Leaders engage the community

What is community engagement?

Unlocking the power of engagement within school communities is no small feat. From igniting students' passion for learning to fostering staff unity and securing parental support, the task is multifaceted.

Community engagement is often one of the principles of national curriculums. In some educational jurisdictions engaging with the community is part of teacher standards.

“Community engagement is a two-way street where the school, families, and the community actively work together, creating networks of shared responsibility for student success. It is a tool that promotes civic well-being and that strengthens the capacity of schools, families, and communities to support young peoples’ full development” (Community & family engagement: Principals share what works, Berg, Melaville, & Blank, 2006)

The IB distinguish between three communities:

Learning community: everyone who is involved with learning and teaching at the school, including students, their families, school staff members, and other important sources of learning for students and teachers.   

School community: the students, guardians, teaching and non-teaching staff, pedagogical leadership, governing body and external bodies who influence the school’s operation and governance.  

Wider community: People and entities who affect the school community, or who are affected by it, even if they are not directly involved. Local businesses, councils, governments and community organizations are examples. The wider community could also involve virtual or extra-local entities. (Programme standards and practices 2020, Glossary of terms appendix 1)  

Why engage with the community?

Be clear of your reasons for engaging with the community - and identify which community. There are several reasons why engagement with the community puts the school in contact with all the resources of the community:

  • providing an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development and community engagement lead to improved student learning, stronger families, and healthier communities.
  • to enrich the educational context for students. Students can access more opportunities - to provide them with rich learning, personal development and citizenship opportunities.
  • links with the community emphasizes real-world learning and community problem-solving.
  • schools become centers of the community and are open to everyone – all day, every day, evenings, and weekends.

How do we engage with the community?

Berg, Melaville, & Blank identify six keys to community engagement that can help create the conditions for learning:

  • Key 1: Know where you’re going: Define vision for family engagement broadly.
    Start by creating a shared vision – in partnership with school staff, families, students, partners and community residents - of what the school could look like and collaboratively develop a plan for how to get there.
  • Key 2: Share leadership: Encourage families’ contributions and leadership
    Actively involve staff, parents and community partners in sharing leadership functions, and work closely with them in working towards your shared vision.
  • Key 3: Reach out: Meet the community where they are
    Be proactive in learning about the community surrounding the school and become active outside the school. Don’t just expect the community to help meet the school’s priorities; also think about how the school can contribute to what the local community wants. Identify community resources that could help the school AND school resources that could be useful to the community.
  • Key 4: Create a welcoming environment and have honest conversations.
    Recognise, and embrace, diversity within the school and the broader community - promote open and honest discussion of the diversity you find around you.
  • Key 5: Tell your school’s story: Be visible in the community
    Using stories, and the strategic use of facts and figures, can inspire people to become involved.
  • Key 6: Continually assess progress
    Ensure that the vision and plan for the school remains at the heart of partnerships and in community engagement initiatives. Think about long-term sustainability and how partnerships can thrive over the long haul.

We also need to acknowledge the challenges in engaging families, staff, partners, and the public, for example,

  • Negative experiences
  • Language and cultural differences
  • Issues of race and class
  • Lack of professional development and preparation.

Tools to use

  • What’s our story? People in our communities – students, parents, staff, the wider community – need to know who we are in order to engage with us. What do we stand for? What’s our purpose? Is it meaningful to others – enough to engage with us? For example, we need to be able to answer students who ask ‘why do I need to learn this?’ It is key to craft compelling narratives and drawing people into our story.
  • Are we inclusive and welcoming? Creating an environment where every voice matters and everyone feels at home was a key focus. This goes to the heart of the culture of our school. How do we develop | nourish | change the culture if it is not one which nurtures inclusivity? See the page on Culture change.
  • How do we bring about change? Engaging students, staff, parents, or the wide community requires skills in bringing about change. It is helpful to have a change management toolbox containing strategies which create a sense of need and urgency for change, and gains the buy in from all in the community. See the page on Change Management Tools.
  • Strength in diversity: How do we acknowledge and celebrate the unique perspectives each member brings, turning diversity into a powerful asset. People we wish to engage with need to know that we ‘see them’, and value them for the perspectives they bring. We need to be open-minded in our approach, acknowledging that diversity is a strength we need in our community. See the pages on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Are we inclusive? | How can we be more inclusive?
  • How do we build community spirit? A community is something we build together. What skills do we need to build such a team? See the pages on Leading high performing teams | What makes a team? | Team is everything | Trust – a key attribute of effective teams
  • Action-oriented: It is important to rally all stakeholders around actionable goals.

