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Parental involvement
in multi-ethnic schools
Involvement in
the curriculum
Aiming to be
open with parents
Schools, and especially the primary schools, aimed to be open to parents.
Parents were welcomed as helpers, and involved in a variety of activities.
Some schools invited parents to read stories in their own languages
as part of Book Weeks. Some had a number of parent helpers, and some
class teachers had an 'open door' policy at the end of every school
day, when parents could come in to look at children's work, and talk
to the teacher. Most schools also received help from parents with fund-raising
and particular projects.
Parents' assemblies in primary schools are a regular feature, and help
to involve the parents in what their children are learning. In City
Infants, assemblies were held first thing in the morning, to encourage
parents to stay on after bringing their children to school. In Alton
School, whole school assemblies focusing on presenting curriculum activities
took place last thing on Friday afternoon, and were very well attended
by parents, especially as they were conducted bilingually, with children
interpreting and introducing their work in Bengali.
While many schools encouraged parent volunteers, East Road Primary had
introduced another way of working with parents, through a reading project.
Several parents were paid for half-an-hour, three to five mornings a
week, and given training to work with small groups of children in Years
1 and 2, who were identified as needing extra help. Apart from the support
given for reading skills, parents themselves came to understand better
the school's way of teaching reading. The Headteacher commented that
the project had "massive spin-off", and that " ...it's part of the community-family feel".
An example of the effort to involve parents at Northshire Comprehensive
was a series of bilingual workshops for groups of bilingual mothers
of Year 7 students, which were organised by the Head of Year 7 and the
bilingual Community Liaison Officer. "Group tutors used their knowledge
of the students in their groups to nominate those whose families might
benefit most from the opportunity to participate in this scheme. This
provided an opportunity to meet and discuss with the Headteacher, Head
of Year and a Group Tutor, as well as see several departments at work"
(Headteacher's Report to Governing Body, 1996).
The six workshops which were run for the mothers (it's the fathers who
generally attend parents' evenings, so it was important to have daytime
sessions for mums) included an introductory session, and sessions on
special needs, on science, modern languages, a tour of the school which
involved a brief lesson on the computers, and a feedback session. Setting
up these workshops involved "a lot of time, a lot of work, and a lot
of planning", including the hiring of a minibus to pick up the parents.
But as the Head of Year who helped organise them said:
"I
think some members of staff will always question whether or not it is
worth the money and the time that is going into it. But I think that
a lot of people have seen the improvement in attendance at parents'
evenings as well as the benefits pastorally. I think some staff would
say they have seen a difference in the attitudes of parents [who now]
actually question academic things and take more of an interest because
they feel more comfortable with coming into school and discussing things."
At Northern Metropolitan,
the Head of Section 11 and the Urdu teacher were described as "well
respected members of the local Pakistani community who do valuable work
of liaising with and mediating between the school and the community".
Through this link, the school was able to organise successful discussions
with Muslim parents about different curriculum issues in the school.
For example, two events were organised on the subject of sex education.
One was a meeting of all interested parents at which the content and
methods of teaching the subject were explained to parents. At the second
event, mothers were invited to attend sex education classes with their
children so that they could see for themselves how the subject was taught.
Both events were well attended, and parents were able to put aside any
doubts or fears they might have had about the teaching of the subject
to their children.
Where schools offered consultation on policy and the curriculum for
those parents who wished to become involved, they were explicitly acknowledging
that education is a partnership between parents and school. Schools
also gained valuable support by recognising the skills and expertise
which many parents had to offer, and drawing these into the school,
classrooms and curriculum wherever possible.
Homework
Several primary schools sent work home for parents and children to do
together, often involving games and activities which could be carried
out bilingually, for example, finding the area of a hand or foot by
counting the squares after drawing round a hand on squared paper, or
doing some 'kitchen maths'. In one school, a Turkish interpreter from
the LEA came into school to give a preliminary talk explaining the homework
scheme and its aims to Turkish and Kurdish parents. The minority ethnic
group parents we spoke to valued homework, and wanted to support it.
Bangladeshi parent: "If a child fails to bring his or her homework,
the school should contact the parents and say this is what your child
is doing, so the parent will know. I never hear, or know myself a teacher
that has ever done this."
Pakistani parent: "The children need homework. It keeps them busy, it
keeps them out of mischief."
