ETTW (Europeans Throughout The World: https://euromonde.eu/) organised a conference hosted by the European Committee of the Regions with the support of M. Borboly, rapporteur for ‘Modernising school and higher education’ as well as the ‘Youth Strategy’. IPA was on the ground too. The draft conclusions of the conference, very relevant for parents, especially of European origin all over the world. You can read the draft conclusions if you read on.
The purpose of the conference was:
1. raising the awareness in European Institutions of the importance of education for expatriates and their children,
2. discussing key issues which are considered as a priority
3. and improving the cooperation between the different parties through mutual inspiration.
Parents Call for the Hungarian Government to Celebrate Family Diversity at the ‘World Congress of Families’
PRESS RELEASE
In May every year the world celebrates the International Family Equality Day (7 May), International Day of Families (12 May) and the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (17 May), just a few days apart. This is symbolic for associations representing families and parents, a good opportunity for highlighting family diversity.
We live in a Europe where family diversity is a present and visible reality with the traditional, nuclear family becoming less typical. More and more children are brought up in single parent families, by same sex parents, in mosaic families or by grandparents while parents are working in another country. Child rights activists, parents among them, keep advocating for all children who live without their own families to be fostered by families rather than living in institutional care. Parents’ associations all over Europe are working for empowering all parents and guardians, regardless their gender, legal or other status to become the best possible parents for their children.
European experiences of advocacy and empowerment for more than 30 years also inspire parents on other continents. As the UNCRC[1] is in force in all countries of the world except the USA, these ideas and the methodology to empower parents are attractive and relevant for them, thus European traditions were asked to be disseminated by the International Parents’ Network worldwide. In UNCRC countries discrimination in the case of different types of families is not acceptable.
Realising that Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán has accepted the invitation of the so-called ‘World Congress of Families’, and to let this event happen in a palace of rights, the Parliament of Hungary some questions have arisen. Being familiar with previous such events it does not come as a surprise that organisations representing European parents and families haven’t been invited to the congress. Still, we find it important to express our hope they will make sure this event will be a European one and promote human rights. Thus, we are asking the Government of Hungary how will they contribute to this event to ensure the equal voice and rights of all families, especially the ones that are not considered ‘natural families’ by the organising American civil society organisations. After the recent vote in the European Parliament accusing Hungary for violating European values, parents and families hope the Hungarian government will show its being European and endorse human.
The International Parents Network was established as a sister organisation of EPA on 1 May 2016 with the ambition to establish a global forum and global lobby group for parents and on issues for parents. Our aim is to start an online discussion, a sharing of knowledge, relevant research and experiences, as well as trying to trigger further research and lobby together for policy change.
The network covers the following topics:
supporting parents to become the best educators of their children
post-PISA: increasing parental involvement in formal education for thinking and acting together for education suitable for 21st century children
fighting illiteracy, promoting reading
equal opportunities for girls and women, education of girls and mothers
supporting parents in becoming the main advocates of the rights of the child
the right to mother tongue and mother culture, even for migrants
digital literacy and living in the digital age
empowerment for active citizenship and participation
fighting xenophobia, hate speech, exclusion, supporting inclusion for a peaceful future
[1] The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) guarantee every child that their rights will be respected and ensured without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status. All loving families bringing up children are to be celebrated these days, regardless the gender, age or legal status of the parents or guardians in them.
The International Day of Families is held on 15 May every year. This year the United Nations has decided to focus on parents as the primary educators of their children. The message of the year does not only acknowledge parents as educators and emphasise the crucial role parents play in the education of their children, but also calls the attention of policy makers to the importance of empowering parents as well as offering them conditions for balancing work and family life. The European Parents’ Association has been advocating exactly for this for more than 30 years and this was also why we fostered the establishment of the International Parents Network, a global network of people – parents and non-parents alike – who wish to act for parents and with parents to ensure parents’ rights for the best interest of the child. Parent activist all over the world warmly welcome the official message of the UN highlighting the “vital role of parents in safeguarding good quality education starting with early childhood and extending throughout their children’s and grandchildren’s lifespan”.