In a nutshell, effective community engagement means creating spaces where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute.

Engaging with parents

Professional inquiries

How do you make parents feel welcome in school?

How do you engage parents in the learning of their child?

Families are the first educators of their children and they continue to influence their children’s learning and development during the school years and long afterwards. Schools have an important responsibility in helping to nurture and teach future generations and families trust schools to provide educational foundations for their children’s future. At the same time, schools need to recognise the primary role of the family in education. This is why it is important for families and schools to work together in partnership.

"From the beginning of my teaching career, I have relied upon the writings and philosophy of Nell Noddings. Understanding the importance of community building while providing stakeholders with a clear learning path creates an educational community built on trust and the idea of care. These relationships are key to a successful leadership program and school. Too often, education takes place behind closed doors where parents struggle to find access points, as we have seen in the US over the last year and a half. The goal should be to "engage the external environments" where students, professionals, systems, and parents can work together to improve learning and school-wide outcomes." (Angela Lynn Baker, Vietnam)

Promoting two-way communication between home and school is at the heart of positive home-school partnerships.

The Family – school partnerships framework: A guide for schools and families identifies 11 principles which underpin effective Family-School Partnerships

  1. All families and schools want the best for their children.
  2. All children have the right to the opportunity to reach their full potential.
  3. Families are the first and continuing educators of their children.
  4. Effective schools provide a nurturing and supportive learning environment.
  5. Families and schools value quality teaching and respect teachers’ professional expertise.
  6. Families and schools value the diversity of families and use this as a resource for building partnerships and communities.
  7. Family-school partnerships are based on mutual responsibility, respect and trust.
  8. Leadership is critical to building, maintaining and renewing partnerships.
  9. Family-school partnerships improve student motivation and learning.
  10. Family-school partnerships strengthen the connections between schools and their communities.
  11. Partnerships can involve all organisations that support families and schools.

The Framework goes on to suggest seven dimensions for promoting partnerships (and also strategies for developing partnerships):

  1. Communicating: Schools go out of their way to make parents families feel welcome and valued, and ensure there is a two-way exchange between families and schools.
  2. Connecting learning at home and at school: Families and schools understand the overlap between the home and school environments, and work together to create positive attitudes to learning in each child.
  3. Building community and identity: Schools facilitate activities that improve the quality of life in a community while honouring the culture, traditions, values and relationships in that community.
  4. Recognising the role of the family: Emphasises that as primary educators of their children, parents and families have a lasting influence on their children’s attitudes and achievements at school. They can encourage their children’s learning in and out of school and are also in a position to support school goals, directions and ethos. Parents look to schools to provide secure and caring environments for their children.
  5. Consultative decision-making: An inclusive approach to school decision-making and parental involvement creates a sense of shared responsibility among parents, community members, teachers and school leaders.
  6. Collaborating beyond the school:  The wider community can provide services which strengthen and support schools, students and their families.
  7. Participating: Families’ time, energy and expertise can support learning and school programs in many ways.

