Best Practice

An anti-racist approach to parental engagement

Do you still consider some groups of parents to be ‘hard-to-reach’? Orlene Badu discusses how we can overcome unconscious bias and engage with all our parents and carers
Image: Adobe Stock

As educators we are very aware of the importance of engaging parents and carers as we collaborate to provide the best possible circumstances for their children.

The importance of this relationship cannot be overestimated. In fact, the children in our system who thrive are often those whose families have a strong relationship with the school – a school in which they feel they belong, have a strong sense of self, and are able to advocate for their child and themselves. In an ideal world every parent and carer and every child would have this relationship.

In this article, I want to consider the things we can do as leaders to encourage an “antiracist” approach to our engagement with parents, especially our parents from black and global majority backgrounds who, as we know all too well, are often marginalised in our society.

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