Most schools had a system of homework diaries and parents were encouraged
to make sure the children did the homework and to sign it off. Some
parents could do this confidently. However, this was something that
could not be taken for granted. Parents told us:
"... that's only for parents who are educated themselves.
You know, who know what to do."
"When the children get their homework, sometimes they do not understand...
Some of our parents do not know much English so they can't explain,
or tell their daughters or sons how to answer this or how to write that."
In those LEAs and schools where there were after-school homework or study
centres, these were greatly appreciated. However, once again timing was
important for bilingual and Muslim students who regularly attend community
languages classes and Mosque schools after school. In Northshire Comprehensive,
lunchtime study centres received a good attendance. Other schools tried
to consult with the community class organisers and the Mosque and to organise
study centre sessions directly after school, giving students enough time
to have a break for tea before beginning their other work.
It was really a question of never taking patterns of daily life for granted
according to white, monolingual norms, and finding ways to timetable important
areas of school life inclusively.
Governing bodies
Although there was little minority ethnic group involvement on the governing
boards in many schools, some schools had been successful in recruiting
minority ethnic group representation on their governing bodies. At Northern
Infants, for example, the Chair of Governors was a parent at the school,
of Bangladeshi origin, born and brought up locally, with a university
degree, and who was also a local magistrate.
City Infants was another school with strong representation from the local
African-Caribbean community on its governing body, including a parent
and local education professionals. Most secondary schools visited had
at least one black governor. The Chair of Governors at South Eastern Comprehensive
and the Deputy Chair at Northern Catholic High School were both black.
The latter stressed the importance of having black parents involved in
the decision-making processes of a school.
Parents' meetings and parents' associations
Another strategy used by some schools to involve minority group parents
was forming parents' groups or associations. Some schools had organised
successful parents' groups. One we observed in Northshire Comprehensive
was attended by 10-12 parents each time, including some fathers, with
an ethnically diverse group of parents.
At Northern Catholic, a group was formed which was for black parents and
for the parents of black children. This was in order to, in the words
of the Headteacher, "Give a voice to these parents so that we can be sure
that we are hearing the voices of all parents who care for black children."
Such an initiative was seen as necessary for groups that were in the minority
in a school.
Schools also recognised the importance of holding special cultural events
at which the whole school community can meet together. As well as the
more usual 'International Evenings', we also heard of family events to
celebrate Diwali, Haile Selassie's crowning, Eid and Guru Nanak's birthday.
Other ways of bringing parents into the school included: at Alton, classes
for parents were held on the school site; at City Infants, the Headteacher
led a successful parents' choir and there was also a well-attended parent
and toddler group, and a popular toy and video library; while East Road
Primary encouraged the community into the school by allowing the school
premises to be used at weekends for supplementary community-run classes
for children.
Working with community organisations to raise standards of attainment
as well as with individual parents could also be a way forward for schools.
One Headteacher told us:
"They've now got this massive community school where they
try to bring themselves into the mainstream and get funding and support
so that they can get the parents coming into school and understanding
what's going on with their children."
Discipline
Another issue that was troubling for parents was that of discipline and
how that was handled and/or dealt with by the school. Parents acknowledged
the difficulties faced by teachers especially when they had to try to
control large classes with students who were disaffected or engaged in
negative youth cultures. But there was also parental concern about unfairness,
as discussed earlier in this report. African-Caribbean parent:
"If I could afford to stay at home and teach him myself
then I would because I have just got no hope at all. I heard that X
School has got a very good special needs section, but then I know that
X School spits black boys out for exclusion of silly little things."
To exclude a child from school was seen as a bizarre way of disciplining
children. It was seen as a method that was more likely to encourage rather
than discourage bad behaviour.
" .... Now, say that my son has done something, they will
send him home to stress me. I phoned them and said to them, 'Look, I
don't see that as punishment, that is not punishment. The kids are glad
when you send them home. What you do is take him out of basketball and
let him stay in and do some writing, let him do something, some education
that is going to help him. Don't send him home to me!' "
City Infants was involved in a project in which parents and teachers were
working together to reach a shared approach to handling children. The
case studies in this report stress the importance of negotiating rules
and routines with parents as well as with students, and once agreed, making
these clear and explicit, so parents can feel assured of the fairness
of the treatment of their children.
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