What can schools do to make parents feel welcome an engaged in their child’s learning?  Here are some suggestions to start you thinking:

  • Being welcoming: the principal being at the school gate at the beginning and end of the school day.
  • Consistent welcoming messages in newsletters saying that school values the involvement of parents. Schools need to provide very strong, clear messages that parents are an important part of their children’s education. 
  • Social gatherings for the parental community (e.g., BBQs, trivia nights).
  • Newsletters informing parents of what is happening in the curriculum (classrooms). For example, ask each teacher to take one photo over two weeks and write up a very basic summary of learning including at least one concept, global context, and a learner profile attribute, so the work was really just compiling it into the template and sending to all parents, which is relatively streamlined. It is a great way for the community to see what was going on while also reinforcing the core language and philosophy of IB.
  • Website providing resources for parents to support their children academically.
  • Design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school programmes and student progress.
  • Provide information and ideas to families and care givers about how to help their children with homework and other curriculum related activities, decisions and planning.
  • Information evenings for parents about a range of relevant topics – academic but also social and personal development of children.
  • Encouraging volunteering: A range of ways parents can volunteer in the classroom or the rest of the school.
  • Active Parents and Citizen Association that is an important part of school decision making.
  • Parental feedback being sought on a range of issues, and then acted upon. 

Parent Handbook

Here is a good example of a parent handbook in which Amrita International Vidyalayam explain the PYP to parents.

Engaging with the wider community

Principles of engagement

Graeme Stuart argues for a principled approach to community engagement.

  • Careful planning and preparation: Through adequate and inclusive planning, ensure that the design, organization, and convening of the process serve both a clearly defined purpose and the needs of the participants.
  • Inclusion and demographic diversity: Equitably incorporate diverse people, voices, ideas, and information to lay the groundwork for quality outcomes and democratic legitimacy.
  • Collaboration and shared purpose: Support and encourage participants, government and community institutions, and others to work together to advance the common good.
  • Openness and learning: Help all involved listen to each other, explore new ideas unconstrained by predetermined outcomes, learn and apply information in ways that generate new options, and rigorously evaluate public engagement activities for effectiveness.
  • Transparency and trust: Be clear and open about the process, and provide a public record of the organizers, sponsors, outcomes, and range of views and ideas expressed.
  • Impact and action: Ensure each participatory effort has real potential to make a difference, and that participants are aware of that potential.
  • Sustained engagement and participatory culture Promote a culture of participation with programs and institutions that support ongoing quality public engagement (Atlee et al., 2009).

Top tips for engaging with the wider community

Graeme Stuart provides the following tips he has learned from doing strengths-based community engagement in a variety of contexts:

  1. Build on individual and community strengths
  2. Remember – relationships matter: we have a responsibility to act in ways that build social capital
  3. Be curious about the people you are working with: e.g., what they think, what they want, what inspires them and what they can offer. Rather than coming in as an expert with the answers, we can come in with a spirit of curiosity where we hope to learn as well.
  4. Don’t be afraid of disagreement and even conflict: promote a cooperative approach to differences rather than processes that encourage argument from entrenched positions.
  5. Address power imbalances: to think about how we can ensure that some people do not dominate or over-ride others (e.g. use World Café protocols)
  6. Consider who is not at the table: whose voices are not included. In particular we need to think about how to involve marginalised groups. 
  7. Actively seek to engage: We need to think about why other people might want to be engaged. How can we make it interesting and relevant to them? It might be important to consider ways that we can go to people rather than expecting them to come to us.
  8. Respond to the good in people: think about what motivates people and what their interests are, we can respond to them in ways that show we are respectful and wanting to work with them.
  9. Approach community engagement as an art, not a science: Essentially community engagement is a complex problem and we cannot just follow a recipe to ensure a positive result. Community engagement takes creativity, intuition, and experience.
  10. Reflect on your practice: Obtain feedback from people involved so you can learn from their insights as well. 

Resources

Bull, A., Brooking, K., and Campbell, R. (2008). Successful home-school partnerships. Ministry of Education

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. (2008). Family-School Partnerships Framework: A guide for schools and families. Canberra: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

Jennings, K., & Bosch, C. (2011). Parent engagement in children’s education. Western Creek, ACT: Family-School & Community Partnerships Bureau.

Leadership for parental engagement, NCSL, 2010

School Learning Support Program. (2010). Positively engaging parents 

Stuart, G. 10 things I’ve learnt about strengths-based community engagement

Stuart, G., Ethics and Community Engagement, July 2013.

Stuart, G, Definitions of community engagement, March 2011

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