Teach Secondary Issue 14.3

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthony David is an executive headteacher to create our ‘family calendar’, which has proved to be easily the most important form of ‘casual’ communication we have. Personalised approaches are often necessary when engaging parents who have proved to be particularly hesitant. Assigning a key staff member – such as a pastoral lead, or maybe a learning mentor – to maintaining contact with specific families has helped us build rapport with those families over time. Some parents will respond best to face-to-facemeetings, whilst others may prefer written communication. The key is to be flexible, and to adapt those strategies that best fit families’ individual needs. A former colleague of mine used to refer to those moments of effective and productive contact with parents as ‘social tokens’. There’s a genuine power in being present at the school gate where there’s ample opportunity to amass those tokens since, truthfully, you never knowwhen youmight need to cash them in... Ongoing reflection For some parents, just the act of taking those first small steps towards greater involvement with the school will be necessary before anything else. Rather than expecting them to attend a school event in person, I might encourage them to start by reading with their child at home and sharing a photo. Others might feel comfortable engaging with an online discussion or survey about any areas in which the school might be able to improve. Volunteering for small, low-pressure activities – like, say, helping to prepare materials for a classroom project – can be the gateway to deeper involvement over time. Engaging reticent parents isn’t a one-time effort, but rather an ongoing process of reflection and adaptation. Seeking regular feedback from parents through surveys, informal conversations or focus groups will ensure that your engagement strategies remain relevant, since what works one year may not deliver similar results the next. Highlighting success stories can also help to inspire other parents to get more involved. When previously disengaged families find meaningful ways of participating in the school community, their experiences can encourage others to do the same. Empathy, flexibility, effort It’s equally important that staff efforts in fostering such connections be recognised, and that training be provided on engagement best practices. Engaging parents successfully calls for empathy, flexibility and sustained effort. By understanding the barriers families face; creating accessible contact opportunities; fostering trust and providing personalised approaches wherever possible, I believe we can all develop stronger, more inclusive communities where all parents feel valued. That said, I should acknowledge that schools everywhere have found themselves having to manage an unprecedented volume of school complaints and difficult interactions with angry parents. Without wanting to minimise those concerns, we should recognise that those challenges are very different to that of distant parents being reluctant to engage. It’s a distinct issue, that requires a very different set of responses. Inmany ways, our role as school staff is to broker relationships in order to establish the best learning opportunities for children – and there’s no AI in the world that’s capable of managing that. Yes, engaging parents often takes time, but the rewards – for students, families and your school –make it well worth the investment. 51 teachwire.net/secondary L E A D E R S H I P