Parents as primary educators mean two subsequent and interlinked things. Parents are the first educators of their children, and thus should be able to offer them a good start in life. A good start in life is crucial for well-being, and is also crucial not only for physical, but also for social, emotional and cognitive development in later ages. A good start is best provided by parents in the framework of the home and the family – in this the UN message echoes the recent early childhood policy paper of the European Parents’ Association. Part of this good start is the education and care provided by parents. There is also solid research evidence on parents having the largest impact on the learning outcomes of their children as well as their attitude towards learning – this is the other element of being a primary educator. It is also scientifically proven that taking ownership of their own learning is probably the only way for children to become apt lifelong learners. Thus, it is clear from research that those drafting the UNCRC were right in their approach of putting all responsibilities to parents as well as recognising children as full-fledged rights holders with special needs to ensure their rights.
The primary demand of parents’ associations has been for decades that parents must be given freedom to make decisions for their children, governments must provide adequately for empowering the parents for these decisions, and that their decisions should not be restricted by any financial constraints or legislative measures. It is important that governments and the EU understand diversity and adapt systems to that. It needs high level commitment to provisions and also the systematic application of the principle of subsidiarity. It should also be a principle to give space for the voice of children in a balanced way to ensure parents’ rights at the same time.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has been ratified by all member states of the European Union, and all countries of the world except the USA. It clearly regulates the rights, duties and responsibilities of parents with regards to the education of their children, and also gives the legal basis for child participation. The ‘best interest of the child’ should be the guiding principle when regulating, organising or carrying out anything related to children from child care and education to the empowerment of parents and teacher training.
To support parents in their decision making for their children and in their job as primary educators, governments and the European Union should support the sharing of information and knowledge on good parenting, offer financial provisions for parents’ training, especially peer training, rather than training provided by others. It should start during pregnancy, when parental training should be as wide-spread as medical preparatory classes. It is important to ensure training and information relevant to the age of children to get the most important messages reach parents.
It is also crucial for government to understand that the well-being of children is strongly linked to the well-being of parents, and balancing work and family life is crucial for this. Policies and measures that are aiming at reconciling work and family life should be at the heart of government and international policies. Parents’ access to work is an important part of the solution of getting children out of poverty and social exclusion, but jobs alone are not enough. It is also very important to have a rights-based approach to reconciliation as a whole and measures taken allowing real free choice.
It is crucial to invest in training, employment schemes and parenting support programmes that can raise not only parents’ qualifications and employability but also help build their parenting skills, their confidence and overall well-being and improve children’s outcomes. Support for families should be approached in such a way that it recognises children as social actors outside of the family. Children have rights on their own and they cannot always be identified with those of their parents. However, all support is to be provided for parents enabling them to carry out their rights, duties and responsibilities in supporting their children in exercising their rights.
Rights base for parental involvement in formal education
The UNCRC very clearly gives all responsibility for the upbringing of children to the parents – or guardians if there are no parents. It means that as long as the court does not deprive parents of their right to custody, all rights and duties related to this, including the education of their children is with the parents and the parents only. Institutions, like schools, are only supporting parents in this task. This support is also an obligation for states to provide the necessary support to parents, partly, but not solely by setting up institutions like schools or offering financial support to families.
This has many implications and here I list only a few of them:
Regardless of what national legislation says about it, it is the parents’ decision if and when they send their children to school, to participate at formal education
If they decide to do so, their duties and responsibilities do not end with choosing a school and do not stop at the school door
Parents have the right to know all aspects of school life and thus either opt out of school if they don’t like what they get or, in an ideal case, to have the institutional framework for changing those elements from curriculum and teachers to the arrangement of the school day/year
It is necessary to set up communication channels and representative bodies for the parents to be able to participate in decision making on group and class level as well as on school level
It is beneficial if there is a bottom up representative of parents on national level that ensures that the parents’ voice is heard on legislative levels and also acts as a child rights watchdog
It is a must to empower and train parents for all these duties
Schools and professional educators – hand-in-hand with other professionals working with families from the birth of the child – have a role in this training and empowerment process
Parents are to be acknowledged as the primary educators of their children by professionals, and thus treated as respected peers, even if with a slightly different role, by teachers and other professionals
Background:
The European Parents’ Association (EPA) gathers the parents’ associations in Europe which together represent more than 150 million parents. EPA works in partnership both to represent and give to parents a powerful voice in the development of education policies and decisions at European level. In the field of education, EPA aims to promote the active participation of parents and the recognition of their central place as the primary responsible of the education of their children.
