For decades educational researchers have been exploring how to raise the achievement of ethnic minority children. It is noted that in the UK the number of ethnic minority pupils in schools is increasing. It is a challenging task for schools and education authorities to provide appropriate learning opportunities for EAL pupils so that they can achieve their full potential. Numerous studies have focussed on this issue and suggested various recommendations. One recently published NALDIC report (NALDIC, Latest News 4 Sep 2007) recommended continuing ongoing research in this area. It is proven that research provides opportunity to reflect on existing practice and learn more about teaching and learning. It also helps to design an informed action plan for the whole school and eventually pupils get benefit from it.

The objective of the present study is to explore the effect of parental involvement in the learning process and look into practical suggestions to ensure it occurs. Research already shows that children perform better if they are brought up in a family where the supportive environment for learning is available. Jim Cummins observes,

A number of studies highlight the fact that an ongoing community/school process is an important contributor to the success of a school in working with bilingual students. In effective schools, teachers have a strong commitment to home-school communication and parents are involved in formal parent support activities (e.g. Garcia, 1991).

(Jim Cummins, Language, Power and Pedagogy, p266, Multilingual Maters Ltd, 2004)

DIECEC (Developing Intercultural Education through Co-operation between European Cities) is a trans-national network working to raise the achievement levels of pupils of different backgrounds. They suggest that ‘engaging parents and working with them is a key factor in raising pupils’ achievement’ especially of those who are from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds.’ (Phil Green, Raise the Standard, p33, Trentham Books Limited, 2000)

Department for Education and Skills recognises the importance of parental support. It always encourages schools to look for strategies to involve parents in the learning process of their children. It clearly states,

‘The best schools engage constructively with parents, treating them as equal partners in their children’s education. They look imaginatively at ways to encourage dialogue and listen to parents. Above all, they make parents welcome and respond respectfully to their need and concerns.’

(Aiming High: Raising Achievement of Minority Ethnic Pupils, p 26, DfES, 2003)

Background:

I have been teaching Bengali at Stratford School since September 2000. In the same year I was assigned with some EAL responsibilities and I continued to work with EAL department for two years. From September 2002 I worked within the history department for one year and taught a group of 30 pupils consisting of many bilingual pupils.

The focus of my study is a group of bilingual (Bangladeshi and Pakistani) children attending this school. In my school 90% of pupils’ home language is not English. They speak Bengali (24%), Guajarati (26%), Urdu (14%), Panjabi (9%) and other languages (12%). Several researches have suggested (OFSTED, Raising the attainment of minority ethnic pupils, 1999; HMI 513, May 2004) that the performance of Bangladeshi and Pakistani pupils is depressing. Their performance remains below national averages especially in relation to higher grades at GCSE.

The Education Department observes that (DfES, Removing the Barriers, 2000) school and parents both recognise the importance of parental involvement, ‘but do not always share the same understanding of how this might best be achieved.’ The present study covers ongoing policy and practice of Stratford School in respect of parental involvement and also possible ways to increase parental support to ensure better attainment. All teachers and support staff I contacted have recognised the importance of involving parents in the learning process of their children if attainment is to be raised. Similarly, all the parents who took part in the study have agreed that parental participation in their children’s education is very important. However, views from some ethnic minority parents indicated that there is often a difference of perception between schools and parents.

The study has two phases. At the first phase I have prepared a questionnaire and distributed it to 15 teachers and support staff, and to 10 parents. I have personally met some teachers and parents and explained the aim of my project. Both teachers and parents have welcomed my initiative and responded very positively. I have received written responses from 12 teachers and 10 parents.

At the second phase I worked with a group of year 9 pupils. I met both pupils and parents individually and collectively to understand their views. My aim was to explore ways to involved parents more in the learning process of their children. My experience with the parental liaison work and interaction with pupils are included in this study.

First Phase

Parents’ Opinion: Written

I have found all parents very helpful and they expressed their concerns and opinions freely. Along with verbal discussion 100% parents responded in writing. Their responses are given below.

Question1. In what ways can parents help their children in raising their achievement?

