Engaging with parents, whānau, and the community
Community engagement
Community engagement is one of eight principles in The New Zealand Curriculum that provide a foundation for schools' decision making. It is about establishing strong home-school partnerships where parents, whānau, and communities are involved in and support learning. This requires deliberate action to connect and build relationships to:
- design a local curriculum that meets the needs of the community
- enable parents to engage with their child's learning.
Productive partnerships
Partnerships with whānau/iwi and the wider community can be enhanced by the use of technologies. Technologies facilitate on-going reciprocal two-way communication between students and parents, giving parents anywhere, anytime access to their child's learning. This leads to improved learning outcomes for students through blended, culturally inclusive, and sustainable practices.
Principal, Dave McShane, teacher Susan Lee, and kaumatua from Te Kura o Kutarere discuss how technologies have helped to engage the local community to support and share students' learning.
Connecting home and school
Digital technologies can enable:
- a more seamless transition of learning between home and school
- parents to engage in learning
- collaboration between students, teachers, and parents/whānau.
Promoting two-way communication between home and school is the most relevant aspect of home–school partnerships.
Bull, A., Brooking, K., and Campbell, R. (2008). Successful home-school partnerships. Ministry of Education p.15
Supporting parents to use technologies
Supporting parents to engage with their child's learning through technologies strengthens home-school partnerships.
Some parents will need support to use the tools and technologies in use. Consider providing support in ways that work for your parents, for example through:
- face-to-face technology sharing sessions
- information in the school newsletter or on the school website
- video clips to show parents how to use the tools and technologies in use.
Finlayson Park is a decile 1 school with many families that do not have access to the internet. The school provided free lunchtime teaching sessions for parents on how to use computers and access the internet. Benefits included improved engagement for students, and the development of a strong partnership with parents.
Using digital technologies to facilitate deeper engagement with parents, whānau, and the school community
There has been recognition of the importance of reciprocal two-way communication to enhance the understanding of student backgrounds and learning needs; to consult with parents, whānau, and communities on school priorities; and to engage in collaborative goal setting.
Discussion starters
Use these discussion starters in conjunction with the e-Learning Planning Framework to identify your current practice and some next steps in developing the use of digital technologies to engage with your community.
Principals and school leaders
How are you using digital technologies to connect with parents and whānau? Consider this in terms of supporting parents to:
- understand how the school works – for example, school vision, policies and procedures, uniforms, timetables, lunch orders, board of trustees meetings. How accessible is this content on your website?
- contribute to developing the local curriculum – for example, are community meetings both physical and virtual so parents can participate from their homes?
- engage with their child's learning – for example using real-time reporting, e-portfolios, class blogs, streaming school assemblies
- access and engage with the technologies you are using or planning on using for learning and communication
- share their questions, ideas and points of view, aspirations for the school – what tools could you use to do this, for example using Google forms, Survey Monkey, email, Facebook discussion group.
To what extent have you implemented strategies to inform and consult with the wider community about cybersafety, and digital citizenship?
How are you using digital technologies to support teachers and students to connect and collaborate with relevant groups from the local community and the wider world?
Teachers
What digital technologies do you use to interact with your community? How do you use these technologies to build relationships and support communication?
What steps could you take to engage your parent/whānau community so they interact and participate in their child’s learning?
What technologies could you use to open different channels of communication to meet the needs of your parent/whānau community?
Are you supporting students to use digital technologies to connect with outside experts as part of their learning?
Practical steps for using digital technologies to engage with parents and whānau
Use these e-learning examples and resources in conjunction with the e-Learning Planning Framework .
Principals and school leaders
Survey your community and collect information on their:
- wants and needs for communication
- understanding of tools being used.
NZC online | Tools – Tools you can select from to survey your community and gather information.
Use this information to inform your communication planning.
Identify ways you can use digital technologies to connect with parents and whānau to:
- ensure they understand what being a digital citizen means and how to consider cybersafety – explore Module 4: Digital citizenship at home
- encourage parent/whānau feedback and engagement with their child's learning – plan sessions to introduce and explore tools used in your school; explore Real-time reporting , e-Portfolios
- provide opportunities for parents to come to school and see the benefits of using digital technologies – explore Connecting with families and communities of Pacific learners .
Consider your approach to using social media – use the online guide, Using social media to connect with your community
Plan ways to help parents understand and use the tools their children are learning with – explore, Digital citizenship and online safety in the community .
