Parent involvement at school.

What is parent involvement?

Parent involvement means you are active in your child’s school. You can do this in many ways: from keeping in contact with the teacher to helping with school activities. By working together with the school you give your child the feeling that you are part of school life.

Why is parent involvement important?

Parent involvement is important. When you are involved your child often feels safer and more supported at school. Your child can do better and enjoys school more.

It also helps the communication between you and the school to run smoothly. This creates a pleasant cooperation and understanding on both sides.

How can you be involved in your child’s education as a parent?

There are many ways to be involved in the school and education of your child. For example:

• Support your child at home too: by reading, reading aloud or helping with homework you are involved in your child’s education. You know what your child is doing at school and show that you want to help.
• Help with events: schools often organize activities like sports days, culture weeks or school trips. Parents who help with these make the days more fun for the children and help the school staff too.
• Support in the classroom: many schools are happy with parents who come regularly to read aloud or help with math or language exercises.
• Become class parent: as class parent you are the contact for teachers and mentors to parents. You can also help organize class outings or raise money for special projects.
• Go to parent evenings: during parent evenings you stay informed about your child’s progress and the school’s plans. You also get a chance to ask questions or think about your child’s education.
• Help with practical tasks: sometimes schools need parents for small jobs like maintaining the schoolyard, organizing a book market or fixing playground equipment.
• Drop-in moments in the classroom: these are fun and very valuable moments to see how things go in the classroom.
• Talk about school at home: by showing interest in what your child is doing at school, you show that school is important. This helps your child at school too.

Parent council or school participation council

Another way to be involved in your child’s education is by joining a school council. The school participation council or the parent council are good examples. In the parent council you can organize activities with other parents like school parties.

Do you want to think along about school policy? Then the school participation council is an option. Here you can help make decisions about important things at school like the school hours or the voluntary parent contribution.