Smit, F., & Driessen, G. (2013). Critical lessons from practices for improving the quality of communication between parents and schools. Paper 9th International Conference of the European Research Network About Parents in Education (ERNAPE), ‘Learn from the past, review the present, prepare for a future with equity’. Lisbon, Portugal, September 4-6, 2013. In Nieuwsbrief Ouders, scholen en buurt, juli 2013. Retrieved from http://itsexpertisecentrum.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/critical-lessons-from-practices-for-improving-the-quality-of-communication-between-parents-and-schools/

1. Critical lessons from practices for improving the quality of
communication between parents and schools
Paper 9th ERNAPE International Conference. Families, Schools and Communities: Learn
from the past, review the present, prepare for a future with equity University of Lisboa,
Portugal, 4th-6th September, 2013.
Theme B. Critical lessons from implementation of practices
Frederik Smit & Geert Driessen
Abstract
At the request of Better Performing, the collaboration programme of school boards and the
municipality of Rotterdam, research institute ITS of the Radboud University Nijmegen, the
Netherlands conducted a study into the functioning of the parental involvement policies in
primary and secondary schools in Rotterdam.
In Rotterdam, a city with 600,000 inhabitants and some 180 nationalities, two-thirds of the
youth grows up in immigrant families. In many homes of these second- and third-generation
immigrants Dutch is not the language normally spoken among parents and children. One in
three children grow up in a family with low educated parents. These youngsters rarely go to
higher forms of education and many of them acquire only a basic qualification for the labour
market. The socioethnic composition of the city’s population thus poses a particular challenge
for policymakers and school staff.
One of the objectives of the Better Performing programme is that every school in Rotterdam
should demonstrate progress in parental support of their children’s learning process. Parents
should exhibit more effective teaching supportive behaviour at home and more parents should
be actively involved in the school career and job choices of their children. Basic ingredients
of the Rotterdam approach are partnership and two-way communication, with an emphasis on
intake interviews and discussion of the role of parents in choosing a school and school career.
Summary
Research questions
To what degree does teaching supportive behaviour of parents at home involve the school

2. career of their children in primary and secondary education? What are the views of head
teachers and parents on parental involvement in Rotterdam and in the rest of the Netherlands?
Does the policy of school boards and the municipality of Rotterdam to stimulate parental
involvement result in more attention to this subject in schools? What are the results of this
Rotterdam policy for the learning process of pupils? What are experienced problems and
desired solutions? What aspects of the Rotterdam policy need improvement?
Research design
Review of the literature
An international literature review focused on research findings regarding the relationship
between parents and primary and secondary schools in Western Europe, Canada and the
United States. This review was an update of earlier ITS studies of the functioning of parental
participation and involvement in Rotterdam (Smit & Driessen, 2005; 2006). The present study
focused on developments during the last two decades. Themes in the review of the literature
were ‘educational supportive behaviour’, ‘educational partnership in a multicultural,
metropolitan context’ and ‘learning outcomes of pupils’. The review included the
Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders), England, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Canada and
the United States. The reasons underlying this choice were: the similarity of the situation in
these countries; the countries have a long tradition regarding parental involvement; and, in the
case of the USA, the amount of research done. For the selection of studies two criteria were
used: they should report on empirical scientific research and the research must meet current
methodological standards with clear definitions. The function of the review was to provide a
framework for interpreting the results of the survey among head teachers and parents.
Survey among head teachers and parents
All head teachers in primary education (n=190) and secondary education (n=75) in Rotterdam
were approached. In addition, head teachers in the rest of the Netherlands were approached
(n=1,500). Parents with children in primary and secondary education were asked to participate
in the ITS Parent Councils Panel (n=2,500) and the Linkedin groups Parents, School and
Neighbourhood and Active Parenting (n= 1,500).
Main results
In the literature parental involvement is regarded as one of the major components or
characteristics of effective schools. Partnership between parents and school is not an end in
itself, but a means to serve the common interests: creating optimal conditions for the
development and learning of children.The results of research into the correlation between
parental involvement and academic performance are (mostly) positive in primary and
secondary education. In the strategy of schools to work with parents to improve educational
outcomes, the vision on parent involvement, creating support for an integrated planned an
tailor-made approach play an important role.
The survey among head teachers and parents show that in Rotterdam teachers in primary
schools conduct home visit more often than their colleagues in the rest of the Netherlands. In
Rotterdam, parents with children in primary education are more likely to consult the school
with regard to helping their children at home than in the rest of the country. Parents in
Rotterdam are slightly more positive about the contacts with school than parents in the rest of
the country.
Nearly half of the head teachers of primary and secondary schools in Rotterdam state that
their teachers were encouraged in the past two years by the Better Performing programme to