Identify ways you can engage with Māori learners, whānau, hapū, iwi, and Māori communities to understand their views and what they can offer to support learners. Te ika unahi nui wānanga – A marae-based learning programme illustrates a learning partnership between the local marae and Coastal Taranaki School, where traditional skills and learning through digital technologies were merged.
Teachers
- When parents come into the classroom at the end of the day, invite them to look at their child's work online and leave a comment or talk about it with their child.
- Find out what kinds of technology parents use/have access to.
- Provide deliberate support/training to show parents how they can engage with students’ work – both face-to-face and through technology.
- Create and promote online spaces that invite parent participation and feedback, for example, blogs.
- Establish an online space for parents to access, and contribute to, student learning or specifically designed e-portfolios designed to inform future steps in learning.
- Consider using multiple channels to make connections with the community, for example, social media tools, real-time reporting tools, emails and text messages, the school website.
- Gather feedback on how interactions between home and school have had an impact on learning – share the success stories.
Building communication with parents and whānau
The engagement of whānau/iwi and wider community networks are enhanced by the use of digital technologies. A deeper level of engagement can lead to improved student achievement through culturally inclusive, and sustainable e-learning practices.
Use digital technologies to:
- build two-way communication
- increase parent engagement in student learning.
Hillcrest Normal School teacher, Michelle Macintyre shares how technology has enabled parents to be involved in different ways with students' learning. She explains, at their classroom learning celebrations they have been engaging parents with technology in practical ways. Creating videos of learning experiences facilitates discussion between students and parents, particularly for English as a second language families. The class blog has become a portal for parents to interact with. It's become an e-portfolio where student progress is shared.
Key resources
Digital resources, and examples to support schools as they consider community engagement.
Educationally powerful connections with parents and whānau (November 2015)
Useful examples of practice are described in this report from ERO and the Ministry of Education.
More information »
These pages include examples of schools making use of digital technologies to connect with their communities, and describing the benefits to learning and teaching.
Technologies suitable for different types of communication
e-Portfolios
e-Portfolios are a type of real-time reporting and provide anywhere, anytime access for family/whānau and the wider community to view and comment on students’ learning.
More information »
- e-Portfolios – further information and school stories on setting up and using e-portfolios in the classroom.
- real-time reporting – explores how real-time reporting can foster genuine home-school partnerships, and raise student achievement.
Renee Strawbridge (Deputy Principal - Mt Biggs School) explains how they use Seesaw to connect parents and whānau with student learning. She comments, "One of the parents in my class said to me that she really loved looking at the videos on Seesaw and she could see all of the learning that the kids have been doing on Seesaw. She was just amazed by the standard of the filming and how professional it looked."
Staff and parents from Kimi Ora School share the benefits e-portfolios provide for engaging families with students' progress and for transitioning students from the school to a day base.
The benefit for students, staff, and parents of using e-portfolios to communicate and collaborate are shared in this video from Kimi Ora School. An important outcome has been improved teacher practice as a result of reflections and information shared.
Electronic school newsletters
Electronic school newsletters are a common and effective way for a school to communicate items of interest to its community. They are intended to form only one part of your overall communications strategy.
There are many ways to create and publish a newsletter including:
- sending a PDF by email
- using your Student Management System
- using an electronic mail marketing service such as Mailchimp.
Keeping an archive of newsletters on your website could be useful for your community.
Russell Street School used a blog post format within Google docs to create a paperless newsletter. Deputy principal, James Rea explains the process they went through to set it up. The school admin team is responsible for overseeing the newsletter. It is set up so that the school principal and teachers can post directly to it. Students are invited to post as well.
The school community response has been positive. Including pictures and videos creates a more engaging view into the school news. The newsletter is searchable, and hyperlinks to sports draws and other notices makes accessing information easy.
Social Media
Social media provides a rich opportunity for schools to engage with their community.
See the Using social media to connect with your community page for further information and school stories on setting up and using social media to engage your community.
Rosin Lamb, Communications Manager at Pakuranga College, explains how they use social media to connect with the community. They use a number of online tools to manage their various communications channels. This has become an opportunity to work with parents to help them understand how social media can support community engagement.
School apps and parent portals
School apps and parent portals are available to keep the community informed about dates, times, events and notices.
When integrated with the school’s student management system, they might also enable the timetable, assessment, and achievement information to be made available to parents and students through a secure log-in.
Some apps and portals enable parents to notify absences, update contact information, provide permissions for trips or make payments.
A school app should be integrated as much as possible with the school website and social media so that information is consistent across each platform.