The main objectives of EPA are:
to promote and advocate for the active involvement of parents as primary educators at all stages of the education of their children,
to support parents’ associations and individual parents for stakeholder involvement in different European countries by offering opportunities for training, cooperation and exchanging information,
to support the highest possible quality of education for all children in Europe especially by active involvement in EU-level policy development and assessment
to disseminate relevant European information among its members
Contact: Eszter Salamon, President president [at] euparents.eu
The International Parents Network was established as a sister organisation of EPA on 1 May 2016 with the ambition to establish a global forum and global lobby group for parents and on issues for parents. Our aim is to start an online discussion, a sharing of knowledge, relevant research and experiences, as well as trying to trigger further research and lobby together for policy change.
The network covers the following topics:
supporting parents to become the best educators of their children
post-PISA: increasing parental involvement in formal education for thinking and acting together for education suitable for 21st century children
fighting illiteracy, promoting reading
equal opportunities for girls and women, education of girls and mothers
supporting parents in becoming the main advocates of the rights of the child
the right to mother tongue and mother culture, even for migrants
digital literacy and living in the digital age
empowerment for active citizenship and participation
fighting xenophobia, hate speech, exclusion, supporting inclusion for a peaceful future
The Zaragoza Declaration on Education is a foundational document that advocates for parental rights in education, educational pluralism, and universal access to quality education. It was adopted in 2008 during the First World Congress for Student’s Parents Associations in Zaragoza, Spain, bringing together representatives from over 30 countries. Parents International was among them.
This declaration establishes that parents have the primary right to guide their children’s education, ensuring that education systems respect diverse pedagogical approaches, cultural values, and religious beliefs. It also calls for the recognition of microcredentials, the expansion of teacher mobility opportunities, and the automatic acceptance of professional development training across European institutions.
In 2025, reflecting on the Zaragoza Declaration on Education’s impact, we assess its origins, objectives, and ongoing relevance in modern education policy.
Origins and Philosophical Framework
The First World Congress for Student’s Parents Associations, held in Zaragoza in June 2008, was organized by the National Catholic Confederation of Parents of Families and Parents of Students (CONCAPA). It convened education stakeholders from Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, North America, and Australia to address the role of parents in education and the need for institutional collaboration.
The declaration’s philosophical framework is based on:
Educational pluralism – Recognizing diverse pedagogical approaches as a strength in democratic societies.
Parental rights – Upholding families’ role as the primary decision-makers in children’s education.
Universal education – Ensuring equal access to high-quality education for all.
Collaborative governance – Encouraging dialogue between parents, educators, and policymakers.
These principles align with international human rights frameworks, including Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms that parents have the right to choose their children’s education.
Aims of the Zaragoza Declaration on Education
The declaration sets forth clear objectives that remain relevant today:
Parental Rights in Education – Ensuring that parents can freely choose schools and curricula that align with their beliefs.
Open Microcredential Recognition – Promoting a cross-border system where microcredentials are automatically accepted as university credits and compulsory CPD.
Universal Access to Quality Education – Guaranteeing that every child receives a well-rounded education.
Educational Pluralism – Supporting public, private, and alternative education models.
Teacher Mobility & Training Recognition – Allowing educators to train across European institutions without accreditation barriers.
Shared Values in Education – Encouraging civic engagement, ethical leadership, and sustainability.
Transparency & Accountability – Ensuring that education institutions are evaluated objectively.
Stakeholder Participation – Involving parents, teachers, and communities in decision-making.
Equity in Digital Transformation – Ensuring that technology enhances access to education for all.
Advocacy for Long-Term Educational Reform – Promoting sustainable policies for future generations.
The Zaragoza Declaration on Education in 2025: Impact and Challenges
Since 2008, the declaration has influenced education policy and advocacy efforts, but implementation has varied:
Parental Rights & School Choice – Some countries have strengthened school choice laws, while others have maintained state-controlled curricula.
Recognition of Microcredentials – Progress has been slow, as many universities still do not accept microcredentials for CPD accreditation.
Teacher Mobility & CPD Recognition – The lack of automatic CPD recognition remains a barrier to teacher mobility across Europe.