In response to this question every parent has emphasised the importance of involving parents in their children’s learning process and put forward their views and suggestions. One parent writes, ‘to improve their children’s learning parents can make sure their children attend school everyday and on time. Monitor that their children do their homework and check homework planner. Attend all parents evening to know how their child is making progress. Ask the children how they are doing.’

Another parent says, ‘As a parent we should ask our children what they do in the school and discuss about their lessons. If there is any problem parents should try to solve it. Parents also should check homework diary regularly and try to find out whether there is any other physical or emotional problem that are affecting their achievement.’

One of the parents suggests that ‘parents should be given some homework so that they learn how to check the progress of their children, support them and encourage them to achieve higher.’

Question2.

How does Stratford School engage parents in the learning process of their children?

To answer this question all 10 parents mentioned parents evening and the pupils’ report. In their opinion, parents evening plays a very important role in pupils’ academic achievement. Therefore all parents should make sure that they attend parents’ evenings and play a pro-active role to know about their children’s achievement and obstacles, if there is any, which are affecting their progress.

One of the parents has mentioned about the phone call from the school and says that they get a phone call only when children are in trouble. He says parents would be happy to get phone calls when their children are doing better.

One parent has told me that one of her children contributed greatly in school life and she has received a letter of appreciation from the deputy head teacher. She opines that these kinds of letters are very encouraging both for mother and child.

Another parent says that school should inform parents about their children progress at the end of each term instead of at the end of academic year.

Question3.

What else, in your opinion, can the School do?

It is evident from the responses to this questions that all parents want to be more involved in their children’s learning process and also contribute to school life. But to do this, in their opinion, initiatives should come from the school or teachers. However there are parents who do not have time to come to school and a small number from ethnic minority groups unwilling to come to school because they do not have required skills to communicate with the teachers.

One of the parents says, ‘There are parents who do not understand what the national curriculum, the key stages, Literacy / Numeracy etc. are. Therefore school should have information evenings for parents that could possibly cover all these topics. During such evening parents should have opportunity to ask question. It will greatly help them to understand issues related to education and expectations.’

Six out of ten parents strongly feel that parental involvement in learning process will raise school’s achievement and have suggested that to increase parental involvement one member of staff should be assigned with the role of liaising with the parents.

Another parent writes, ‘In my opinion if the school occasionally organises short workshops for parents where teachers will give some basic ideas about school life, lesson and homework. We are aware that the ability of all parents is not equal and this kind of workshops will help parents to understand how lesson goes and how children learn. It will have a positive effect in raising achievement’

Parents’ Opinion: Informal conversation

During carrying out the survey I have spoken to parents in person and over telephone some of which parents do not want to be reported. In my opinion these conversation though informal have an importance and deserve our attention. Their informal discussion can be summarised as follows.

- Parents do not want to contact school because they do not have the confidence to communicate with the teachers because of language barrier, and they think that an interpreting facility is not readily available in the school.

- School’s response about their complaint is not always welcomed.

- One parent has complained against a dinner lady for rude behaviour. She reported it to one of senior teachers but did not get any respond.

- One mother says that she rarely come to school because she leads a very busy life for fulfilling the demands of a large family. In addition her husband is on fulltime employment and his working hour does not suit with the school timetable.

- One parent complains that her son is bullied by other pupils but she fails to convince the teacher on that issue.

- One parent says one of her son’s teacher makes sarcastic remarks which sounds like racist comments and it is affecting her child’s learning. Because of that she requested the head of year to put her child with another group. But the head of year did not listen to her.

- One parents says her child does not wants her to come to school because she does not know proper English and school does not welcome any language other than English.

- School contact them only when pupils are disruptive. Teachers do not have concern of a quiet child who is not achieving higher grade because of one or other reason.

- Some teachers do not have high expectations of our children. A parent of Y10 pupil says, ‘Other than food technology in all other subjects my daughter has got ‘D’, yet her teachers say that she is doing well. I can’t believe it.’

- One parent says that her son is aiming to study English literature and his expected grade in all major subjects is ‘A’. But his English teacher seems happy with a ‘C’ from him.