These snapshots provide a window into each school's experience of using technologies to engage with parents/caregivers, whānau, and the local community.
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Use the filters to find videos that relate to your specific needs. More than one filter can be applied.
Filter by: Primary Secondary Communication Blogging Whānau engagement e-Portfolios Cultural responsiveness MASAM
Online resources supporting te reo and tikanga Māori
Te Kura o Tiori Burnham School principal, Rob Clarke talks about setting up Taha Māori @ Te Kura o Tiori as part of their school website.
e-Portfolios in the classroom
Associate Principal and Senior Team Leader at Te Kura o Tiori Burnham School, Linda Sweeny, explains the process for setting up Blogger for students to use as an e-Portfolio.
e-Portfolios – the benefits for student learning
Deputy Principal Miranda Makin explains the benefits of using e-portfolios for students participating in the Impact Projects .
Sharing learning using the class blog and e-portfolios
Teacher, Jacqui Innes from Russell Street School describes how students individual e-portfolios and the class blog serve different purposes but work in conjunction with each other.
Using e-portfolios to record the learning process
Russell Street School teacher, Jacqui Innes, describes the process and benefits of planning explicitly for what students will share on their e-portfolios.
Connecting with the community
Principal, Dave McShane, teacher Susan Lee, and kaumatua from Te Kura o Kutarere discuss how technologies have helped to engage the local community to support and share students learning.
Connecting teachers, students, and family
Students and teachers talk about how they share their work, the ease with which they can do it, and the different tools they use.
Home–school partnerships
Finlayson Park school has set up a computer lab and fund a teacher aide to provide teaching on how to use computers and the Internet for parents.
Study centre
Finlayson Park School work with the philosophy of doing more for many with less. They have set up a free after school study centre for students to allow them access to computers and the Internet as many families don't have Internet access from home.
e-Competencies in action at the KidsCan Film Festival
At the KidsCan film festival in Nelson 70 students were put together for three days to create films. Kellie McRoberts describes students' development of e-competencies within this project.
Using technologies to connect with the community
Principal Jane Danielson explains the different applications they are using to connect with their community.
Developing a paperless newsletter
James Rea, Deputy Principal at Russell Street School, explains how they setup their online newsletter and the benefits of using a blog post format within Google docs.
Using e-portfolios to share students' learning
Rob Clarke principal of Burnham School describes the benefits of using e-portfolios in the school community to connect with parents.
Engaging your school community using technologies
Rob Clarke, principal of Burnham School, explains the importance of face-to-face meetings in terms of successful whānau and community engagement with e-learning tools.
Sharing a mihi
Students at Burnham School found the process of creating and sharing a mihi, which involved engaging with their families and the community to research into their past and using technology to share that with their parents/whānau for feedback, was valuable.
Using Ustream to share assemblies
James Rea, DP at Russell Street School, shares how they are using Ustream to live stream their school assemblies.
Using blogs to communicate with the school community
James Rea, DP at Russell Street School, shares how students are using their library blog to post book reviews and character profiles.
Maximising technology to support learning between home and school
Technology enables access to the Internet and removes communication barriers for Wadestown School student, Renée Patete.
Stop motion animation to promote literacy
Sue Martin uses stop motion animation with her students to promote narrative skills, particularly sequencing and retelling.
Improving written and oral language with multimedia
Sally McDougall and her students explain their process for writing book reviews and creating QR codes to share them with the wider community.
Engaging parents in learning through technology
Hillcrest Normal School teacher, Michelle Macintyre shares how technology has enabled parents to be involved in different ways with students' learning.
Using mobile devices to improve communication
Parents from Holy Cross School explain how they are able to connect easily with the school, using mobile devices and different forms of digital media.
Mobile devices at home
Holy Cross School student, Coretti and her mother, Fiona Tuffs, discuss how using a mobile device makes access to schoolwork easier. Corretti explains how the iPad is changing the way she learns.
Parent technology sessions
Holy Cross School principal, Kathy Moy-Low explains how they consulted with and engaged the parent community in e-learning. Parents explain why they attend the after school parent technology sessions.
Introducing digital technologies to the community through student voice
Staff and students of Ruawai Primary School used student voice to share with their parent community the ways in which digital technologies are used to support learning, and to share what students are learning with their families.
Bringing the classroom to the community
Staff at Mahurangi Christian School discuss how the school connects the classroom to the community through digital technologies.
