Four Pillars of Parental Engagement: Empowering schools to connect better with parents and pupils

By: Justin Robbins and Karen Dempster

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Synopsis: In this groundbreaking book, Justin Robbins and Karen Dempster offer a unique approach to the holy grail of parental engagement for the 21st century. Rather than setting it as a separate activity, they consider parental engagement as a planned, sustained and integral part of the whole-school approach: an approach which starts with the school vision and positions parents and schools equally as fundamental to student learning.The authors describe the challenges of successful parental engagement encompassing both traditional approaches and the use of technology and examine these challenges through their four pillars model of knowledge, environment, culture and communication. They recognise that before any school can expect parental engagement as a 'given', there must be knowledge of the what, why, when, where and how concerning effective interaction and in this book they cover all bases, providing a toolkit of tried-and-tested approaches and strategies to choose from.After all, the evidence shows that when families engage with the school's vision and provision, it is the children that ultimately benefit.