3. pay more attention to contact with parents, to undertake training and to formulate ambitions
regarding educational partnership, to conduct extensive introductory talks to provide parents
with more detailed information about the school, the class and what children learn in school
so they can better assist their children at home. Schools in the city of Rotterdam were also
stimulated to express and discuss the mutual expectations of school and parents, to encourage
education supportive behaviours of parents at home, to invest in home visits and to make use
of consultants who can inform and advise parents about education supportive behaviour and
the involvement of parents in the choice of continuing education and professional orientation.
According to parents in Rotterdam with children in primary and secondary education the
communication with the school is not always spotless. One problem parents frequently
mention is head teachers and teachers are often not accessible by telephone an de-mail. In
addition, parents complain about the poor quality of communication (vague letters, no or late
responses to emails, no feedback after ‘incidents’, no initiative to contact). Parents see as
solutions to such communication problems: the head teacher establishes a consultation hour,
the teachers can be reached via e-mail, the school takes a greater account of working parents,
and teachers conduct more home visits to keep in touch.
According to the head teachers in Rotterdam the following are the bottlenecks in the contacts
with parents: the low turnout at parents’ evenings; the difficulty of making appointments with
parents; the absence of the right attitude (no shared responsibility for education) and skills
(the parents are illiterate, do not master the Dutch language, do not understand the
assignments for the pupil support at home); and the lack of time (single parent families, both
parents have a job). Parents are sometimes in a power struggle with the teacher about the
approach and parents sometimes use a pedagogy that they know from their own time at
school.
Head teachers see as solutions to the problems: more space in schools for consultants; more
group meetings with parents about educational supportive behaviour; cooperation with other
educational and welfare institutions; and making the parents co-responsible at the policy level.
More than half of the head teachers in Rotterdam say that they have no idea what the effects
are of the focus of parental involvement in the Better Performing programme on their pupils’
academic performance.
Implications
The focus of the Better Performing programme could be more explicitly focus on the head
teachers in primary and secondary education who have no idea regarding the effects of
policies aiming at raising educational achievement. They should receive (more) information
about the role that educational supportive parental behaviour may have on the learning
outcomes of the pupils. In developing policies, schools could focus on increasing the contact
options, especially by listening to the concerns of parents and their specific questions and
needs in order to improve the two-way communication. The cooperation between schools and
parents could be more deepened by showing that parents, as important role models and co-
partners, can contribute to the desired ‘results-oriented culture’ of the school. The mutual
parent contacts could be strengthened by the use of knowledge, experience and networks of
parents in an integrated planned approach.
Literature
Smit, F. & Driessen, G. (2005). Parent-school-community relations in a changing society:
Bottlenecks, pitfalls and solutions. In R.-A. Martínez-Gonzáles, Ma. del Henar Pérez-Herrero
& B. Rodríguez-Ruiz (Eds.), Family-school-community partnerships merging into social

4. development (pp. 171-190). Oviedo: Grubao SM.
Smit, F., & Driessen, G. (2006). Ouders en scholen als partners in een multiculturele en
multireligieuze samenleving. In C. Hermans (Ed.), Partnerschap als waardegemeenschap (pp.
103-122). Budel: Uitgeverij Damon.
Smit, F., Wester, M., & Kuijk, J. van (2012). Beter presteren in Rotterdam. School en ouders
samen. ITS, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen.
Smit, F., Driessen, G., Sleegers, P., & Teelken, C. (2008). Scrutinizing the balance: Parental
care versus educational responsibilities in a changing society. Early Child Development and
Care, 178, (1), 65-80.
Contact
dr. Frederik Smit
F.Smit@its.ru.nl