Using the eLPF to inform strategic planning at Waerenga o Kuri
Principal, Richard McCosh explains how they used the e-Learning Planning Framework to identify strengths and areas needing development within their school.
Developing a framework to support Māori achieving success as Māori
The board of trustees, parent community, and school leadership team at Waerenga O Kuri School explain the collaborative process they used for developing their Māori achieving success as Māori (MASAM) framework.
Inclusion
Waerenga o Kuri student, Herepo Wynyard talks about how the involvement of her whānau both online (through her e-portfolio), and face-to-face at school has encouraged success with her learning goals.
MASAM framework
Motu School community share their perspectives on the partnership that has been built based on the Māori achieving success as Māori (MASAM) framework they developed together.
Seamless learning facilitated by BYOD
Connor Fitzgerald-Mansell, a student from Hillcrest High School, describes the benefits of bringing his own laptop to school.
Connecting with ICTs
e-Learning teacher Mervyn Cook and student Connor Fitzgerald-Mansell, from Hillcrest High School, discuss the benefits of being able to connect via ICTs during outside of scheduled class time.
Māori achieving success as Māori – setting up a framework
Motu School principal, Paul Cornwall explains the process they went through to setup a framework for Māori achieving success as Māori (MASAM).
Parents engaging in student learning
Motu School community talk about the positives of parents engaging in their children's learning.
Creating MASAM – Collaborating with the community
Parents, BOT, and teachers from Motu School discuss their collaboration around whanaungatanga to create their Māori achieving success as Māori (MASAM framework).
BYOD – Information and support for parents
Teacher and e-learning leader, Kate Friedwald explains the information provided for parents at Wairakei School to introduce a BYOD trial for Year 5/6 students in 2014.
Setting up BYOD in the classroom at Wairakei School
Kate Friedwald describes step-by-step the process she went through from researching BYOD to setting up a classroom learning programme using BYOD at Wairakei School.
Outcomes from the BYOD pilot at Wairakei School: Parents reflect
Parents from Wairakei School describe the benefits that being in a BYOD class has had for their children.
Improving student writing using blogs
Wairakei School teacher and her student explain why blogging encourages students to produce better quality work because it is being seen and commented on by an authentic audience.
Building connections with parents and whānau
Wairakei School principal Shane Buckner explains the benefits of using digital technologies to build connections with parents and whānau.
Māori succeeding as Māori
Chris Luke, teacher at Coastal Taranaki School, talks about the Te Ika Unahi Nui initiative, using digital technologies, and the benefits this has had for Māori students.
Strengthening Māori identity, language, and culture
Students and parents from Coastal Taranaki School talk about the difference marae-based learning has made to their engagement, motivation, and confidence.
Marae-based learning Puniho Pā
Coastal Taranaki School teacher, Chris Luke explains how he connects students' learning at the marae with the learning in the classroom.
Teaching and learning with Māori tradition and modern technology
Te Ika Unahi Nui is a wānanga (learning) partnership between Tarawainuku marae, Coastal Taranaki School, and the local community.
Planning the new build, a school and community partnership
Halswell School principal, Bruce Topham explains key steps in planning and building an innovative learning environment that is part of the community.
Connecting with the community through social media
Rosin Lamb, Communications Manager at Pakuranga College, explains how they use social media to connect with the community.
Sharing student learning
Staff and students from Apiti School discuss the benefits of using e-portfolios to share student learning with parents and the community.
Connecting learning and the community
Teacher, Nicki Fielder and students from Apiti School explain the different social media tools they use to connect with parents and the wider community.
The Katote cluster – working together
Graeme Barber, Principal at Woodend School, discusses the ways in which the Katote cluster works together to create a seamless transition for students moving from primary to secondary school.
Engaging with parents
Parents from Hampden Street School share how the school’s open door approach gave them confidence that their children’s learning needs were being met in an innovative learning environment.
BYOD – Consulting with your community
Pakuranga College deputy principal, Billy Merchant explains their ongoing community consultation process, which includes how and why students devices, and digital citizenship.
SMS – Connecting parents, students, and teachers
Michael Malins, Konini School principal, talks about the app they use within eTap to record children's progress and achievement challenges being met and engage parents and students in learning.
Learning partnerships with parents
Parents of Hampden Street School students explain how blogging and e-portfolios help them stay connected with their children's learning.
The Leamington learner
The Leamington Learner concept, or dispositions, is the school’s strategic focus and foundation for enhanced achievement. Owned by the school community, technological capability is an integral component.
