The impact that parental involvement has on our children’s learning is well documented by many different studies. It is now clear that children whose family actively support and involve themselves in their children’s education, achieve higher grades and have more positive outcomes, than children whose family do not positively engage with their children’s education.
The outcome of positive parental engagement is not only important to a child’s academic education, but can also be seen in their social and emotional wellbeing and in how well they connect and interact with others.
Positive parental engagement increases student outcomes
In fact, the Harvard Family Research Project in 2005, has shown that the most accurate predictor of a student’s academic achievement is not income or social status, but is the family’s engagement in the child’s education.
This engagement comes in three forms:
- • Creating a home environment that encourages learning.
- • Expressing a positive and realistic expectation for their children’s academic achievements and future prospects.
- • Being positively engaged and supportive of their children’s education, both in the home and within the community.
Research also shows that parental programs that help parents and families enhance their own engagement with their children’s education have a huge impact on their children’s academic outcomes. This type of communication and mutual support between the family and the learning centre or school increases self-efficacy within the family grouping and leads to a heightened sense of empowerment.
Early learning centres and schools are now fully aware that engagement with a child’s family gives children a greater opportunity to achieve higher grades, increases their overall well-being and leads to more long-lasting and productive careers.
It is therefore imperative that connections between families and learning centres are initiated, supported and maintained during a child’s academic career.
How can families engage with their child’s early learning centre?
Engagement is about supporting, interacting and growing connections with your children’s early learning centre. It is for this reason that Kinderloop provides a conduit between families and educators, one which is cost effective and allows families and educators to keep in touch and communicate effectively.
Via Kinderloop you can remain in contact with your children’s day, observe their activities and understand how certain activities help your children learn about their world. One of the features of Kinderloop are the daily posts with tagged images sent to you by your children’s educators, in addition to reports outlining how your child has developed in a particular area over time.
Kinderloop makes positive parental engagement easy for time poor and extended, distant families and with the main form of communication centred on photos and images, Kinderloop easily overcomes any language barriers.
For more information on how you can support your child’s early education, contact us on hello@kinderloop.com or call us on 04 9002 0816.