Transparency & Accountability – Countries have adopted standardized testing and school performance tracking, but some lack clear evaluation mechanisms.
Next Steps in Advocacy
The Zaragoza Declaration remains a guiding document for education reform and advocacy. Moving forward, education policymakers, universities, and stakeholders must: ✅ Commit to automatic microcredential recognition across European institutions. ✅ Strengthen cross-border teacher mobility initiatives. ✅ Ensure education policies reflect the principles of transparency, parental rights, and lifelong learning.
Full Text of the Zaragoza Declaration on Education (2008)
Preamble
The participants of the First World Congress for Student’s Parents Associations affirm the following twelve articles, recognizing education as a fundamental right and shared responsibility:
Article 1: The Right to Choose Education
Parents have the primary right and duty to educate their children in accordance with their convictions, religious beliefs, and cultural values.
Article 2: Universal Access to Quality Education
Every person has the right to free and high-quality education, regardless of social or economic status.
Article 3: Family Responsibility in Education
Families must actively support and engage in their children’s education, promoting learning, values, and discipline.
Article 4: Pluralism in Education
Education must reflect diverse cultural, religious, and philosophical perspectives, ensuring freedom of choice for parents and students.
Article 5: Non-Discrimination in Education
Governments cannot impose mandatory secular or religious education that contradicts parental beliefs.
Article 6: Teacher Professional Development
Teachers must have access to lifelong learning, with automatically recognized CPD programs across institutions.
Article 7: Education for Peace and Social Responsibility
Education should promote civic engagement, ethics, and cultural understanding.
Article 8: Transparency in Educational Institutions
Schools must operate under objective assessment and accountability, allowing parents to evaluate school performance.
Article 9: The Role of Schools in Community Development
Schools should foster collaboration between families, educators, and local communities.
Article 10: The Right to Educational Mobility
Students and teachers should have free movement between institutions, without bureaucratic barriers to diploma or CPD recognition.
Article 11: The Integration of Technology in Education
Education systems must adapt to digital transformation, ensuring equal access to technology-enhanced learning.
Article 12: Commitment to Lifelong Learning
Governments and institutions must continuously improve education systems, ensuring alignment with 21st-century needs and labor market demands.
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How stronger partnerships between teachers, families, and communities make learning thrive
In this Article
Few things shape a child’s future as deeply as the relationship between his school, his family, and his wider community. Decades of research confirm that these partnerships are among the strongest predictors of student achievement — from better grades and attendance to stronger motivation and lifelong curiosity.
This article brings together the best available evidence, including findings from A New Wave of Evidence (Henderson & Mapp 2002) and more recent work, and turns it into clear guidance for teachers and families. The message is simple but transformative: when schools listen to families, and families see themselves as co-educators, children learn more — and communities become stronger in the process.
What the research really says
The research base is consistent, positive, and, by now, extremely difficult to ignore. When schools, families, and community partners work together in a deliberate way, children do better in school, stay in school longer, and develop a healthier attitude towards learning. This is true across age groups, across countries, and across income levels. Strong partnership isn’t just “nice”; it is directly linked to student achievement.
Studies covering early childhood through adolescence show that students with engaged families are more likely to
earn higher grades and test scores,
pass classes and earn credits on time,
attend school regularly,
show better behaviour and self-management,
choose more challenging courses,
graduate from secondary school, and
continue to further education and training.
One of the most important findings is that this effect is not limited to a particular social group. The benefits of partnership are visible in families with low income just as clearly as in middle-class families. Parents with limited formal education still make a measurable difference to student achievement by talking with their children about school, creating simple routines at home, and showing that learning matters. The idea that “only educated parents can help” is false. The evidence does not support it.
Another key finding concerns the type of involvement. Not all forms of involvement are equally powerful. Showing up to a school fair, for example, is positive and socially valuable, but it does not predict student achievement in the same way as daily conversations about school, shared reading, or setting expectations for effort and behaviour. The most effective support is ongoing, respectful, and connected to learning.
The same applies to teachers and schools. A large multi-school study showed that when teachers reached out to parents — meeting them face-to-face, sending home specific suggestions, and keeping in touch about progress — students’ scores in reading and maths improved faster than in similar schools where that outreach was weak. In fact, in schools with strong teacher–parent communication, test scores grew at a rate up to 40 percent higher than in schools with weak communication. That is a direct, documented impact on student achievement.
