Supporting schools to understand the importance of partnering with parents – and how they might practically go about it – is vital to achieving positive change in school communities. In Queensland’s independent school sector, innovative parent engagement initiatives are reaping dividends.
There is much talk about the importance of parent engagement for students’ learning and wellbeing.
More than 60 years of research – both in Australia and internationally – shows that effectively engaging parents can not only enhance students’ achievement and wellbeing, it is also a vital ingredient in high performing schools.
As a result, governments have been taking notice and categorising parent engagement as an important strategic priority for schools.
But what is being done to help school leaders and teachers understand and embed the practice – effectively and sustainably – in their school communities?
In the Queensland independent sector, its peak parenting body – Queensland Independent Schools Parents Network – is spearheading a unique program called ‘Mastering Parent Engagement’ which is scaffolding schools to understand the research and implement parent engagement in their unique contexts.
The program is resulting in schools re-imagining their parent-teacher interview process, streamlining the number of channels they use to communicate with parents and inviting parents in as important allies in their child’s education and wellbeing.
Parent engagement: a re-cap
Parent engagement is families and schools working in partnership with a shared goal of helping students achieve their potential, all the while respecting each other’s unique roles in a child’s education.
We know a parent can’t replace a teacher and a teacher can’t replace a parent, however both bring important contributions.
When parents are engaged – effectively and sustainably – and scaffolded by their child’s teacher/s in the ways they might value-add to what is being taught at school, they are given the opportunity to draw on their own life experiences and knowledge of their child to follow through on that request. It allows a child’s learning to therefore extend beyond the classroom and continue around the dinner table, in the car (or via phone with their parents if students are in a boarding school context).
While parents volunteering in the tuckshop, helping on an excursion, or sitting in the audience at a school information night represent important ways for a parent to show their support to a school (referred to as ‘parent involvement’), parent ‘engagement’ initiatives and practices are distinct as they are tied to a child’s learning and wellbeing.
For parents of teenage children, it also gives them a legitimate way of engaging their child in conversation about their learning and wellbeing – definitely a more productive avenue than ‘How was your day?’ Good’. ‘What did you learn?’ ‘Nothing’.
A new model
The year-long Mastering Parent Engagement program, which debuted in 2024, is operated by the Queensland Independent Schools Parents Network, with financial support from the Queensland Government and Independent Schools Queensland.
There are now two streams of the program: the year-long entry level program for schools dipping their toes into parent engagement, and then an advanced cohort for schools that want to deep dive into project work, under the guide of experienced coaches for a second year.
Executive Director of the Queensland Independent Schools Parents Network, Ms Amanda Watt says the lightbulb moment for most schools came when they understood parents were a largely untapped resource in children’s learning.
“Parents are their child’s first and enduring teacher so they can not only add important context about their children, they have rich life experiences that they can draw on to value-add to what their child might be learning at school at the time,’’ Ms Watt says.
“If a parent knows what is being taught and encouraged to keep that learning conversation going in small, simple ways, the learning process for their child can become richer and deeper.
“Schools and families viewing each other as partners who support and back each other, also feels good for teachers, parents and children.’’
School spotlight
Riverside Christian College, a day and distance education school in Maryborough, and The Lakes College, in Brisbane’s north, are two independent schools taking part in the program.
Riverside Christian College has a parent engagement officer who supports educators by producing term overviews that include ‘conversation starters’ for parents in years Prep to year 9 and maintains a register of parent expertise that can be called on. Social media is also used to spotlight classroom activities.
The leadership team is also encouraging teachers across the school to trial ways they can bring parents closer to what is happening in their classroom.
Principal Ms Michelle Gouge says rapidly growing enrolments, the lingering effects of COVID, as well as the fact they have a large proportion of children who arrive by bus, had required them to think about parent engagement in innovative ways.
“We understand that engagement is a two-way communication between school staff and families and that trust is built over time,’’ Ms Gouge says.
“We also think that we will develop a stronger school culture and community. Parents who are welcomed and valued and feel part of the school’s mission are more likely to contribute positively with us [and] students who are engaged tend to show better behaviour, higher self esteem and greater engagement in their learning. It’s not about getting our parents through the door, it’s about partnering together for student success.”
Staff and parent feedback was one of the first steps The Lakes College took to kickstart their parent engagement journey and they have been deliberate in including parent voice in many of their initiatives.
“For the next three to five years parent engagement is front and centre on The Lakes College’s Strategic Horizon,’’ Principal Ms Nicole Gregory says.
“We’re authentically walking the journey with our community.’’’
Parents Ms Kristina Petho and Ms Renee Cairns-O’Neill led a parent panel on a parent engagement information night at the college and shared their learnings from being on The Lakes College team in the Mastering Parent Engagement program.
“I have been involved with the school for many, many years and I thought that was engagement; I was in for a very rude shock when I realised I was just ‘involved’,’’ Ms Petho says.
“We’ve seen the school going out to different parents and seeking out their expertise and there’s been a very positive take up to that.’’
Ms Cairns-O’Neill says she stressed to parents on the information night that parent engagement “doesn’t have to be something huge’’.
“It could just be little tweaks that the school could make and small efforts parents could make in response to those,’’ she explains.
“We didn’t need to be climbing mountains from the beginning. If we (as parents) are engaged, the children will feel more of a sense of belonging at the school and a tie to the community.’’