Teachers Response

Responses from teachers (one of them is a deputy head teacher of the school) are as follows. Regarding question number one they say that parents can help children in raising their achievement by:

1. Talking to them about their school day

2. Supervising homework

3. Ensuring that children have regular time slot for doing homework

4. Providing them a quiet place to do homework

5. Monitoring homework diary regularly

6. Reading with children

7. Attending parents evening

8. Encouraging children to attend lunch time club and after school homework club

9. Arranging extra lesson in home

10. Praising them

11. Contacting teachers to check progress

12. Making it a priority to find out what their children are studying

13. Knowing when coursework deadlines and exam etc. happen

14. Supporting school when there are concern

15. Ensuring that children attend all lesson

In response to the question number two teachers say that Stratford School engage parents in the learning process of their children by:

1. Sending reports to home

2. Arranging parents evening

3. Phoning home

4. Sending letters of praise

5. Meeting when there are problems

6. Organising Aim Higher events to explain further and higher educational opportunities

7. Providing interpreting facilities so that they can explain concern in their home language

In reply to the question what else school can do the teachers say:

1. School can employ a designated liaison worker to set up opportunities for parents to come to school.

2. School can arrange English lesson for parents

3. Make sure we have Bengali speakers on duty (because most parents speak Bengali in the home)

4. Encouraging parents to come to school by providing extended facilities in IT and Language learning.

5. Translate all letters going home to parents

6. Carry out a survey asking opinion of parents on their children’s learning.

Pupils’ view:

I have also contacted 10 pupils to know their views about parental involvement in their learning process. Some pupils are very shy to speak out, but I found most of them are very enthusiastic. They have expressed their ideas freely and put forward some suggestions. Everyone says that they get scared when teachers contact their parents. It is mostly because they see that teachers only want to contact parents when there is any concern. Six out of ten pupils say that there parents do not understand how school and education department work. To involve them in learning process they should be made familiar with the system. Some pupils mention with unease that their parents do not know English hence it is useless to bring them to school unless there is an arrangement so that they can express their views and concern in home language.

Second Phase

School’s Initiative

In fact school’s initiative has started all of a sudden and it was beyond my anticipation. While talking to one of SMT members of our school I informed him about my assignment and sought his suggestions. He says that it sounds very interesting and also shows readiness to help me. He proposes that if I have time and willingness then school can assign me some responsibility of liaising with parents. I have gladly accepted the proposal and requested to put the proposal in writing. The following week he sent me a written proposal and I have started to work on it.

From October 2006 to July 2007 I worked with ten Y9 pupils and their parents. After the initial collective meeting with pupils I met each parent individually with her/his child. We sat together and discussed the aim and objective of the project. Parents and children both agreed to work together. During this meeting each pupil, after consulting with parents, set targets for forth-coming SAT.

My meetings with parents and pupils were very successful. I found all the parents very supportive and keen to see that their children are achieving a higher grade. They are very glad to learn that at least one teacher is specially taking care of their children's learning, and if needed, they can talk to him in their own language. Parents agreed that they would:

1) Monitor progress by checking class work and homework

2) Sign the homework diary regularly

3) Make sure their child gets time and enough space in home for study

4) Encourage their child to attend after school home work club

5) Contact school if they have any concern

After the meeting I maintained regular contact with parents and pupils. In addition to several phone calls I arranged a meeting with two of them twice and, discussed progress and reviewed target of their children. It seems to me that they are happy to see that every thing is proceeding according to plan and most children are making progress.

At the beginning the children were little bit scared about the project. They feared that the teacher would get them in trouble by informing parents all that happens in the school. But later they were happy when they learnt that my job was only to support them so that they can achieve a higher level and not to deal with issues related to behaviour or discipline.

Just before the SATs I sat with each pupil, with some pupils more then once. I enquired about their progress and concern, asked if they need any help, and more importantly encouraged them to aim higher. The achievement of the project can be summarised with the table below. The report shows that the project has made a valuable contribution in terms of achievement of most of the pupils. If it continues I hope it will bring about a change and fill the gaps both between parents and children and, parents and school.

