2.
1 Family Engagement
4.6.1 Describe the advantages and importance of family or caregiver
involvement in learner development
Family involvement is essential in a child’s education. Having a support system
completely changes the way a child feels about school. Creating positive and open relationships
with your students and their families can help children be successful in the classroom.
There are multiple advantages of family engagement for teachers. Creating a relationship
with families helps teachers understand the student. In class we demonstrated this in an iceberg
activity (Evidence 2.1.1) where we showed that you can’t always know everything about a
student just by what you see in class. Having a connection with families makes parents feel
comfortable to come to teachers when there is conflict. Overall, family engagement is important
for teachers because they will receive more support from parents when they have a stable and
positive relationship.
Having families engaged in a child’s school life changes that student’s life tremendously.
Students feel more welcomed and motivated in the classroom of a teacher that shows they care
about more than just the school part of their lives. Students are also more likely to take risks and
answer difficult questions when they have a positive relationship with the teacher and building
that relationship can be from knowing more about the students through family.
Teachers including families in learning impacts the parents greatly. Parents want to know
what their children are doing in school everyday and their kids don’t always share that. Parents
want to be informed and involved and teachers have to be the bridge between school and home
life. Additionally, creating this relationship between family and teachers makes the parents feel
more comfortable approaching the teacher with any questions or concerns they have. In class we
created an introduction letter ( Evidence 2.1.2) that we sent to the parents of the student’s in our
placement. Making the parents feel more comfortable with you helps create that positive and
open relationship.
There are numerous ways to keep families involved in your classroom. Weekly
newsletters are a great way to let parents know what their children are doing in school and keep
them updated about upcoming class parties, field trips, help needed, and anything else important.
In class I created a mock newsletter ( Evidence 2.1.3) of what I would share with the parents of
my students. In my newsletter I shared the homework students needed to complete each night,
important reminders about an upcoming class party, and a star of the week. Other ways to
communicate include email, phone calls, or the most meaningful and effective way would be an
in person meeting. At a building level you could communicate with parents through schoology,
email, social media, website, or phone calls. Thinking on a higher scale at district level you could
communicate through the Olentangy Local Schools website, social media, email, newspaper,
newsletter, or media events like the One Community conference.
There are lots of situations to consider when thinking about communication with
families. Teachers need to remember that not every parent has extra time on their hands. Lots of
parents have multiple kids, work full time, and have other obligations. Teachers can’t expect
parents to read long emails with lots of details. Educators need to keep emails short and to the
point and place the most important information at the beginning. Additionally, teachers need to
make sure that the first interaction they have with parents is positive. They need to show parents
that they care. Teachers also need to show their appreciation for everything the parents do for
their kids and for their classroom. Teachers and parents need to work together to achieve the
common goal of making the children successful.