About 3000 education researchers met in the inspiring and beautiful capital of South Tirol, Bolzano in Italy for the annual ECER Conference (European Conference on Educational Research). Regardless the name, education research around the topic was presented from all over the world. The organiser, EERA (European Educational Research Association) has a specialised network on communities, families and schooling in educational research, focusing on the topics of  school-family-community links, parental and familial involvement in schools. Several interesting presentations were dealing with school-family relations, parental involvement, parental engagement and the role of family and community in inclusion as well as exclusion.

Parents International was not only present at the event, but also had an official governance meeting with the current and future president of EERA on our collaboration so far and in the future. We pursue to collaborate for defining a basic 21st century skills set and the responsibilities in delivering it, as well as on parenting support for good 21st century parenting.

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Euractiv, an independent pan-European media network specialised in EU policies, has produced a special report on the effectiveness of taxation for reducing sugar consumption. Part of the report quotes the parental perspective by Parents International. We were asked about our position on childhood obesity and how it could be fought. They were interested if it is enough to start from food in schools. They especially asked if we liked the decision of the European Soft Drink industiry to stop selling ‘sugary drinks’ in schools. They were also inquiring about necessary steps at the political level when it comes to creating a healthier environment in schools. You can read the full contribution by our Director – well quoted by the authors – based on our strong position about free decision by parents and the necessary parenting support for good decisions below. (more…)

Parents International joined the European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) in May 2018. After some negotiations with the European Commission, we have made a pledge on promoting vocational education (VET) and especially apprenticeships, parental engagement in these forms of education, but to also bring the parents voice to improving quality of supply in the field. (more…)