What is Home-School Partnership?

You may have heard this term before, perhaps dropped during parent-teacher conferences or during school orientations. (Note: it is not the same as family involvement in school). Home-school partnerships involve a willing and intentional collaboration between the school and family. 

An effective home-school partnership is a working relationship between teachers, family and students that leads to positive academic and social outcomes. Families and schools acknowledge their investment in children and work together to achieve common goals and take equal responsibility for children’s learning. 

As covered above, family involvement does not equal a strong home-school partnership. While parents or guardians may be interested in developing children’s academic abilities, doing things like attending parent-teacher conferences, revising school work regularly, or volunteering for school activities are merely a one-way support for the school. A home-school partnership requires a two-way support system where parents and teachers have an open vein of communication to further children’s development. 

For example, teachers can involve students and their families to both share their personal experiences from home. This allows teachers to gain a better understanding of students’ social situations and their parents’ points of view and craft more targeted learning activities. Schools can also support parents in engaging with their children’s learning. 

Ultimately, such a relationship empowers families to establish their level of involvement in their children’s education. Teachers can build upon this, rather than having schools impose regimental rules of engagement onto parents. 

Why is a home-school partnership important? 

Research has shown that a home-school partnership improves student academic achievement and increased school attendance. Teachers, and parents also have been seen to benefit from this relationship too. Parents have gained greater confidence in parenting and increased interest in their personal education and career. Teachers on the other hand, feel more supported, appreciated and have a higher morale from having a good relationship with parents. 

While all this seems ideal, a home-school partnership is not one that happens overnight. It involves a commitment from parents and school. To smoothen this process, aids like an effective school management system could make relationship building easier. For example, LittleLives not only helps schools monitor and analyze data related to students, staff, parents and daily administration, but also offers an intuitive school communication platform for teachers and parents to keep one another updated. 

If you would like to find out more, talk to LittleLives at sales@littlelives.com!