REVIEW OF BEST PRACTICE IN PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT

Research Report DFE-RR156

Review of best practice in parental engagement

Janet Goodall and John Vorhaus with the help of Jon Carpentieri, Greg Brooks, Rodie Akerman and Alma Harris

This research report was commissioned before the new UK Government took office on 11 May 2010. As a result the content may not reflect current

Government policy and may make reference to the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) which has now been replaced by the Department

for Education (DFE).

The views expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education.

CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary 2. About this report 3. Context 4. The Review Process 5. School Home Links 6. Support and Training for parents 7. Family and community based interventions 8. Profile of the evidence base 9. Conclusions

Appendices Appendix 1: Practitioners' Summary Appendix 2: Sources of evidence Appendix 3: References Appendix 4: Glossary

p. 3 p. 12 p. 16 p. 17 p. 20 p. 48 p. 63 p. 79 p. 83

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to extend grateful thanks to Professor Charles Desforges OBE, (University of Exeter), Jon Robinson, Peter Apostolou and Iain Cuthbert (Department for Education) for their expert advice and guidance.

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION

Benefits of parental engagement

Parental engagement has a large and positive impact on children's learning. This was the single most important finding from a recent and authoritative review of the evidence:

Parental involvement in the form of `at-home good parenting' has a significant positive effect on children's achievement and adjustment even after all other factors shaping attainment have been taken out of the equation. In the primary age range the impact caused by different levels of parental involvement is much bigger than differences associated with variations in the quality of schools. The scale of the impact is evident across all social classes and all ethnic groups. (Desforges 2003).

It is therefore a priority to identify interventions that are effective in supporting parental involvement, particularly those parents who are either not significantly involved in their children's education or who are not involved at all. That is the purpose of this review.

Aims and objectives

This report presents a review of studies of interventions aimed at supporting and improving parental engagement in the education of children aged 5-19, and which also offer evidence on educational outcomes. The overall aim of the review is to:

? highlight findings and conclusions from the evidence reviewed ? identify key themes and messages for practitioners and school leaders.

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