Schools A partnership approach to education
Strong partnerships between schools, families and communities are a vital – and often neglected – component in the provision of a high-quality education. Research over decades from all around the world has shown the benefits of family engagement for students’ educational outcomes. Family/school partnerships also support students’ mental health and wellbeing.
The recently published AEU–Monash discussion paper, School Staff, Parent/Carer and Community Partnerships in Victoria’s Public Schools, adds yet more evidence of the value of strong educational partnerships, and indicates some promising ways to achieve them. Parents Victoria (PV) endorse many of its conclusions and recommendations.
PV supports the paper’s call to “review and learn from the variety of school, family and community partnership arrangements in place across Victoria and scale up through cohesive and comprehensive initiatives.”
Family engagement initiatives should be backed up with planning, research, staff and resources.
Family Engagement Officers
The AEU–Monash paper recommends “a broad trial of family engagement officers to build strong connections between schools and families”. This is something PV has been advocating for many years. Family Engagement Officers have been found to be effective time and again, yet there is still no comprehensive statewide support for all schools to have staff in these types of positions.
Family Engagement Division
Parents Victoria believes many of the recommendations of the paper could be facilitated by the creation of a Family Engagement Division within the federal and state departments of education. Such a division could implement a cohesive approach to family engagement initiatives, research the barriers, and implement solutions by providing comprehensive support to schools.
Mutual respect
Like Parents Victoria, the AEU research advocates for increased engagement and mutual respect between school staff and parents/carers – something we have long promoted to our parent networks.
We have also long advocated for mutual respect as a basis for a strong relationship between families and schools; that is, recognition by parents that school staff are trained experts in education, and recognition by school staff that families are the first educators of their children and know their children best. Families and communities also have cultural and social capital to contribute to their children’s education.
Relationship-based education
Parents Victoria supports Relationship-based Education (RbE) – a philosophy of education that puts relationships at the centre of the educational process, promoted by educator John Hendry OAM. One RbE idea is that education happens in a framework of relationships, not the other way around. The relationship between teachers and students, students and other students, and between the school and its community, are all critical.
There is much talk of “behaviour problems” in schools right now, and the discussion paper addresses the issue comprehensively. We believe these issues are, fundamentally, a breakdown in relationships, and that learning about relationships, how vital they are to education, and how to foster them in school communities, can help to address challenging behaviours in the classroom.
Public school funding
Parents Victoria understands the pressures already being experienced by teachers and school leaders, especially given current workforce shortages. Expecting already overworked staff to take on extra work to facilitate family and community engagement is not an option. PV has been vocal in calling for 100% SRS funding for all Australian public schools, as a matter of priority. More specifically, family engagement initiatives in schools should be backed up by planning, staff and resources, not loaded on to teachers and school leaders as an extra duty.
The big picture
The AEU–Monash discussion paper makes a broader point that also aligns with Parents Victoria’s values. This relates to the ‘marketisation’ of education – the view that education is just another service; schools are service providers in competition with each other; and parents/carers are customers or clients.
This individualistic view leads parents to focus on their own perceived ‘best interests’ in a competitive environment, rather than see themselves as partners with schools, in an educational process that benefits everyone involved – not only students, but school staff, the local community and our society as a whole.
Find out more about the AEU-Monash University research.
Provide feedback on the latest paper on the latest paper here.
