New Australian Book - Must Read on Parent Engagement!

With the assistance of the Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT, a new book has been published entitled: Bridging the Gaps Between Families and Schools.

Bridging the gaps provides a practical manual for use by school communities who wish to transform their school using an ‘evolutionary model of change’.

This book is timely given the current emphasis on the school needing to being a socially inclusive community, one that involves all the members that comprise the school.

A range of successful examples are provided in the book as well as reflection questions for “creative Principals, a venturesome
staff and an enthusiastic parent body” to develop solutions relevant to their own community.

Nance’s book also gives special attention to the needs of parents who may be on the periphery, such as “Indigenous parents, those from other cultural backgrounds without spoken English, single parents and all who are just trying to survive”.

In the words of Dr Nance Millar:

“The purpose of the book is to instil in parents, principals and
teachers an appreciation of the role of parents as ‘primary educators’
of their children and an understanding that this role is exercised
through collaboration, or partnership, with teachers and all members
of the school community”.


The book can be purchased from St. Pauls Books:
http://www.stpauls.com.au/product/4744

National Catholic Education Commission Convention 2011

Inspiration and Identity: Catholic Education in Australian Society will be the convention theme. International and national speakers will present keynote speeches and will lead in developing six area strands as sub sets of the overall theme. Parent and Community will be one of the strands. Danielle Cronin, Executive Director of the CCSP and NCEC Parent Committee Chair is co-convenor of the parent and community strand along with Ann Bliss, Executive Director of the SA Federation of Catholic School Parent Communities.

For more information, visit: www.nceconv2011.com.au/

Look Out 2011

Join the conversation with local and international speakers and delegates, and explore what it means to be an innovative outward facing school in the 21st century.

* Lead for outward facing communities
* Develop strong, inclusive partnerships for learning
* Dialogue to push the boundaries of educational reform
* Re-imagine the learning landscape
* Achieve learning outcomes and life chances for all

Hosted by the Catholic Education Office Melbourne, explore new ways to look at learning. Be part of the future, hear international speakers, join breakfast conversations, wine and cheese chats, workshops and much more.

AUD$450 per delegate (AUD$405 for early bird registrations)

Look out for further information and details or email Lookout2011@ceomelb.catholic.edu.au to register your interest in any further details regarding this event.

Spirit Dream - In Burning Hearts - A National Gathering for those involved in Catholic schools

This National Gathering offers a creative forum for all those involved in Catholic schools to come together:

- To reflect on the reality, affirm the strengths and name the issues concerning Catholic identity, faith formation and evangelisation in our Catholic school communities
- To address the issues concerning Catholic identity, faith formation and evangelisation of staff, students and families in our school communities
- To envisage and explore future possibilities for a new evangelisation within our Catholic school communities

The Gathering is open to participation of representatives from all levels of involvement with Catholic schools, including importantly parents and caregivers.

For more information click here

New Parent Engagement Resources on NSW Dept of Education Site

The NSW Department of Education has recently released a new community engagement resource that we think is a valuable addition to the suite of NSW resources. To preview go to:

http://www.lowsesschools.nsw.edu.au/section/126,315-leading-learning/professional-learning.aspx

Have we aligned 21st Century schooling goals with parent and community engagement?

While schools are striving to prepare our students for the 21st century, many are doing so without aligned parent and community engagement practices. What can we do to tackle this challenge?

A recent US Department of Education forum discussed this issue by looking at a range of related questions:

1. What does the future of family and community engagement look like?
2. How can federal, state, and local policies work together to create systemic family engagement?
3. How can student performance data be used to connect families and schools in a significant way?
4. What roles can families play in transforming low-performing schools?

Discussed at length were the policy levers that can be tapped to encourage and sustain meaningful partnerships with parents and communities to support student learning. These levers included: training and professional development for school staff; capacity building to help entities develop, implement, and evaluate initiatives; encouraging the blending of resources in creative ways; sharing best practices via learning communities; scaling effective practices; and using the federal government’s leadership role to develop a common family engagement framework and accountability system to ensure that state and local family engagement goals are being met.

See full blog post here:

http://www.ed.gov/blog/2010/11/national-policy-forum-for-family-school-and-community-engagement-event-recap/

Parent-School Engagement in NSW Project- a Chance for parents to be involved

This exciting study is being conducted by the Australian Catholic University on behalf of the Council of Catholic School Parents and the other peak parent associations in NSW. The study will seek views from parents and caregivers of children in primary and secondary schools across the range of public, independent and Catholic school sectors in NSW. We need your help in participating in focus groups. For details on how to participate read below:

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Over the coming months, parents and caregivers of primary and secondary school children in NSW will be invited to participate in focus group interviews for a research project entitled Parent-School Engagement in NSW. This study aims to learn more about the factors that influence parent-school engagement. 

The study will seek views from parents and caregivers of children in primary and secondary schools across the range of public, independent and Catholic school sectors in NSW.  This research is being conducted by Dr. Sue Saltmarsh, Associate Professor of Educational Studies at the Australian Catholic University. The study is sponsored by the NSW Parents’ Council, NSW & ACT Council of Catholic Schools Parents, and the NSW Federation of Parents’ and Citizens’ Associations, who have commissioned Dr. Saltmarsh to develop teacher professional development programs and pre-service teacher education materials that will be used to prepare educators for engaging effectively with parents, caregivers and families.

If you would like to know more about this research, or would like to consider participating in a focus group interview, please contact the project Research Officer, Dr. Jenny Barr, at jenny.barr@acu.edu.au for further details.

Sincerely,

Danielle Cronin