1. Raising Aspirations Conference Newcastle January 2010

2. Why work with parents?

3. School achievement skills esp: literacy attitudes esp: responsibility persistence values esp: citizenship learning

4. lo ach hi

5. Factors shaping educational outcomes  child’s characteristics  family characteristics  parental involvement  school quality  community  peer group  family support services

6. Teenage outcomes and socio-economics Poorest Richest 25% 25% 5 GCSE ( A* to C inc 20% 75% Ma & Eng) NEET at 17 15% 2% Truant at 14 24% 8%

7. Explaining the link: major factors  parents’ attitudes and behaviours  material resources  maternal education  young person’s attitudes and behaviours

8. Effects of parents/effect of schools achievement parents / school effects age 7 0.29 / 0.05 age 11 0.27 / 0.21 age 16 0.14 / 0.51 from Sacker et al (2002)

9. Good parenting  authoritative not authoritarian  conversation/discussion  at home  confers respect values attitudes  impact long lasting and far reaching

10. Barriers to parental involvement  extreme poverty and social chaos  substance abuse  depression  the difficult relationship  lack of confidence or knowledge  alternative values  barriers set up by schools

11. Implications s trategy for parent support  analysis  vision  personalisation  resourcing  partnerships

12. The extended reach of school learningsocialhealth pupil family community

13. Families in Policy contextsocial change political response research policies Think Family training and support parent practitioner academy practices

14. Dangers  creating dependencies  stigmatising  initiatives without learning

15. Central delivery principles The constructive capacity of humans agency teamwork/community learning to learn persistence embed learning in the work

16. References Cabinet Office (2009) Think Family: improving the life chances of families at risk. Centre for Social Justice www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk Cummings, C. et at (2005) Evaluation of the full service extended schools project. London. DfES Research Report 680 (free download) DCSF 2008 The impact of Parental Involvement on Children’s Education. www.teachernet.gov Desforges, D., and Abouchaar, A. (2003) The impact of parental involvement on pupil achievement DfES Research Report 433 DfES (2005) The shape of things to come: personalised learning through collaboration. Download from www.teachernet.gov.uk/publications Conts/….www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk www.teachernet.gov

17. References References ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme. www.tlrp.org Gilby, N. et al (2008) National Survey of Parents and Children. Research Report 059. DCSF Gill, J. et al (2008) A review of how fathers can be better recognised and supported through DCSF policy. DCSF Research Report 040. Hallam et al (2004) Improving children’s behaviour and attendance through the use of parenting programmes DfES Research Report 585 Joseph Rowntree Foundation. www.jrf.org Moran,P., and Ghate, D. (2004) What works in parenting support DfES Research Report 574 National Academy for Parenting Practitioners. www.parentingacademy.org New South Wales Department of Education and Training (TALE project) www.tale.edu.au

18. Charles Desforges c.w.desforges@exeter.ac.uk