Reading Government papers on parental engagement this afternoon, I am frustrated by the frequent omission of students in, what appears to be a superficial, data driven process. Schools post information, parents/guardians receive information, possibly converse, and that constitutes parental engagement? Finally, a post written by Gerald Haigh on Merlin John Online speaks educational common sense and includes strong cases studies that can be followed up. Whilst impressed by the two case studies, I would still implore schools to seek more input and reflection by the learner.
Our first step towards parental engagement is to extend our Moodle platform to include SchoolsICT’s ZiLink component, in addition to propagating our Moodle courses, students and timetable from our MIS, ZiLink will enable Hamble College to be share student information, academic, behavioural data, assigned tasks, extended study or homework with parents/guardians. Whilst this is a significant step forward, our next planned step is critical to reaching our shared perception of parental engagement.
SchoolsICT are including their ‘Personal Learning Plan,’ or PLP component within Zilink and Hamble College has been able to engage with SchoolsICT’s development process. To SchoolsICT’s credit, they have steered the product beyond current expectations, towards an enriched mentor-student-parent conversation. In addition to displaying hard-data, the PLP has the potential to share soft-data (personal targets, school achievements, life challenges) but critically, opens the mentor-student relationship to parents/guardians and permit them to contribute. IMHO, this is parental engagement, not merely posting information and data, but facilitating dialogue, presenting a more complete school experience and a broader view of the learner – thanks to the application of appropriate technology that enables this conversation.