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Resources for Parents

 Why is parental involvement important?

Teachers and parents have to work alongside each other. Education doesn’t stop when a child leaves the school building. I need to be aware of my children’s needs so that I can boost their development (Mother, Greece)

Maria, a parent from Bulgaria whose daughter is at Golfhill Primary school in Glasgow, talks about her experience of getting involved in the school and the difference it has made

and to hear what parental involvement means for children here are a few children from St Albert’s Primary in Glasgow

Training

Our workshops for Ethnic Minority parents is a chance for us to find out about parents’ experience of contact with school, how involved they are with their children’s learning and barriers that they might have to getting more involved. We use this information to let the local council, schools and parent councils know what it is like for parents from ethnic minorities. We also give parents information about their rights, including on what a Parent Council is and what it can do to help parents have their voice heard. For our report on the findings from our workshops click here.

Karibu Women's gorup   Glasgow Chinese School

The Scottish Education System and Beyond

I would like to know more- how to help my son in his homework, but I don’t know how  (Mother, Iraq)

From our work with parents from ethnic minorities we have found that many parents have a lot of questions about the Scottish education system- how their children are being taught, how they can help with homework, how the exam system works and what the options are for their children after they leave school. To try and answer these questions we ran a series of workshops in partnership with organisations including Bilingualism Matters, Glasgow EAL Service and the College Development Network.

The Gathered Together Toolkit- “Understanding the Scottish Education system”

Following our workshops we have developed a toolkit to enable parents, particularly those who are new to Scotland, to ensure  parents have the right information so that they can support their children’s learning and give them the help and advice to fulfill their potential. The toolkit provides an overview of four areas:

  • The Scottish Education System
  • Post 16 Choices
  • Parental Involvement
  • Keeping children safe, healthy and happy

You can find out more and download the toolkit here

The Experiences of Ethnic Minority parents

Yes I helped them (with homework) in primary school but my older children are in high school, so I can’t help now as the system is harder, I don’t understand the subjects. I found this hard (Mother, Palestine)

Gathered Together has been consulting EM parents about their experiences of Scottish schools, the barriers they face to getting involved and their level of understanding of how the school system “works” in Scotland. From conducting workshops with over 350 EM parents we produced a report, highlighting the barriers that they face to getting involved (including cultural, language and lack of confidence) and their level of knowledge around the role of the Parent Council. You can read the full report here

We also conducted a survey into the experiences of 164 families from ethnic minorities, exploring their experiences of contact with school, level of knowledge about the education system and their levels of confidence in supporting their children’s learning. You can read the full report and the five briefing papers here

Stories

At Gathered Together we believe that parents and carers should be celebrated for getting involved in their child’s education. We want to share the stories and experiences of ethnic and cultural minority parents who are getting involved and overcoming barriers. These stories show the real life struggles and triumphs of being part of the school community.

Check out our interviews with parents sharing their experiences