Yesterday I checked out the Government’s Priorities for Education at www.educationcounts.govt.nz/themes/government_priorities which had some useful references to priorities for education in terms of parents and family/whanau. I found it interesting that although it stated that the engagement of families, whanau and communities is a very powerful influence on childrens learning and success at school, there were no indicators to measure progress in this area! So how will we know if we are getting this bit right! I am hoping using a classroom blog will help in this area - I wonder what parents think?
I think in this study that one of the things I want to do is to give a voice to the parent community. What, for example, is their perspective on partnership?
How do parents perceive home/school partnerships?
What do parents want from home/school partnerships?
Are parents marginalised when it comes to schooling? Do they want to do more but don’t know what or how - or are they happy with the status quo?
Does having access to a class blog allow parents to take a more active role in their children’s learning - and do they want to?
I’m pretty sure I need to keep thinking about these questions and refine them more. Maybe some of them are more objectives of the study, rather than research questions as such.