High-performing schools that successfully involve families from very different cultural and economic backgrounds tend to share three habits:
They build trust and genuine collaboration between teachers, parents, and local partners.
They recognise and respect families’ realities — language, schedules, work pressures, transport, childcare, even immigration status.
They treat parents as partners in decision-making, not as an audience to be informed.
In other words, these schools do not “call parents in when there is a problem.” They create a culture where school, family, and community are working toward the same goal: stronger student achievement for every child.
A proven framework for partnership
A practical question many teachers ask is: “What does parental involvement actually mean in day-to-day terms?” Joyce L. Epstein and her colleagues have answered this in a way that schools can use. In School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools (2nd ed.), Epstein outlines six core types of involvement that together support student achievement: (eric.ed.gov)
Parenting: helping families build safe, stable home conditions that support learning.
Communicating: two-way communication between home and school that is clear, respectful, and ongoing.
Volunteering: creating meaningful opportunities for families to contribute time, skills, and presence at school.
Learning at home: helping parents understand how to support their child’s learning, study habits, reading, maths, planning, and problem-solving at home.
Decision-making: including families in school decisions, parent councils, advisory bodies, and policy discussions.
Collaborating with the community: connecting students and families with services, cultural organisations, sports, health, libraries, mentoring, and other supports in the community. (EBSCO)
This framework matters for two reasons.
First, it moves us away from the narrow idea that “involvement” just means showing up for events or checking homework. Instead, it recognises that families contribute to student achievement in many different ways, some of which are invisible to the school unless the school actively invites that knowledge in.
Second, it gives schools a structure for planning. A school can literally map: Which of these six areas are we already supporting well, and which are missing? Are we communicating but not sharing decisions? Are we asking for help inside the building but not helping parents support learning at home? That diagnosis lets school leaders act with precision instead of guesswork — and precision is what turns “parent engagement” from a slogan into higher student achievement.
You’ll notice that this aligns perfectly with what the evidence base shows: partnership is strongest when it is respectful, shared, and connected to learning, not just compliance.
Why partnership works
It is tempting to treat student achievement as something purely academic — a matter of curriculum, textbooks, and exams. But the research makes it clear that achievement is also relational.
When a child senses that his teacher and his parent are on the same side, something important happens. He feels safer taking intellectual risks. He feels less alone with frustration. He feels that effort matters. This emotional safety is not a luxury. It is one of the strongest psychological predictors of persistence, focus, and long-term learning.
Partnership also creates consistency. If, at school, a teacher says “your writing is strong but your spelling needs care,” and at home the parent says, “I saw your teacher’s note, let’s practise spelling together for ten minutes,” that message lands. Expectations align. The child sees that adults around him take his learning seriously. This is how habits form. This is how self-discipline forms. Over time, this is how student achievement is built.
There is also a practical layer. A parent who has a working relationship with the school is more likely to ask for help early, rather than waiting until a small issue becomes a crisis. A teacher who understands a family’s circumstances — for example, that the student looks tired because he is caring for a younger sibling late at night — can respond in a way that supports dignity instead of punishing “lack of effort.” That mutual understanding protects the child’s chances.
Finally, partnership builds what researchers call social capital: the useful web of trust, contacts, advice, and informal support that surrounds a child. A grandparent who reads with him. A coach who keeps him in school sport. A librarian who gives him a quiet space after lessons. A neighbour who gives him an internship. Social capital is not decoration. It feeds student achievement because it feeds hope.
What schools can do to strengthen student achievement
Partnership is not an after-thought for schools. It is an instructional strategy. Schools that view families as allies, rather than as a compliance problem, consistently see better student achievement. Below are practical actions schools can take.
1. Create a genuinely welcoming climate. Families decide in the first 30 seconds whether a school is open to them. Reception staff tone, hallway displays, translation of notices, the way teachers greet parents at the door — these details either signal “You are respected here” or “You are being tolerated.” A family that feels respected is far more likely to engage, ask questions, and support learning at home.