Community consultation on the iPad Initiative
Parents of students at Leamington School explain how the school prepared parents and the wider community for BYOD implementation.
Māngātuna - Kōrero tahi me te whānau
E whakaatu ana tēnei ataata i te hononga a te hapori, ka tahi, mā te whakapapa, ka rua, mā te ipurangi, arā ko Pukamata.
Making connections globally
Teacher at Newmarket school, Virginia Kung, talks about how they have made connections with people across the world through Twitter and Skype.
Home school partnerships
Teacher, Reubina Irshad explains how they create home school partnerships by helping parents to support their child’s learning at home.
Whanaungatanga
Newmarket School teacher, Reubina Irshad talks about how they connected with whānau during their Matariki celebrations.
Setting up the Kaikohekohe Trust
Lee Whitelaw, Convening principal at Ohaeawai School, explains why they set up a Trust for the purchasing of their Chromebooks and the process they went through to do that.
Setting up and establishing the flipped approach at Ashhurst School
Ashhurst School Principal, Heath Chittenden, explains how they got teachers and parents prepared before rolling out flipped learning in their school. “Flipped learning is really important to be a school-wide focus because it actually is a pedagogical change to how you approach teaching.”
Working with a mentor from the industry
David Fox, software developer, talks about his mentoring role with Frankley School.
Pathways for young Māori and Pacific women in technology
Aorere College student, Nikki shares her passion for more Māori and Pacific females undertake study and careers in the digital technology field.
Engaging with parents
Senior leaders and parents from Hampden Street School share how they connected with parents as they introduced the development of their innovative learning environment.
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Resources
Assessment online – Reporting to parents and whānau
Resources on reporting to parents and whānau , which support schools to share information with parents and whānau.
Ruia – School-whānau partnerships for Māori learners' success
A resource guiding principals and senior leaders to work in partnership with whānau.
Community engagement
A collection of tools, ideas, stories, and resources to support the community engagement principle from NZ Curriculum online.
Te Mangōroa
A resource for English-medium schools with stories, reports, statistics, and reviews that reflect effective practices supporting Māori learners to achieve education success as Māori. Te Mangōroa contains practical illustrations of what Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia means for teaching and learning. In the productive partnerships section, you will find resources, including video, reflecting the principles of productive partnership and examples of this from schools across New Zealand.
Te Kāhui Māngai
Te Kāhui Māngai is primarily designed to provide information on iwi (tribes) in New Zealand, including their rohe, hapū, marae, and representative organisations. It also includes certain national and Māori organisations.
Engaging with parents
Resources from the Educational Leaders website.
Strengthening local curriculum
Support for school and curriculum leaders with the process of curriculum design and review. It includes information, research, tools, suggested areas of focus, and inspirational stories to help schools make decisions about how to give effect to the national curriculum.
Information sharing and building learning partnerships
Guidance, review questions, activities, examples, and resources to enable deep discussions in your school about information sharing and learning partnerships. These discussions will help to maintain a clear focus on equitable and positive outcomes for all your students.
Early notification
Early Notification is a text (and email) messaging service that allows schools to customise messages to groups of parents/caregivers to quickly inform them of the unexplained absence of their child/children. It also provides a return path to the school's register to update the reasons for a student’s absence.
Research and readings
Key resource
Educationally powerful connections with parents and whānau (2015)
The Education Review Office (ERO) evaluated how well 256 schools worked with parents and whānau to respond to students at risk of underachievement. Of particular interest is the Focus on the use of technology (p.38) in the Findings section, which gives examples of schools working with parents and whānau to accelerate and support progress and improve achievement using technologies.
Building genuine learning partnerships with parents (2018)
This ERO report shares schools' successful strategies and approaches for improving achievement by developing genuine learning partnerships with parents. It also includes some simple strategies a few of the schools used to involve parents more in supporting the things children were learning at school.
Educationally powerful connections summary
A two-page PDF summary of the Educationally powerful connections with parents and whānau report. This includes key findings, quotes from students, parents, teachers, and leaders, and an inquiry framework that teachers and leaders may find useful when thinking about how to improve learning partnerships with the parents and whānau of students who are not achieving.
Education for Māori: Relationships between schools and whānau (2015)
This report brings together information about relationships between families and schools. It gives examples of practices that build effective relationships and highlights the importance for Māori to know who the people behind the school gate are, as well as what those people do. Whānau, primary, and secondary schools were surveyed to find out what they thought about their relationships.
Author: Report for the controller and auditor-general Tumuaki o te Mana Aratoke
