“All parents, regardless of income, education level, or cultural background, are involved in their children’s learning and want their children to do well in school”. 

What research tells us

Research done in the US and in the UK has demonstrated that parental engagement in schoolwork has a positive effect on students’ performance, i.e. students that have parents actively engaged achieve better academic results. 

It is crystal clear that we cannot ignore or underestimate how crucial the role of parents is in students’ achievement and how important it is to train parents and teachers on this. I personally think that it should be a subject at teacher degree courses at University.

However, this aspect is often overlooked by schools in general and is usually not contemplated among language schools. Yet introducing parental engagement in language schools can be a game-changer in the school’s performance and reputation.

Parental engagement and school marketing

In my experience, both as a teacher, parent and educational consultant I am convinced that parent engagement can play a pivotal role not only in the learner’s academic success but also in the language school’s reputation and success in the community leading to more enrolments.

As a school marketing strategist, I see a huge potential to consider the research results when designing the school’s marketing strategy.  It would certainly increase customer retention as well as attract new parents. 

On one hand, I would suggest that the DOS and teachers work together on the idea. On the other hand, I would suggest designing a plan aimed at engaging parents which is not about reporting tests results or weak performance but it is about informing, training and connecting with parents. It is a partnership for the sake of the learner’s performance.

Some ideas to consider are:

• Showing parents how the coursebook is organized and what extra material is available to support learners with homework. 
• Giving a walkthrough of the digital material including how to redeem codes, play audio and video and check interactive activities.
• Offering workshops that inform parents how to help their children at home 
• Training on topics responding to parents’ interests, such as supporting children through crisis, discipline strategies, motivation and so on.

This kind of support is excellent content to share through your social media channels with posts that will prompt them with a better understanding of how they can help their children even if they can’t speak English. By doing so you will be nurturing your existing customers as well as giving a good first impression of your school for prospective parents. 

A good impression of your school’s social media or website can lead to a school visit, a bad impression can halt the enrollment journey!

If an effective parental engagement is put in place, you will notice better students’ performance, which in turn implies improved marks at their regular school. After all, most children and teens do English language courses either to reinforce or activate the English they learn at school.

By having a parents support programme you will be delivering a great service keeping your students for longer. Happy parents will be your  “ambassadors” and that means GROWTH for your language school or freelance activity.

So start thinking about how you can engage parents more in your next course or in your next academic year and keep me posted on the results!

Do you know a school or freelancer that would benefit from this article? Why not give them a helping hand and forward it to them?