Parents and carers are important players in the learning process and wider child development, yet can often be overlooked in developing school improvement strategies. Based on our Parent Experience survey our Edurio Parental Engagement Report summarises the experience of over 16,000 parents and carers across 212 schools, collected across the school year 2020-21 and the first term of 2021-22. The report focuses on overall parental experience and engagement in English schools. It then investigates the key drivers of engagement among parents and carers and the areas where parents are currently least satisfied. With the review covering a range of factors from effective communication to collaboration and mutual trust and respect, the report should give schools insight into the areas to focus on if they wish to have the highest impact on improving parental engagement in their schools.
How Engaged Are Parents With Their Child’s School?
Overall, three fifths (60%) of parents are satisfied with their child’s school’s efforts to engage them as a parent. However, almost one fifth (18%) is only slightly satisfied, or not satisfied at all.
IN GENERAL, HOW SATISFIED ARE YOU WITH THE SCHOOL’S EFFORTS TO ENGAGE YOU AS A PARENT?
Additionally, responses vary significantly from parents of children at different schools. Given the significant variation between schools, not fully explained by external factors, parental engagement is greatly influenced by the leadership actions within the control of individual schools.
IN GENERAL, HOW SATISFIED ARE YOU WITH THE SCHOOL’S EFFORTS TO ENGAGE YOU AS A PARENT?
What Activities Have The Strongest Relationship With Parental Engagement?
Communication is the biggest driver of parental engagement out of all activities measured in this survey. Among parents who felt completely satisfied with the school’s communication with them, almost all (97%) also felt satisfied with the school’s attempts to engage them as a parent. In comparison, just 3% of parents who did not feel satisfied with the school’s communication felt engaged in general.
PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT BASED ON SATISFACTION WITH THE SCHOOL’S COMMUNICATION
Following that, it's vital that parents feel their voice is heard, that they feel respected and welcomed by the school, are able to discuss complex issues and are clear on what the school expects from them as a parent. For each area, parents who feel positive about their school's activity are often more likely to feel engaged as a parent than those who do not feel positive about that activity.
What Areas Are Parents Least Satisfied With?
Assessing activities individually, the area with the greatest room for improvement is parent voice. Just 43% of parents feel that their feedback to the school has an impact, whilst 29% feel that it does not. As this is an activity where parents are currently least satisfied overall, and it has a strong relationship with parental engagement more generally, it’s clear that this is an area for real focus if schools wish to improve engagement.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU SEE THAT YOUR FEEDBACK TO THE SCHOOL HAS IMPACT?
Aside from parent voice, whilst most parents of children at school trusts are aware their child attends a school within a trust, the majority are not clear on the role of the trust or the benefit of membership to their child.
What Can Your Trust Learn From Edurio’s Parent Experience Insights?
Based on data from our Parent Experience Survey, our report provides insight for educators into how parents and carers in England feel about their relationship with their child’s school. It highlights the areas with the highest relationship with parental engagement and potential areas of focus for schools looking to improve the overall parent experience.
The insights in this report help schools move past requests or complaints by the loud minority and take into account the views and needs of the silent majority among their cohort of parents.
The fact that communication is the main driver of engagement may give hope to school leaders; improving communication and listening to parent feedback is something each school can prioritise without massive investment. However, it takes finding time in the daily rush of school leadership. And more importantly, it takes admitting that school leaders do not need to have all the answers, especially when the world around us seems to be in a whirlwind.
One final thing is clear from this research: whilst certain activities stand out from the rest as necessary for driving engagement, the exact story and exact challenge can differ from school to school. If you’d like to learn how a Parent Experience Survey can provide information on the picture at your school, get in touch with a member of our team for a quick 20-40 minute demo!
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