Best Practice

Engaging parents: An innovative approach to tutor time

An innovative approach to tutor time combined with the effective use of technology has helped one school to reach-out to unengaged parents. Principal Dan Locke-Wheaton explains more, including a look at recent research into parental engagement


Secondary schools face distinct challenges in reaching out to less engaged parents but there are ways we can improve that situation.

The key is to know who our quietly unengaged parents are and then make efforts to reach them through a range of measures which might include more intelligent use of technology as well as good old-fashioned pastoral work.

We know the families who are unhappy because they let us know. And we are equally aware of the engaged ones, usually because their children are equally motivated and engrossed in their learning. These students invariably have strong support at home.

Then there is the silent group in the middle who fall between these two camps. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you might say they are our “known unknowns”.

Register now, read forever

Thank you for visiting SecEd and reading some of our content for professionals in secondary education. Register now for free to get unlimited access to all content.

What's included:

  • Unlimited access to news, best practice articles and podcast

  • New content and e-bulletins delivered straight to your inbox every Monday and Thursday

Register

Already have an account? Sign in here