2. Communicate like a partner, not like a system. Reports that only say “He is below level in maths” are not helpful. Reports that say “He struggles with fractions; here are two things you can practise with him this week; please tell me if you need materials in another language” change the dynamic. They turn contact into joint work. Joint work is where gains in student achievement happen.
3. Link every conversation to learning. Parents are busy. Many feel intimidated by school language. Meetings should clearly answer: “What is my child working on now? How can I help him this month?” When a parent leaves with something concrete — for example, three prompts to help with reading comprehension — his support becomes precise and effective. Precision supports student achievement.
4. Offer guidance, not guilt. Telling a parent “You need to read more with him” is not enough. Showing how to read with him — for example, “Read one page each, take turns, and ask him to explain one difficult word in his own words” — is respectful, specific, and achievable. Parents are more willing to act when they are given a method, not a lecture.
5. Train staff, deliberately. Family engagement is a skill set, not a personality trait. Teachers benefit from professional development on cultural humility, on working with multilingual families, on handling disagreement without defensiveness, and on building partnership with fathers as well as mothers. When teachers feel confident in these areas, they reach out more consistently — and consistent outreach is linked to stronger student achievement over time.
6. Build bridges with the wider community. Partnership does not stop at the classroom door. Local libraries, sports clubs, health centres, after-school programmes, cultural organisations, churches, youth groups: all of these can reinforce learning, wellbeing, and school belonging. Strong community links make it easier for a child to stay engaged, attend regularly, and persist. Attendance, engagement, and persistence all feed student achievement.
Evidence from practice In several schools we work with, “learning cafés” have replaced traditional parent evenings. Instead of one-way reporting, teachers sit with small groups of parents and walk through one specific skill — for example, how to support reading fluency, or how to help with basic maths reasoning without simply giving the answer. Parents practise the technique together. They leave confident. After one year of running these learning cafés monthly, one school reported both higher parental participation and noticeable gains in reading scores. This is the kind of low-cost, high-trust practice that reinforces student achievement.
What families can do at home
Parents sometimes hear “parental involvement” and imagine hours of homework supervision, advanced knowledge of grammar, or constant attendance at school. That is not what the evidence asks for. Very ordinary, very human habits — done with care and consistency — have an enormous effect on student achievement.
Here are actions that matter:
Talk about school every day. Ask questions that invite substance: “What was the hardest thing today?” “What are you proud of today?” “What confused you?” When a child knows he will be asked, he pays more attention. He also learns to reflect, and reflection is a learning skill.
Show curiosity, not only control. Instead of “Did you do your homework?”, try “Show me one thing you’re working on.” This signals interest, not interrogation. Children respond better to support than to surveillance. The quality of that emotional climate is directly linked to student achievement.
Protect space and time. This is simple and powerful. A quiet corner. A predictable study routine. Reduced background noise during homework. These small structures send the message: “Your work matters, and we will protect it.” That message steadily shapes behaviour, confidence, and student achievement.
Read together, even with older children. Shared reading is not just for toddlers. Reading the same article, or alternating pages in a book, or discussing a short news piece trains attention, language, reasoning, and empathy. Vocabulary growth alone is a strong predictor of later student achievement.
Encourage problem-solving, not perfection. When he gets stuck, avoid giving the answer immediately. Ask: “What have you tried?” “What is the question really asking?” “Where do you think the mistake starts?” This builds ownership of thinking. Ownership of thinking is one of the foundations of student achievement.
Keep expectations visible. Tell him clearly: “I expect you to finish school. I expect you to respect others. I expect you to give effort, even when it’s hard. I will help you do it.” Young people absorb these expectations more deeply than we realise. High parental expectations, stated calmly and without drama, are among the strongest predictors of student achievement in adolescence.
Stay in contact with the teacher. Reply to messages. Attend key meetings when you can. Share context from home that might affect learning. Short, regular communication between home and school prevents escalation and protects the child’s chances of success. Again, this is tied to student achievement.
Involve fathers and male role-models. There is consistent evidence that when fathers, step-fathers, uncles, or grandfathers are actively engaged — attending meetings, asking about school, reading together, setting expectations — children of both sexes show higher motivation and stronger student achievement. It matters that boys and girls see men valuing learning.
