Researching education: Five further readings on parental engagement

Welcome to this month's edition of Researching education: Five further readings. In this series, we take a look at some further readings available on a particular topic, including open access research papers from various online catalogues, and Teacher archive content you might not have come across yet.

As an educator, how are you encouraging parents to support their child's learning? What structures exist in your school setting to support the collaboration between teachers, students and parents?

Here, we've gathered some resources available on the topic of parental engagement in education, which explore topics such as parent-teacher collaboration, how to best engage parents in their child's learning to improve student outcomes, and the importance of parents building relationships with the families of their child's friends.

Five further readings on parental engagement in education

  1. Cunningham Library Catalogue – The Cunningham Library Catalogue is an open access resource filled with links and references to Australian education research material including journals, government reports and books. At this link, we've listed search results for the topic of parental engagement. This link will continue to be updated as new resources on this topic become available.

  2. EdResearch Online – EdResearch Online contains hundreds of articles from Australian education journals, some of which are open access. To access resources on parental engagement in education, follow the link for a dynamic list of articles, which will also continue to be updated as new content becomes available. If you'd like to continue looking into this topic in the Cunningham Library Catalogue and EdResearch online, searching for phrases such as ‘parent participation', ‘family school relationship' or ‘partnerships in education' can lead you to other resources.

  3. Research Digest Number 10: Parents and teachers: Working together to foster children's learning. This edition of the Research Digest focuses on parent-teacher collaboration, providing information on what it means for teachers and teaching. Key features of effective collaborations and critical challenges are explored, as well as examples of activities that can be undertaken as part of a whole-school approach to effective parent-teacher collaboration.

  4. How can schools support parents' engagement in their children's learning? Evidence from research and practice. This paper from the Education Endowment Foundation presents a recent review of international evidence on parent engagement in children's learning. It investigates what schools in England are currently doing to promote parental engagement and shares findings from their research into what schools can do to improve student outcomes through parental engagement.

  5. Why it's important to know your child's friends at school (and their parents). In this article, Andreas Schleicher discusses research from the OECD on the importance of parents getting to know their child's friends and parents/carers at school. He suggests that school leaders and teachers that give this issue attention at their school will contribute to a positive school climate and improved learning outcomes.

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