Page 1195 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 7 May 2014
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Starting preschool can be exciting and it is also daunting for parents as well as for children. This publication for parents provides advice about the ACT preschool programs, including questions they can ask, contacts for family support services and agencies, and strategies for reading with their child.
In an Australian first, the ACT government and the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth are partnering in a new parental engagement project in response to this evidence. The project will build on the positive relations that ACT schools have with their families. It will equip parents and schools to build partnerships that are focused on children’s learning and wellbeing, and to measure the impact of parental engagement in learning for their children.
The government has demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting parental engagement and we look forward to developing strong and effective partnerships across all our schooling sectors and organisations through the implementation process.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Ms Berry.
MS BERRY: Minister, why is it important for new school parents to engage with their prospective school and meet the principal and teachers?
MS BURCH: I thank Ms Berry for the question. Children do better at school when parents and teachers work together. Parents play a critical role as partners in ensuring that our young children get the best start to life. Creating strong and effective partnerships between parents and their child’s education enhances their later learning success. Parental engagement in education is recognised as enhancing academic success and student wellbeing.
In order to achieve this, we need strong relationships between teachers and their families. We need welcoming schools and parents who feel that what they have to say will be heard and that they have a stake in how their school is run. It is not just about what happens on the school grounds.
Schools can play a vital role in enabling and supporting parents to provide the kind of home learning environment that kids need to thrive—in shaping parents’ beliefs about their role in the child’s learning and their sense of their own ability to help educate their children.
The preschool matters program and the progressing parental engagement in the ACT project recognise the central role of parents in helping their children. This is about parents working alongside teachers and leaders in the education of their children, which has the potential to have a positive impact on their children’s futures.
Schools and parents working together will increase the chance of children emerging from our education system not only educated but also, more importantly, holding the view that they are ready to take their own unique place in the world.
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