Connect with other families. When parents talk to one another and coordinate — car-pooling, homework clubs, reading circles, cultural events — the child experiences school as a shared effort, not a private struggle. That sense of belonging and support is good for wellbeing and good for student achievement.
Strong communities, strong schools
Partnership is not only about what happens inside individual homes. In many places, families and community organisations work together to improve schools themselves. This kind of community organising is especially powerful in disadvantaged areas, where schools often face poorer facilities, higher teacher turnover, and fewer resources.
Research has documented that when parents and community members organise — sometimes through local associations, sometimes through faith groups, sometimes through informal neighbourhood coalitions — schools can and do change. Reported outcomes include
upgraded school buildings,
improved leadership and staffing,
new learning programmes and materials,
better support for after-school tutoring and mentoring, and
more equitable distribution of resources across the district.
This is crucial. Student achievement is not only about individual effort. It is also about fairness: access to qualified teachers, to safe buildings, to books, to digital tools, to breakfast, to psychological support when needed. Families and communities have the right to insist on these conditions. Children learn better when the environment is worthy of them.
Bringing it all together
Let’s be clear: student achievement is not produced by pressure. It is produced by alignment.
When a child hears the same message — calmly and consistently — from his teacher, from his parent, and from the adults in his community, he believes it: “Your learning matters. You belong here. You are capable. We will help you.” This alignment shapes habits. Habits shape results. Results, repeated, become confidence. Confidence becomes aspiration. Aspiration becomes a life.
This is why partnership is not a public-relations slogan. It is one of the core drivers of student achievement.
What to do next
If you are a teacher or school leader:
Choose one concrete change that makes families genuine partners in learning.
Review your standard messages to parents. Are they clear, respectful, and useful, or are they generic and accusatory?
Map your community assets: library, sports association, youth centre, parent groups. Who can you invite in?
If you are a parent or carer:
Start one new daily question about school.
Set one small, realistic routine at home that protects time for thinking.
Reach out to the teacher not only when there is a crisis, but also to say, “Here is something that works for him at home.”
If you are part of a community organisation:
Ask the local school, “What do you need that we can help provide?” Sometimes the answer is volunteers for reading practice. Sometimes it is safe space after hours. Sometimes it is translation. All of these help student achievement.
Conclusions
The conclusion from the evidence is steady and convincing: strong, respectful connections between school, family, and community are directly linked to stronger student achievement. This is true for literacy and numeracy. It is true for attendance. It is true for long-term engagement with education.
Partnership is not a favour schools extend to parents. It is not a test parents must pass to be considered “good parents.” It is a shared responsibility. It is the practical expression of the belief that every child deserves to be taught, supported, and expected to succeed.
“The most important finding … is that parental involvement in the form of ‘at-home good parenting’ has a significant positive effect on children’s achievement and adjustment even after all other factors shaping attainment have been taken out of the equation. In the primary age range the impact caused by different levels of parental involvement is much bigger than differences associated with variations in the quality of schools. The scale of the impact is evident across all social classes and all ethnic groups.”
Key finding of the review (quoted from the executive summary):
Parental involvement takes many forms including good parenting in the home, including the provision of a secure and stable environment, intellectual stimulation, parent-child discussion, good models of constructive social and educational values and high aspirations relating to personal fulfilment and good citizenship; contact with schools to share information; participation in school events; participation in the work of the school; and participation in school governance.
The extent and form of parental involvement is strongly influenced by family social class, maternal level of education, material deprivation, maternal psycho-social health and single parent status and, to a lesser degree, by family ethnicity.
The extent of parental involvement diminishes as the child gets older and is strongly influenced at all ages by the child characteristically taking a very active mediating role.
Parental involvement is strongly positively influenced by the child’s level of attainment: the higher the level of attainment, the more parents get involved.
The most important finding from the point of view of this review is that parental involvement in the form of ‘at-home good parenting’ has a significant positive effect on children’s achievement and adjustment even after all other factors shaping attainment have been taken out of the equation. In the primary age range the impact caused by different levels of parental involvement is much bigger than differences associated with variations in the quality of schools. The scale of the impact is evident across all social classes and all ethnic groups.
Other forms of parental involvement do not appear to contribute to the scale of the impact of ‘at-home’ parenting.
