Parental engagement is integral to engaging the wider school community and parents have a significant role to play in helping their children achieve the best possible outcomes. With the disruption that schools all around the world are facing, it has never been more important to ensure that parents have the tools and resources they need to be fully engaged with their child’s learning during school closures.
Schools need to ensure that regular communication does not become a burden for all involved; teachers should not be spending inordinate amounts of time emailing updates to the families of their students, and of course parents do not want to be ‘spammed’ with emails from school. So how do we improve parental engagement?
Generally, parents want to know:
- What is my child learning?
- What progress is my child making?
- Is my child happy?
- How can I support my child’s learning?
All of this information is already available and being used by teachers and students as part of the teaching and learning process. The trick lies in how we can help parents to still be part of this ‘learning conversation’ during school closures.
Mobile technology has gone a long way to helping resolve this problem, with parents now able to connect with their child’s school in ways that best suit their digital habits. Whether on their phone, or a tablet, parents can get the information they need, in the event of a school closure. In addition, schools have also begun to use tools which can translate messages between teachers and parents who experience language barrier communication challenges.
After listening to schools it is clear that they have to consider an extensive array of different devices being used both in school and at home. For this reason, we are pleased to announce that the latest version of the app is available for Windows devices, ensuring that all our various apps - for teachers, students and parents can be accessed in the Apple, Android and Microsoft stores. This will make parental engagement even easier so schools and parents can work together and help students continue on their learning journey especially when there are school closures.
Using Firefly to enhance parental engagement:
- Parents will be able to see their child’s assignments making it easier for them to support them in managing their learning.
- Schools will be able to send out important notifications and messages straight to the parents’ devices without the need for email or text messages.
- Teachers will find it easier to manage and share learning resources, both with students and with parents so that they are able to understand and support their child’s progress.
The Firefly apps are designed to give teachers, students and parents the information they need, right there at their fingertips. Whether it’s managing and tracking homework and assignments, planning lessons, submitting homework or being part of the wider school community, Firefly makes it easy for everyone to engage in the learning conversation, no matter what challenges they are facing.
Get in touch with one of our learning experts to discuss how your school can best stay connected with parents.
Resources:
A guide to managing school closures
