Activity 1- Reflect on what you have done so far to take action



Activity 1- Reflect on what you have done so far to take action

Word Count- 568

Parent engagement is an issue that we have at our school. We have found through research that we need to ensure that parents feel valued and respected to make strong relationships. When this happens, parents feel more comfortable to come in to school and interact with their child’s learning. We are wanting parents to come into school and participate in digital hangarau sessions, so that they have a clear understanding of what this curriculum consists of and how they can support their tamariki at home. Joyce Epstein (2001) describes this stage as decision making and collaborating with community. We believe that this stage will bring many benefits not only for students but for parents and teachers. We also want to share learning on a regular basis through the use of Apps.

We had outlined in our Action Plan that we would research online methods ways to engage parents in student learning. We currently have a School Website, some classes use Class Dojo or Facebook and I have looked into Seesaw and Storypark. We have discussed with colleagues at team meetings what they use to encourage parent involvement and most are using Class Facebook pages.

We had decided to send home to our students (Rooms 1 and 10) a parent engagement survey but after discussions with our School Principal, it was advised that we broaden our reach by sending it out to all Eldest and Only children school wide- this included our Maori Bilingual Unit (Te Whanau Awhina) and our Samoan Bilingual Unit (Tautua mo Tupulaga). We received a total of 108 surveys returned out of 385 that were issued out.

These were the findings from the surveys:

This question shows that many of our parents/caregivers only meet with their child’s teacher once or twice a year. The comments that we received that parents were too busy and had little time (“too busy with other little ones”).
When parents/caregivers were surveyed about the most effective way you would like to communicate with your child’s teacher, majority of parents/caregivers preferred Face to Face.

Most parent/caregivers when surveyed when asked how involved have you been at your child’s school, majority replied not at all involved.

Parents/Caregivers are happy with the information they receive from school whether it's notices, newsletters, information regarding an event/trip.


Parents/Caregivers felt they were fully informed in regards to what their child is learning at school.

Most Parents/Caregivers are interested in learning more about how Digital Technology is taught at school through booklets that they can use at home.

It was interesting from the parent engagement surveys to note that parents/caregivers are interested in being more involved with their child/children’s learning but are too busy with work, study or family commitments. This was very interesting for us to find out as it has forced us to re-evaluate our inquiry from “to what extent does parent engagement in digital hangarau impact on student success for Year 7 and 8 students at Clendon Park School” to “how can we use digital hangarau to improve parent engagement in order to have a positive impact on student success for Year 7 and 8 students at Clendon Park School”.

I plan to look into Seesaw and Storypark as avenues to improve parent engagement through the use of a digital tool.


Reference:
Epstein, J. L. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships. Boulder, CO: Waterview Press.




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