positively by parents particularly in the help they have provided for specific children. The key to success has been to involve parents in common concerns and joint discussion, focussing on strengths as well as weaknesses. Although parents only take part in disciplinary councils and not pedagogical boards or school councils, the situation is improving.

In spite of the teacher commitment, the school still faces some problems. Turnover of teaching staff is high, particularly in the 5^th and 6^th grades (the project was aimed only at 1^st to 4^th grades) which causes lack of continuity. However, the school's work is now improving the morale of staff and many are staying for much longer than in the past. Teamwork in the school has developed and staff who wish to become fully involved and committed find great satisfaction in their work.

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