Differences between parents in their level of involvement are associated with social class, poverty, health, and also with parental perception of their role and their levels of confidence in fulfilling it.Some parents are put off by feeling put down by schools and teachers.
Research affords a clear model of how parental involvement works. This model is described in the report. In essence parenting has its influence indirectly through shaping the child’s self concept as a learner and through setting high aspirations.
Research on interventions to promote parental involvement reveals a large number of approaches ranging from parent training programmes, through initiatives to enhance home school links and on to programmes of family and community education.
Evaluations of this very extensive activity reveal:
There is a perceived increased need and an evident increase in demand for such support
High levels of creativity and commitment are evident amongst providers and high levels of appreciation are recorded by clients.
The UN Convention the Rights of the Child, the very piece of legislation that establishes the rights and duties of parents for the best interest of their children, has been ratified globally, in all countries except the USA. European parents have 30 years of experience working for protecting the rights of their children by joining forces in a European organisation.
Global challenges, as well as local challenges that may be faced knowing answers from other localities call for a wider cooperation among parents from all over the world. This is the reason why we are calling everybody, including parents, but also teachers, social workers, researchers, psychologists, teacher trainers, students, policy makers, etc. who are interested in supporting parents, to join us in a new global parents’ network.
A group of parents from all over Europe and beyond has decided to launch the International Parents’ Network, with the ambition to establish a global forum and global lobby group for parents and on issues for parents. Our aim is to start an online discussion, a sharing of knowledge, relevant research and experiences, as well as trying to trigger further research and lobby together for policy change.
To start with we are going to cover the following topics:
supporting parents to become the best educators of their children
post-PISA: increasing parental involvement in formal education for thinking and acting together for education suitable for 21st century children
fighting illiteracy, promoting reading
equal opportunities for girls and women, education of girls and mothers
supporting parents in becoming the main advocates of the rights of the child
the right to mother tongue and mother culture, even for migrants
digital literacy and living in the digital age
empowerment for active citizenship and participation
fighting xenophobia, hate speech, exclusion, supporting inclusion for a peaceful future
You can join IPA by sending an e-mail to the following address: InternationalParentsNetwork@gmail.com) and expressing your wish to act for parents and children. We are building our community online first, but with the ambition of organising a first global meeting for parents – in person, but also offering possibilities to join us online – at the beginning of 2017.
Join us today to support good parenting and defend the rights of our children.
Published for the Vaccine Hesitancy Seminar on 11 December 2017 in Brussels. The event brought together together the World Health Organisation, the European Commission, the Standing Committee of European Doctors and Vaccines Europe.
High level participants have agreed that making vaccination mandatory can have the adverse effect as it is expected to be considered by many as a defeat of civil society and human rights. As a conclusion, all participants agreed that strengthened collaboration with all main stakeholders will be necessary in order to face the challenges around vaccination.
Parents International contributed to the event partly by publishing this statement based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Parents are the ones responsible for upbringing their children, thus also for their health and a safe environment for them (UNCRC Article 5). Parents’ rights emerging from this responsibility have to be respected, so any decision should be theirs, no state obligations should contradict this approach or prevent them from responsible decisions.
To come to the right decision, parents need objective information and support (UNCRC Article 18). Reluctant or anti-vaccination parents often act out of a position of lack of information and misunderstanding. Therefore governments are responsible for supplying such concepts and activities for a better understanding, avoiding bias towards pro or anti opinions, and offering clear and simple explanations on public and private benefits as well as risks.
All these efforts must not be biased by pharmaceutical industries or any other organisations or institutions with primarily economic interest.
All parents love their children and have great aspirations for them. If you can manage to provide clear and comprehensive information with reasonable arguments, most parents will follow your recommendations for the sake of their children, while others will take their own responsible pathways.
Anti-vaccination movements are not to be tackled by oppressive measures, but authorities have a responsibility in reviewing individual cases if necessary and seek the decision of independent courts in case parents appear to be unable to fulfil their duties in bringing up their children. Parents must possess the right to decisionas long as an independent court has not restricted their guardian duties.
Problems arising from a shrinking percentage of vaccinated children should be tackled by analysing the reasons, offering a balanced approach to pros and cons, ensuring media coverage and individual support to parents in their decision making, but not by introducing compulsory vaccination against the parents’ will.
