Home-School Relationships
Summary
The family’s role is increasingly acknowledged as critical for children’s learning both in and out of school, giving rise to requirements for secondary schools to report to parents online by 2010, and the Children’s Plan identifying ‘parental engagement’ as a high priority for 2009. However, little is known about the learner’s role in mediating relationships between parents and teachers, and between home and school. Young people may actively facilitate or resist their parents’ involvement with their education, and without recognising their active role, strategies that aim to enhance communication between home and school may become a missed opportunity that makes little difference to children’s learning.
While there is increasing use of technologies to send information to parents, little guidance is available for schools on working with children and parents to develop appropriate strategies for home-school communication that involves children and supports children’s learning. Therefore this research – which is part of a wider body of work supported by Becta to contribute to their 'Harnessing Technology’ strategy – will address the following questions: What factors support learners in successfully negotiating relationships between home and school learning; and how might digital technologies support learners, parents and teachers to mediate home-school relationships?
Project type and status
Completed research project
Partners
Outcomes/Publications
Handbook: Developing the home-school relationship using digital technologies (1mb pdf)
Literature review: Children’s role in home-school relationships and the role of digital technologies (134kb pdf)
