The partnership between family and school is fundamental to ensuring the healthy development and safety of children. In addition to playing an essential role in the formation and education of citizens, the school also has a great responsibility regarding the emotional and physical safety of all students . For this to be possible, it is essential to establish a school-family partnership that allows for an assertive and efficient communication process.
Last January 24th was International Education Day , a date created to recognize the importance of education in children's development and in acquiring awareness of everyone's human rights. Established by the United Nations, this date serves as a way to reinforce the role of educational institutions and the participation of parents in the children's education process.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres reinforces the importance of education and the value this process has in shaping good citizens:
However, we need to remember that, although it is the responsibility of schools to guarantee the teaching and education of students, this participation does not happen unilaterally . The school-parent partnership is also extremely important to optimize the use of established teaching and ensure that the educational process occurs in the best possible way.
It is necessary to understand that, although the school's role is to provide intellectual and academic training, human development and the establishment of principles and values must happen with the participation of everyone . In other words, parents must be present throughout the educational process to ensure a complete education and offer all the necessary affective and emotional support for this development.
The more involved parents are in their child's daily life, the better the results will be . Regardless of the type of institution the child attends, this continuous collaboration leads to greater effectiveness and quality in all aspects of learning.
Browse the content of this article:
- The importance of the school-family partnership.
- Parental presence at school
- School and family working together for academic success.
- What do parents expect from school management?
- Transparent communication
- Active listening
- Integration
- It is necessary to go beyond the academic.
- Safety and well-being
- Strengthening the school-family partnership: strategies to demonstrate value.
- Institutional values
- Physical structure
- Teaching method
- Qualified teaching staff
- Personalized service
- Using technology to optimize learning.
- Online security
- The importance of digital protection in strengthening the school-family relationship.
- Secure internet with internet access control in schools.
The importance of the school-family partnership.
Family members and people who are part of a child's daily life and growth also play a crucial role in the entire process of student development and education. Together with the school , this continuous contact will allow for complete development and improved well-being of the students.
It is important to remember that the family environment is responsible for contributing to the development of the foundations for children's education . It is in this environment that values, language, social dynamics, and behaviors that will be expressed throughout life are assimilated.
For many years, the role of educating students was solely delegated to the school, and as a result, many factors and skills were undervalued. However, by establishing a school-family partnership, it's possible to contribute not only to academic development but also to the development of problem-solving skills, more assertive communication, ethics, and empathy in social interaction.
Although schools can provide technical knowledge and academic skills, it is only through a partnership between the school and families that the student can understand the society in which he or she is embedded and what the expectations are regarding their values and behaviors.
In this sense, the more committed the family and educational institutions are, the better prepared the student will be to fulfill their role as a citizen and ensure the evolution of society, including peace.
Parental presence at school
Based on everything mentioned above, parental involvement in school is fundamental. This means that more than just choosing a good institution and ensuring that the student has all the necessary infrastructure for their development, the participation of family members in the students' academic routine is indispensable.
Moacir Gadotti, a Brazilian educator, following the thinking of Paulo Freire, emphasizes the importance of the school-family partnership aimed at a paradigm shift. In this way, the family abandons "old habits of passivity for new habits of participation" (Gadotti, 1996, p. 96) . This corroborates the importance of family engagement and participation in the school routine.
In addition to providing a sense of belonging and value that the child will have in their social interactions, the school-family partnership is fundamental to improving performance and ensuring a more complete learning experience. When family members are actively involved in the child's school routine and daily life, the expectation is that the student will show more interest and feel more supported and loved.
Another important aspect is that many inappropriate behaviors or difficulties that the child presents end up being noticed in the school environment. By actively participating in the child's school life, family members, together with education professionals, can establish ways to face the daily challenges and ensure that the child has all the necessary support.
School and family working together for academic success.
As we mentioned earlier, the presence of family members in children's academic routines is extremely important for identifying potential deficiencies or difficulties. This means that more involved parents can contribute to academic performance and ensure even more effective learning.
