The strength of home-school links are always a priority for school leaders, but those with parents with English as an additional language (EAL) are particularly important.
Strong, respectful, and effective relationships can help parents and carers using EAL understand the role they can play in their child’s learning and enable them to feel they are welcomed and belong to the school community.
Research suggests that enabling parents and carers to feel like active stakeholders and contributors to their child’s education is important (Goodall & Montgomery, 2014) and that the learning that happens at home is an important factor in pupil achievement (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003).
However, it can be challenging and for those parents and carers using EAL there are additional barriers:
- Lack of English language and minimal English literacy can cause apprehension, misunderstanding and feelings of isolation.
- Not understanding the English education system and the vital role they, as parents, can play in their child’s learning. They may not consider the value of their own educational experiences or may think that they can only support their child’s learning through the medium of English.
- Personal experiences of education may be quite different to the English system. Parents and carers may be accustomed to a more formal style, may not recognise play-based learning, or value different forms such as rote learning. Linked to this, they may have experienced different cultural norms such as having different aspirations for boys compared to girls.
These factors all have an impact on how parents and carers using EAL feel about their role in supporting their child’s learning.
To overcome these barriers school leaders need to be strategic and develop an approach that is embedded across the school. It needs to be supported by the governors and to be threaded through all the functions of the school.
Reflect and review
It is important to start by looking at how you operate at the moment:
- What is going well/less well and what could be even better if changes were made?
- Have you got an appointed person to oversee EAL provision or pastoral care?
- What time is allocated to work with parents and carers?
Speak to teachers, teaching support staff and your school office team to gather information, and also to parents and carers using EAL to build a fuller picture.
Review the information that parents and carers receive and consider how accessible it is to those using EAL. Look at your school development plan to identify how your objectives can be supported through working with this group of parents and carers. Reflect and review regularly to adapt with changing cohorts and needs.
Develop your staff
It is important that staff understand and buy into the strategy. The review may highlight areas where your staff need extra support. There may be a need for increased understanding around the barriers that parents and carers using EAL can experience, or it may be that some teachers lack confidence in speaking to parents because they are worried about communicating unclearly.
Invest in good quality staff training to better understand the needs of the parents and carers using EAL. Be clear about roles and responsibilities and establish an on-going professional dialogue to support staff and develop everyone’s learning.
Build relationships
If parents and carers using EAL are to feel able to support their child’s learning, there needs to be a good relationship with the school and their child’s teacher. Finding time for everyday conversations, listening, and showing sincere interest will help you to get to know your families well. Through these interactions you can gather information about a child, that will help you to understand where parents may need support – and also their concerns for their child.
Create an induction programme for newly arrived families so they can have a useful introduction to the English school system and, more particularly, how your school operates.
Invite parents into school. You might offer English for Speakers of Other Languages classes (ESOL) or maybe there is a specific project where you feel their input could be valued. However, be mindful that they may well be juggling complicated work patterns or childcare responsibilities which can mean that coming into school is difficult.
Another option I have seen work well is to develop parent ambassadors or buddies who share the same language and cultural background.
Relationships flourish with clear communication. Before assuming that Google Translate is the solution, step back and look at your wider communication strategy.
The most important aspect is not technology but the member of your staff with EAL responsibility. They play a crucial role in supporting parents and carers using EAL. Easily identifiable, they are often the first point of contact for parents, and they can also provide valuable feedback on how your engagement with parents is going.
Practical ideas for supporting home learning
Ensure parents have information about the main subjects and topics their child is learning. Make sure parents and carers understand that their child can learn curriculum content in their first language and that this is something you support as a school.
Be clear that the school values multi-lingualism – research shows that maintaining a first language can accelerate the process of learning a second (Dressler & Kamil, 2006). Encourage parents to read with their child in their home language to develop oral language development and literacy.
Create a guide about “supporting your child’s learning at home” and translate it into the languages your parents and carers using EAL speak. I have recently produced a guide which might provide a useful starting point from which to develop your own (Payne, 2024). Parent ambassadors or buddies can also be helpful here in sharing ideas that they have found work with their own children using EAL.
Stay in touch
It can be a good idea to invite parents and carers using EAL to come to a parents’ evening or a coffee morning, especially for them. A smaller group can be less daunting, and you can tailor presentations and information to their needs. It is also a great opportunity to hear from them about their experiences of supporting their children’s learning, and what else they might find helpful in terms of support.
If you have recruited parent ambassadors, it would be useful if they can attend. These can also be good times to talk about forthcoming transitions from one key stage to another or preparing for secondary school.
Final thoughts
Parents and carers using EAL want the very best for their child and most have high aspirations for them. Given the right support they can feel empowered to play an active role in helping their child to flourish at school and beyond.
- Sejal Payne is an education consultant who works with schools to help them support their pupils and families using EAL.
Further information & resources
- Desforges & Abouchaar: The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievements and adjustment: A literature review, DfES, 2003: https://tinyurl.com/yfra52f5
- Dressler & Kamil: First and Second-Language Literacy. In Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth, August & Shanahan (eds), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 2006.
- Goodall & Montgomery: Parental involvement to parental engagement: A continuum, Educational Review (66,4), 2014: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2013.781576
- Payne: Supporting children learning English as an additional language, Tapestry, 2024: https://tinyurl.com/398jdr9s