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Events Can Build Engagement By Gord Kerr, M. Ed.In every school, there are two very different types of parents. There are parents who can and will volunteer their time within the school and there are parents who prefer to help their own children at home. Both are ‘involved’ in their child’s education, but they are involved in different ways. Within the group of parents who prefer to help at home, there are people who would like to volunteer at school but cannot because of work demands or a variety of other demands on their time. Some are unsure about how they can contribute as a volunteer. Events are a key method for reaching out to both types of parents. At some point during the school year, the majority of parents will attend at least one school event. What makes an engaging event? What makes an event something that will bring educators, parents and children together? There are many variables that can contribute to the success of a school event, there are no hard and fast rules. Here are several key methods that can contribute to success. 1. Events that involve students or that students want to attend will draw more parents. The most powerful way to bring parents to an event is to let their children talk them into it. If a child is presenting some artwork at an art fair, or playing in a concert or sporting event, acting in a play, showing their parents their new classroom and teacher, listening to an author or attending a book fair, students will take the lead in talking their parents into coming. If the event you want to run is strictly for parents, consider offering something interesting for the students to do. 2. Serve food. Food can help to take the pressure off a busy working family to get home, feed the children and then attend a school event. 3. Give parents plenty of notice, communicate more than once and provide reminders close to the event date. People lead busy lives and need to plan ahead to attend school events. Leverage newsletters, bulletins, websites, voicemail, the school sign and any other methods of communication that you have available to you. 4. Hold events in places other than the school. Sometimes an event can be more appealing when held somewhere other than the school property. To connect with some of the diverse ethnic groups in Ontario, it may be far more interesting to hold events in a location that is more comfortable or more convenient. Consider community centres or local cultural centres. 5. Focus on a key theme, grade level or group of students. Every event does not have to appeal to all parents within the school. A grade 9 parents’ night designed to orient grade 9 students and their parents will be of little interest to parents of older children, but will be highly engaging for parents of grade 9 students. Events are powerful ways to involve and engage parents in education. The simple act of attending a school event reinforces the importance of the school to their children. Events create opportunities for informal conversation between parents and educators and help to build a supportive relationship between home and school that may come in handy later in the year to help a student succeed. In addition, events can help demonstrate the good work going on in a school, the passion and talent of staff members, and further build the confidence of parents in the school. The Ministry of Education recently published a number of event ideas. They can be found at: Involving Parents in the School: Tips for School Councils > Ministry of Education Gord Kerr served on the Interim Ontario Parent Involvement Advisory Board, the Parent Voice in Education Project and recently founded The Parent Involvement Centre to spearhead continued research within this field (www.parentinvolvement.ca). He is currently running to become a Trustee within the York Region District School Board. |
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gkerr@schoolcouncils.net with questions or comments about this web site.
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