Why is parental engagement important?

Balancing independence as your child gets older

While parents tend to be more involved in their child’s learning in Primary school, it’s important to also strike a balance between fostering independence and providing support and guidance as your child enters secondary school. 

When our students reach Year 7, we encourage parents to take a little step back for their children to gain independence and take responsibility for their learning. While some parents may find it difficult to transition between having daily learning updates on Seesaw to weekly updates from the school, we assure you that your child is ready to start taking ownership and we provide them with everything they need to develop these skills. Of course, parent involvement here is still important! While there may be fewer opportunities for you to get involved IN the classroom, the key here is communication! Keep conversations going at home with your child about their day. We understand that pre-teens and teens may simply respond with a grunt or a reluctant “fine” when you ask them how their day was, so here’s some questions you can ask to hopefully get that conversation flowing. 

It’s also important to keep communication with us too, do your best to attend our parent-teacher-student conferences (PTSCs), and read the Head’s weekly update and emails from your child’s form tutors and heads of year when you have a spare moment. Draw from these and use this information to ask relevant questions.

What are the benefits of parental involvement?

Improved academic achievement and social-emotional development

A 2019 meta-analysis of 448 independent studies on parental involvement by the American Psychological Association (APA) found a significant relationship between parental engagement and student achievement. Parents who are actively involved in their child’s education from a young age, raise children that have more academic success in their future. 

But it’s not just academics, the APA study showed that parental engagement also had a positive impact on their child’s social and emotional skills. This is backed by a 2014 International Education Studies report on students in Jordan. Children whose parents were more involved, were more likely to be confident and enjoy learning.

Improved wellbeing

Henderson and Mapp (2002) share the importance of a collaborative environment between families and schools. This shared responsibility for their child’s progress increases a sense of belonging for the whole family, strengthens the school community and improves wellbeing.

How parents get involved at BIS HCMC:

At BIS HCMC in this term alone, we’ve held countless workshops, performances, activities and lessons where parents were invited to show up and get stuck in! 

Our recent Year 4 IPC exit point was a great example of child-parent-school-community engagement all in one! “What’s on the menu?” was the name of the topic that brought together our whole community. The students researched the global impact of food production and how far some ingredients must travel before it reaches us, the consumers. Each group then created their own food business, researched products that would have less environmental impact, and crafted their own upcycled packaging. They showcased their products at a Christmas bake sale where parents, teachers and other children purchased their delicious and sustainable goodies. The bake sale raised 45 million VND for our community partners. And what’s on the menu? The donations helped to provide nutritious meals for the disadvantaged children at Friends for Street Children. 

At Secondary our Year 7 and 8 parents joined open mornings where they had a chance to see learning in action in a variety of subjects across the secondary campus. Year 9 and Year 11 parents joined IGCSE and IBDP subject options meetings and assisted their children in making informed decisions that would shape their future. While Year 13 parents learned more about how our College and University Guidance (CUG) team assist their children in preparation for university and beyond. 

How do we, as a school, support our parents? 

What are the biggest barriers to parental engagement?

Another challenge is simply time management! We understand it’s sometimes difficult to arrange the time to attend every school event with a busy schedule and that’s ok! We encourage working and busy parents to stay up to date with what’s going on in the classroom by checking Seesaw if you’re a primary parent, reading our weekly updates and talking to your child about their learning and what’s happening at school. We try to ensure a wide variety of timings for workshops and meetings with some in the evenings and on the weekend to give you more opportunities to get involved too. 

We also offer open library sessions for primary parents to read with their children every afternoon. Or take out a book and spend some time at home reading together. 

There are so many opportunities to get involved with your child’s learning at any age. While it may be challenging sometimes; build positive habits, communicate and get involved - it will make all the difference to your child now and in the future.