According to research conducted by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) , students who had family involvement in their school routine achieved superior performance. The results of this study are surprising: students who had family involvement achieved 414 points, while the group that did not have this continuous support achieved 357 points.
Working together with education professionals will not only ensure that everyone understands the students' difficulties and needs, but will also allow for the development of more efficient strategies to contribute to improving their performance. Considering that each student has their own particularities and specific needs, this union between family and school will allow the student to have complete support.
Often, children have needs or difficulties that only become apparent in the school environment and when interacting with other classmates. If parents are prepared to identify and address these difficulties, the long-term results will be better.
What do parents expect from school management?
The school and the family environment represent fundamental pillars for the formation of values and together provide a complete education . Just as the professionals involved in this process have expectations regarding the participation and involvement of family members, parents also have expectations regarding school management.
These expectations should be studied and evaluated so that parents feel more supported and secure about their child's presence at this institution. Below are the main needs expressed by parents regarding school management:
Transparent communication
Knowing what's happening at school is one of the main demands parents have regarding the institutions their children attend . In this sense, we're not only talking about students' academic performance, but also about events, actions carried out by the school, needs presented by the children, etc.
For this reason, communication between the school and families must be clear and transparent . This ensures that everyone has access to information and prevents any feeling of neglect towards the school.
Active listening
Active listening is fundamental in any social or commercial dynamic today. It is very important that both parties have their needs and questions heard so that, together, it is possible to establish improvements and more efficient dialogues.
More than just exchanging information, active listening allows the information delivered to be absorbed and understood. In this way, it is possible to create an even better school environment and a more assertive integration of families with the institution.
Integration
Creating a comprehensive and effective curriculum will certainly contribute to the student's academic development. However, this is not the only aspect that should be considered during the school routine. It is also necessary to ensure the integration of children with their family and the educational institution so that this entire process happens more efficiently.
Developing activities that include family members is essential for the educational process to meet the expectations of both the institution and the families. Furthermore, students will feel more supported when their families are involved in their daily lives.
This integration can also be aided by technological resources that allow families to engage with the school routine without sacrificing their own. To this end, the school can provide an active email address, a text messaging service, or social media profiles that allow parents to fully visualize their children's educational progress . These platforms can also help establish a school calendar and answer family members' questions.
In addition to academic support
Recent world events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have highlighted the need for attention to students' mental health and well-being. Due to social isolation, for example, many children have been impacted and have developed anxiety , harming their social interaction and academic performance.
It is essential that the school offers psychological support to students and understands their needs, in addition to the curriculum. This way, parents will have more confidence in the school environment and the routine established for their children.
Safety and well-being
We know that it is the institution's responsibility to ensure the physical safety of children while they are in the school environment. To this end, the school can adopt a safer infrastructure that allows everyone to remain protected during school hours.
However, in addition to physical safety, the school also needs to guarantee the well-being and mental health of these children. As we have seen over the years, there are several threats in the digital environment that can pose a great risk to children, such as social media challenges and trends circulating in the digital environment. For this reason, it is essential to establish strategies that allow us to block these dangers and prevent them from causing any kind of problem for children and their families.
Strengthening the school-family partnership: strategies to demonstrate value.
There are currently many educational institutions that offer essentially the same resources and training for children. For this reason, schools need to adopt strategies that add value to their image and that can convey to families the security they expect.
Among the main strategies to guarantee this prominent role, we can mention:
Institutional values
It is crucial that parents know what values are implemented by the institution and how the school handles day-to-day issues . These values are usually passed on to the students, and for this reason, it is a major concern among families.
Although it may seem obvious, the educational institution must demonstrate to families and students that it has exactly what they are looking for. In this sense, it is essential to understand what is valued by families and how the institution can meet that need.
For example, if the mental health of their children is a major concern for parents, it is important that the school demonstrates how this aspect is understood and valued by the institution. To this end, it is essential to implement anti-bullying measures, provide psycho-pedagogical support, offer academic monitoring, and facilitate conversations with specialists, among other things.
Physical structure
As mentioned above, many educational institutions share similar characteristics, making it essential to establish a differentiating factor that helps the school stand out . In addition to providing a quality curriculum, this school should have an adequate and distinctive physical structure.