Findings:

The findings of two projects are very similar and they confirm the findings of other researches that have been carried out previously on this issue. Pauline Gibbons observes that there is a strong link between successful learning outcomes and involvement of parents. He cites the Haringey Project (Hewison & Tizard, 1980; Tizard, Schofield & Hewison, 1982) which is considered as one of the successful project for creating home-school partnerships. The results of that project showed clear differences in the reading achievement of the groups involved. Pauline Gibbons further emphasises,

School where there is genuine and active participation by parents have been improved learning, and where schools involved minority parents as partners and decision makers in their children’s education, the parents have appeared to develop an increased sense of their worth that communicates itself to their children. (Learning to Learn in a Second Language, p 112:1993)

Jim Cummins, in the same way, emphasises on making parents a partner in children’s education. He, however, calls for reversing the pattern of academic failure by challenging ’the historical pattern of subordination’. To improve academic achievement of ethnic minority children he encourages educators to allow culturally diverse students to develop the language and culture they bring from home. (Jim Cummins, Language, Power and Pedagogy, p246, 2004) On the other hand Peter Cunningham observes,

Two key players in a child’s education are the home and the school. If the two are working apart and in different directions or simply not sharing what they are doing then it reduces the chances for the children to achieve to their full potential.

(Bilingual Children: Whole School Policy and Practice; Bilinguality and Literacy, edited by Manjula Datta, p202, Continuum 2004)

The present survey indicates that most parents of EAL children are enthusiastic to be involved in learning process of their children. They want to see their children are aiming higher and getting appropriate support to achieve their full potential. However, it is evident that all parents do not have time to fulfil that expectation and some of them do not have ability to play their expected role as learning partner of their children. On the other hand the school, as suggested by teachers involved, is trying to find out ways to break down barriers between teachers and parents. It always wants to share responsibility with parents for raising achievement of its pupils. Parents and also some teachers made a number of suggestions. School needs to look into these suggestions and for the sake of raising achievements it needs to follow them up.

But to involve parents as partner and decision maker in their children’s education, especially in multi-ethnic school, is not an easy task. It requires a genuine zeal on part of the school, and also it needs lots of resources and more innovative approach.

The ideas and suggestions put forward by parents and teachers involved are as follows:

1) Communicating with parents

It has been school practice to communicate with parents by sending letter, note or by phoning home. But if parents do not speak English or speak little English then all these kinds of communication will have little effect. Therefore there should be arrangement to communicate information with parents in their home language. It is noted that in Stratford School 90% pupils’ home language is other than English. But all notes, information leaflets and letters sent to home by the school are written in English. The teachers who make phone call to home speak mostly in English. The notices around school indicating where the office and other buildings are, and welcome signs to visitors all indicate that the only language valued here is English. This practice needs to be changed and in practice school needs to show that it gives value to community languages. For effective communication the role of home language can not be ignored. In addition, parents feel valued when they see their home language is valued.

2) Empowering parents

Some parents suggested that to involve parents with the learning process of their children, parents need to be informed about the education system of the country. Most parents have their own experience of schooling, but this does not match with the current teaching approaches. School can organise sessions for parents to make them familiar with current curriculum and teaching methodology. During such sessions parents should be encouraged to talk and ask question in a language they feel comfortable with.

Some parents feel that they are incapable of helping children because of their lack of English. Teachers should inform parents about the value of mother tongue and its importance in support work. To make them familiar with support work there should be sessions to demonstrate how bilingual support teachers work with EAL pupils. It will encourage parents to engage more in learning process of their children.

3) Language class and IT lesson for parents

Some teachers suggested that school can involve parents by providing facilities for language class and IT lesson. It is part of empowering parents and it will eventually help parents to take part in school life and learning activities. There are opportunities to run such classes in partnership with local authority. Provisions of IT and language classes will immensely increase contact with parents. Once rapport is established with few parents within an ethnic group, they will play a major role to make contact with other parents.

4) Liaison Teacher

Suggestions put forward by parents involved that one member of staff should be assigned with the responsibility of liaising with parents. OfSTED (HMI 170) reported that to ensure high level of parental participation some school created a designated post and provided a room for parents in school. Ideally there would be a room for parents and the person designated should know one or more home languages of the pupils. S/he will contact parents and look for innovative ways to involve parents with learning activities of the school.

