Research Shows Parents Want More Information On Learning

20 September 2012
Media release

Research Shows Parents Want More Information On Their Children’s Learning

Research released today shows that parents, families and whānau want independent and comprehensive information about their child’s school, and regular communication from the school, says the Ministry of Education.

Key findings from the research, undertaken on behalf of the Ministry by Colmar Brunton are that parents, family and whānau want:

• Independently sourced and comprehensive information that gives an objective and balanced view of their child’s school, including the quality of teaching and the school culture, and responsiveness to multicultural or bicultural and special education needs in particular.
• Regular communication between home and school that provides an assessment of whether their child is progressing and achieving, and alerts parents and teachers if there are any well-being issues.
• Being able to assess and compare their child’s learning progress and achievement with other students at the same level. This gives them confidence as they know what questions to ask about how teachers, students and parents, families and whānau can work together to address any issues.

The research also finds that parents, families and whānau who have been involved in frequent communication value it highly.

A summary of the report and the full report are available at http://www.minedu.govt.nz/ParentWhanauInformationNeedsResearch.
Ministry Deputy Secretary, Student Achievement, Rowena Phair says the research is useful as it helps give schools insight into the expectations of parents.

“The qualitative research gives us a real feel for what parents need and expect in terms of information and on-going communication.

“At the same time, it’s helped shape how we further develop and refine our approach to Public Achievement Information (PAI).”

As a key component of PAI, schools with years 1 – 8 using the New Zealand Curriculum have provided their achievement data to the Ministry of Education, says Ms Phair. This data will be published on the Education Counts website in late September 2012.

“This is an important milestone as it is the first time that schools’ National Standards information has been published system-wide across New Zealand.”

The Ministry has provided a copy of the research findings to all year 1-8 schools.

Notes for editors:

National Standards are intended to help schools and teachers:
• Identify children falling behind and ensure they get support to improve.
• Set goals for students to achieve National Standards and tailor teaching and learning to individual students’ needs.
• See more clearly what national expectations are as they review students’ progress and achievement.

Reading, writing and maths are foundation skills for children and National Standards have been designed to support learning across the school curriculum.
The Ministry stresses that for parents and whānau to get a complete picture of their school they need to look at this data in context; national standards data is only one component of public achievement information (PAI). Other information which will be useful includes the school’s Education Review Office (ERO) report and Annual Report.

Parents and whānau can also talk with school principals, with teachers, with school trustees and with other parents. Additional information for parents is available on www.minedu.govt.nz [link to PAI booklet]. Also, the Education Review Office (ERO) has produced a useful booklet How is my child doing? Questions to ask at school as a guide for parents and whānau. This booklet is available from ERO at www.ero.co.nz.

ENDS

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