This means that it is possible to implement well-equipped laboratories, common areas, accessibility, among other measures to ensure that all students are well cared for and welcomed at the institution.
Teaching method
The teaching method is also a fundamental aspect in the process of standing out and differentiating oneself from the competition. The chosen method should be developed through intensive research into the best current strategies, with the goal of delivering a complete and efficient education.
More than just teaching, the school also needs to provide the necessary tools so that the student can develop in the best possible way and achieve their goals in the future.
Qualified faculty Personalized service
It will only be possible to ensure that the institution stands out from its competitors if its teaching methods and quality are implemented with the help of qualified professionals. For this reason, it is essential to hire a team that is prepared for the students' needs and delivers the methodologies and objectives offered by the school in the best possible way.
It is important to remember that there is a vote of confidence placed by parents, who trust the educational institution to guarantee the health, well-being, and education of their children. For this reason, having a team of qualified professionals is essential. In this sense, we refer not only to teachers but also to all professionals who are part of the children's school environment.
Personalized service
Providing personalized service will help improve the relationship between families and the educational institution. Currently, parents expect the school to provide adequate support so that their questions and needs are heard and addressed as necessary.
For this reason, investing in support is a priority within educational institutions. The school needs to demonstrate to families that their children are not just a number within the institution, ensuring a more intelligent and transparent communication process. Events that bring students and their families together within the school environment, for example, tend to strengthen bonds and help demonstrate how each student is viewed by the institution.
Using technology to optimize learning. Online security.
The use of technology in daily school life has become a reality in virtually all educational institutions in the country. The advancement of digital transformation has also brought efficient tools that help contribute to the learning process and ensure that students have a complete infrastructure in their daily school life.
There are several platforms that schools can use, many of them integrated with the academic materials used by students. For this reason, the choice of content and methodology should take into account the use of technological tools that contribute to the teaching process. Platforms such as Google Education and Kahoot (an educational games platform), for example, are widely used to bring more interactivity and dynamism to the school routine.
Online security
Recent events have highlighted the need for digital protection for children and adolescents. The challenges of the internet , disseminated through social media platforms and games, end up attracting children and adolescents to dangerous behaviors.
Because of this need, it is essential that the educational institution adopts a protection tool that helps keep its students away from digital dangers internet access control tool can help block malicious or violent content and prevent children from accessing this type of information.
The importance of digital protection in strengthening the school-family relationship.
We know that children's safety is a top priority when choosing an educational institution. What we need to understand is that, in addition to physical safety, online safety is also essential.
As we mentioned, the challenges present on the internet can be extremely dangerous for children and adolescents, making it necessary to adopt resources that help block this type of content . The internet is a very complete and necessary environment, but it is also full of malicious and dangerous content.
Establishing internet access control will help increase digital security and prevent such threats from reaching students. Considering that cybercriminals are developing more efficient ways to implement traps , divert information, and collect personal data every day, implementing security measures is vital.
The school-family relationship has the responsibility of ensuring that children and adolescents are protected not only physically, but also from the threats present in the digital environment. It is very common for cybercriminals to hide violent or pornographic content on seemingly harmless pages, allowing children to access this type of content.
Having security resources is an indispensable strategy within educational institutions, helping to keep the digital environment free from these threats and ensuring that students remain protected at all times.
| How Schools Can Improve Online Safety: A Guide for Educators
Online security: Secure internet with internet access control for schools.
We know that many educational institutions use technological resources to optimize and complement the learning process for children. These resources are extremely important and should be used in the best possible way and, above all, safely.
However, considering that these resources require internet access to function, many children end up avoiding these tools and using the internet for other purposes. For this reason, schools should implement security tools that block malicious or dangerous content, keeping their students away from digital dangers.
Lumiun has developed assertive and comprehensive tools that can be used by educational institutions that wish to increase their security . Lumiun for Education offers exclusive solutions to enhance student safety and improve classroom focus.
With the help of the right tools and the school-family partnership, it is possible to guarantee a more complete and safe education for everyone.
