Engage | Communicate | Participate

Getting involved

How to contribute more to students' education

Published April 2023

There are plenty of opportunities for parents and/or guardians to get involved in school life. As a teacher-parent, I have often marveled at the joys of these possibilities. The most common are the traditional and seasonal opportunities such as end of year or festive celebrations.

This article reviews those and offers some fresh suggestions. Foremost, however, it is important to note that all participation that requires contact with children will require standard safeguarding checks led by the school. That aside, here are some ways you can get involved.

Join the PTA

If your school does not have one, start one! The remit of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is defined by each school, and some are more formal than others, but ultimately, all PTAs exist to secure and enrich cooperation and collaboration between parents, guardians, and schools.

Each PTA should have a guide and policy book to define their scope, aims, policies and procedures. The PTA’s aims should be directly aligned to the aims of the school, both in terms of long-term and short-term vision. Very often, PTAs will be the main body recruiting for the opportunities we will explore in this article.

Give time

Schools value support, especially from those who are invested in what they do. There is no greater investment than one’s own child. Whether it be recruitment crises or funding concerns, as a parent, be ready to offer support. Often, it is just your time that is required; maybe they need extra eyes at home-time to ensure a smooth flow of traffic through the school or someone to listen to students read during library sessions.

Respond when support is requested and get ready to get out more than what you put in. Don’t be that parent that assumes someone else will respond.

Your unique position and experience are what is required. Having that insight into how students respond when tired or stressed at the end of the day will likely make you a better and more empathetic parent. Observing how a teacher manages the student to flourish with reading and another who is struggling with reading will no doubt empower you to add to your toolkit as a parent / guardian.

Give ideas

Schools need ideas! Sometimes these are gathered formally through feedback questionnaires and sometime less formally, for example, at the end of a coffee morning. Occasionally, it will not be gathered or requested but needs to be given.

Be that parent that wants to offer their views, better if you can build on what the school is already doing well. Try to be positive about what the school is doing and work with the school in that direction. For example, if there are coffee mornings, are these able to become ‘coffee evenings’ to cater to those working caretakers?

No doubt, if criticism is required, offer it but do so constructively. Do not make things personal or overly negative. One thing we teach students is to have a holistic view of feedback. For example, many classrooms use the ‘PMI’ model (positive, minus, interesting or improvement). That means when you give feedback as a parent, offer encouragement (has anything gone well with the situation being reviewed?), state the negatives (what did not work out?), but also have a proposal to move the situation forward.

Many schools have feedback systems that are targeted at initiatives, and these are often anonymous. This may also work well but require participation from as many parents/guardians as possible to ensure the feedback gathered is representative.

Give ‘stuff’

You’d be surprised at how often various school departments need donations of standard used household items for displays, investigations, or experiments. For example, I have worked in many science departments that require aluminum cans for experiments, and there is always a race to get the required numbers.

I am not suggesting that school becomes your unwanted items repository, but why not ask? Those cereal boxes that are tossed into recycling if collected and neatly presented at an opportune moment may be just what the teacher needs.

Help raise funds

Some schools rely on parents or guardians for essentials, although that is not a standard to aspire to. However, appropriate gifts can enrich the school experience for all. Fundraising does not always have to be a tangible product for a school, there are lots of ‘experience’ or charity-linked sponsorship opportunities that can be given on behalf of a school that are incredibly meaningful. For example, can the school fundraise to sponsor an orphan or a school overseas?

Join celebrations

Every school community has milestones in the year they celebrate with the wider community. For example, the end of year celebrations usually involves prize-giving assemblies. Parents do not just have to be spectators at these events. They could staff the signing-in or refreshment stalls to give teachers a break. They could even contribute to a presentation at the event, maybe present the award for ‘most community-minded student’?

What about parent-led workshops?

We all have a specialist skills. There may be something you can contribute to the school to enhance the cohesiveness of the school community. Things like English support, just being available 20–30 minutes a week for conversational support for other parents or students with English as an additional language who need this time may be important.

Or maybe you can join the technology team occasionally to model a particular cuisine or textile technique? Perhaps you work in/ have a background in IT or finance and can offer short sessions on these topics based on your expertise or certifications where required. Be bold and ask the school for a workshop wish list for teachers. These can even take place online. Let the teachers be students for a change!

Questions

Does your school have a PTA, and if they do, do they have a calendar of events and an open signing-up policy? □

Do you have that ‘passion project’ you would like to share with your school community? □

Are you willing to be part of school improvement as a parent/guardian? □