16 Nov The Relevance of Parental & Family Engagement in Children’s Education

One key aspect of children’s lives and development which many of the teachers we have spoken to for this podcast have mentioned, regardless of who they’re teaching and where they are, is the relevance of parental and family engagement in children’s education. 

Their observations mirror the findings of today’s guest Sharon Wolf, an applied developmental psychologist interested in how young children’s social environments – specifically their families and schools – shape their development.

“Parents’ involvement really can enhance the children’s academic outcomes. Not just how they engage in school, but their positive attitudes and their behaviours, and how they feel about school.” – Sharon

We are also joined by teachers in Lebanon and India, and hear in-depth insights from an impactful parental engagement program in Cajon Valley, California. 

First we hear from Nour, who works in a kindergarten in Lebanon, supporting the special needs of autistic children.

“The program that I am working on relies a lot on consistency and without the parents’ engagement this is very difficult to do. You cannot be consistent with the work that you are doing if the parents are not engaged.” – Nour

Next we hear from Janice Raymond, lead of the project Family and Community Engagement (FACE) in Cajon Valley, Southern California. 

“Regardless of who you visit, other parents in the apartment buildings see you, other kids see you doing visits. All of a sudden everyone wants a home visit. You affect more than just that one family. The relationship is built in the community just by reaching out and making that first step. It is really quite astonishing how that ripple effect works. You don’t need to visit every single family to have an effect on every single family.” – Janice

On today’s podcast:

• Why the pandemic opened parents’ eyes to their children’s schooling
• The need for teacher-parent supportive relationships 
• Why family engagement in children’s schooling is crucial