The Harringey project is one of the more successful examples of parental involvement. Because of its methodology and achievement Harringey experiment has been widely discussed. Two classes of children from different school took part in the project. They took reading books home and parents supported them in reading. The reading attainment of these children was significantly higher than that of other children. Another example of such project (DfEE research report, Making the Difference, 1998) was initiated by North Shire Comprehensive to involve parents. It was a series of bilingual workshops for mothers of Year 7 pupils. Parental help and support can also be sought to run activities like family literacy project, maths project, after school club, event to celebrate cultural diversity, school trip and in other similar activities.

Parents can be involved with some support work as well. It is true that they are not able to work as substitutes for qualified teaching assistant. But parents who speak another language are a very valuable resource and they can help EAL children in maths and language activities.

While school is going to organise sessions for ethnic minority parents one important point should not be ignored. School should think about the language of the parents attending. Pauline Gibbons rightly emphasises:

A parent programme designed to include minority background parents must recognise cultural and linguistic difference in the same way as we recognise children’s individual differences and starting points in planning appropriate language programme.’

(Pauline Gibbons, Learning to Learn in a Second Language, p112, Heinemann, 1993)

Conclusion:

The findings of present study are emphasising the fact that parents should be considered as partners in their children’s education. The parents involved, all of them are from ethnic minority group, say that they want to play their role in the learning process of their children. But it is school and teachers who are responsible to take initiative and create provisions so that parents do not sit back and come forward to offer their service. One DfEE research report (Blair & Bourn1998) has mentioned that ‘there is often a difference of perception between schools and parents as to the nature and purpose of parental involvement’. Quoting one community liaison officer the report says that teachers do not always realise that they ‘talked down’ to ethnic minority parents. ‘Unconscious racism’ is also considered there as a major obstacle to communication. It is school who must take action to remove this kind of perception and barrier.

According to Maud Blair and Jill Bourne, the most successful multi-ethnic schools are ‘listening school’. They say,

The most effective school were ‘listening schools’: schools which took time to talk with students; which were prepared to consider and debate values as well as strategies; which took seriously the views of students and parents offered and their own interpretations of school processes; and which used this learning to re-appraise, and where necessary change, their practices and to build more inclusive curriculum.

While speaking about ‘facilitating environment’ in the school for second language learner John Clegg emphasises that it is greater than the classroom and it goes beyond the school gate. He observes that the achievement of minority pupils largely depends on ‘the relation the school maintains with her parents and their community.’ Citing Tizard (1982) and Pease-Alvarez and Vasquez (1994) he says when a school ‘values and strengthens its roots in the minority community’ then minority children get chance to achieve higher.

In fact bilingual parents like all parents love their children and like to see children are achieving higher grade. They want to support their children but in most cases they do not know how to do it. School should take initiative to remove barriers and find out strategies for meaningful involvement of parents in children’s learning. To make ethnic minority parents a genuine partner in children’s education they need to feel comfortable in entering school and approaching teachers, and also need to see in school practice that their language and culture are valued. We know that:

‘The best schools engage constructively with parents, treating them as equal partners in their children education. They look imaginatively at ways to encourage dialogue and listen to parents. Above all, they make parents welcome and respond respectfully to their need and concerns.’

(Aiming High: Raising Achievement of Minority Ethnic Pupils, p 26, DfES, 2003)

References

Adger, Carolyn Temple; Snow, Catherine E, & Christian, Donna (Eds.), What Teachers Need to Know About Language, 2002, Washington, DC: Centre for Applied Linguistics

Baker, Colin; Foundation of Bilingual Education, 3rd Edition, 2003, Multilingual Matters

Clegg, John; Mainstreaming ESL, Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1996

Cummins, Jim (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Datta, Manjula; Bilinguality and Literacy, Continuum, 2004

DfES, The Impact of Parental Involvement, Parental Support and Family Education on Pupil Achievements and Adjustment: A Literature Review - Professor Charles Desforges with Alberto Abouchaar June 2003

DfES, Aiming High: Raising Achievement of Minority Ethnic Pupils, 2003)

DfES research report, Making Difference: teaching and learning strategies in successful multi-ethnic schools by Maud Blair & Jill Bourne, 1998

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Heinemann, March 1993

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Tizard, J. and Schofield, W.N. and Hewison, J., Collaboration between teachers and parents in assisting children's reading, British Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 52, 1982 Research Repor