Recent research carried out by Parent Councils UK found that education failure is increased by lack of parental interest in schooling, and that engaging hard to reach parents has a disproportionately positive effect on student learning and student achievement. A study in England, however, encouragingly showed that 72 per cent of parents wanted more involvement in their children’s education. This supports  the National Literacy Trust’s report A research review: the importance of families and the home environment which was released earlier this year. The common thread linking all three studies is the suggestion that parents are a child’s first educator and as such, have the greatest influence on their achievement through supporting their learning.

If parents are considered a child’s first educator, then it is imperative that schools foster strong interactions and links with parents to ensure that the learning experience is a fully developed one. Thankfully, many schools now acknowledge this and are refocusing their efforts into improving how they correspond with parents. However, in a rapidly advancing, technology driven age, it is important that all communication outlets are current, relevant and properly utilised to benefit the end user. As such, email and text messaging systems have been embraced by many schools.

Lawrence Royston, managing director, Groupcall, explains why email and text messaging systems are now being embraced. He also explains why ensuring that parental communication is reflective of the world we live in, and happens in ‘real time’ is a must.
“Schools have very quickly realised a real need for an effective parental communications system which encourages parental involvement, whilst being simple to integrate, efficient and cost effective. Traditional methods of contacting parents or guardians to alert them to their child’s achievements, progress or behavioural concerns are proving increasingly ineffective. Methods of communication have to be up to date and relevant to a younger generation of parents; and indicative of the world we live in. For these parents, mobile calls and text messages are far more commonplace as a means of communication; therefore schools need to be able to provide these services.