A child's first learning happens solely because of its parents. Their input is the most important learning influence of all: what the young child absorbs from its parents will have a lasting affect throughout its life.
It is nature's intention that parents embed the necessary life-skills in their young. Doesn't the mother cat teach her kittens how to catch mice, how to groom their fur, how to bury their droppings, how to become independent and move out into new territory?
The child's early learning within the family, under its parents' influence, constitutes the time when values and attitudes, thinking and tolerance, resilience and creativity are first modelled and practised. Once the child experiences these competencies, a strong framework for the future is firmly in place.
On starting school, the child arrives with a package of all that has happened in its first five years. Whether or not the ethics and values that are embedded deep within the child's thinking correlate with those of the school, they are, nevertheless, going to influence enormously its behaviour and responses within the learning environment.
Appropriate then, that the child/parent partnership should be developed into a three-way learning experience. In this, the child, parent and school starts out on a journey that provides the type of education that facilitates the development of a happy, productive and responsible future citizen.
Parents must feel comfortable and welcomed within the school, while understanding and supporting its policies. They need to be able to view it as a positive and essential contributor to their child's future. Parents' impressions and opinions of the school will affect the child's thinking. If a parent is enthusiastic and interested in the learning situation, then the child will reflect these attitudes. If the child prepares for school each morning knowing that the parent is excited about the opportunities and experiences available there, this optimistic and constructive approach will provide a platform for successful achievement during that day.
From the school's point of view, keeping parents "onside" is a positive approach. This can be done in a variety of friendly, tactful and encouraging ways. Frequent opportunities to visit the school and the child's class (at strictly designated times, of course) must be offered. Assemblies, special days, presentations and displays allow parents to see their children operating and progressing within the school situation. Demonstrating new skills and introducing new cultural experiences is a productive way of extending children's experiences while integrating with others' habits and lifestyles.
Setting homework tasks that a child can enjoy with a parent helps to develop a constructive relationship with the class teacher. One group of children that I visited recently had constructed floor-plans of their homes and provided labels and descriptions of interesting features. It was obvious that they had benefited from the input of parents who had also found the task motivating and enjoyable.
All parents enjoy feedback from the school. This can be in a class newsletter, school newsletter, in positive comments on a child's work and from occasional notes in a diary that goes home with reminders of special events and other current happenings. A "Learning Journal" that contains samples of the child's work, together with certificates and awards and descriptions of special activities, is a special keepsake that can be valued by parents and children alike.
Many schools have developed interactive websites and teachers do a wonderful job of keeping these updated with information that is both informative and entertaining for parents.
All children like to have their parents helping at school. It makes them feel important and again, it emphasises the strong learning triangle of child/parent teacher. Whether it is helping in the canteen, shelving or covering library books, painting football posts or helping with displays, the fact that the parent is viewed as contributing within the school is productive. Parents who work full-time are often willing to cover library books at home, build a nesting-box or bake a special occasion cake.
Not every parent will want to be involved closely with the school however the opportunity to do so should be actively and strongly encouraged. The benefits far outweigh any difficulties, though admittedly, there can be some. A problem that I faced recently occurred when a parent-helper described to another parent some sort of erratic behaviour that she had witnessed involving the second parent's child. This was dealt with tactfully on a one-to-one basis with each parent in turn and the situation was defused gently and followed by an apology and greater empathy between the parents involved.
Engaging parents in their children's education is a major factor in developing a positive relationship between the school and the home. Keep the communication channels open. Maintain the strength of the three-way learning triangle: parent, child and school working together for a successful future, not only for the individual, but for the benefit of our society in general.