Have you ever helped out a school sausage sizzle, bought a tray of lamingtons, or attended a P&C meeting? Whatever your involvement, research shows that strong family engagement with a child’s school can actually improve educational outcomes? As our guest Barbara Barker says, “Parents and families matter.” But how do we improve and strengthen these partnerships? This episode aims to identify some of the barriers to family engagement, such as cultural and linguistic diversity or socio-economic backgrounds, and present some ways to overcome these challenges for the benefit of students and families. 

In this episode we visit one school that has a unique “School as community centre” program that creates strong relationships with families well before their children start attending school. We speak to Di Giblin, the CEO of the Australian Council of State School Organisations and Barbara Barker, a researcher at ARACY into the benefits of increased family and community engagement.

Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth research on family engagement: www.aracy.org.au/publications-resources/area?command=record&id=302

Australian Council of State School Organisations The parent engagement implementation guide: acsso.org.au/index.php/ourwork/cosmos-theme-57/family-engagement-school/family-engagement-reflection-and-planning-tools

publiceducationfoundation.org.au/podcast

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