A Little Guide for Teachers: Engaging Parents and Carers with School

Dr Emma Kell is director of Those That Can limited. She has almost 25 experience as a teacher and school leader and currently teaches in Alternative Provision, alongside her work as a facilitator, speaker, writer and coach specialising in staff wellbeing and home-school engagement. She is also a former Head of MFL. Emma is senior teaching fellow for the IoE, a Specialist Leader in Education, Teaching School Lead for an AP teaching alliance in Bucks. She works as an associate for the National Foundation for Educational Research and Education Support Partnership to support teacher recruitment and retention. She has written several articles and blog posts on school leadership and the joys and challenges of teaching, and has completed a doctorate on teacher well-being and work-life balance at Middlesex University. Emma is author of How To Survive in Teaching (Bloomsbury, 2018) and writes regularly for the TES and BBC Teach.

Chapter 1: Why Does Parental Engagement Matter? Chapter 2: Individual Needs Chapter 3: Relationships Chapter 4: Communication Chapter 5: Getting the Balance Right Chapter 6: Efficiency and Effectiveness

This may be pitched as a "little guide", but goodness me it's packed with wisdom and practical advice that any professional working in our school system will find absolute gold dust when it comes to the sometimes-tricky challenge of parental engagement. Building not only the authors' many years of personal experience, the guide draws on their own research and that of many other leaders in this field to create a superbly grounded yet optimistic set of ideas, tips and reflection points. I love how the authors challenge so many orthodoxies, such as flipping the concept of the "hard-to-reach family" into the "hard-to-reach school". Throughout the book is an implicit thread that will be familiar to those versed in the principles and power of effective coaching, exploring important topics such as building relationships, listening and getting the right tone and balance in all communication. This is a refreshing, accessible and eminently practical guide in an often-neglected area that will be invaluable for teachers and leaders at all levels within schools. Highly recommend! - Andy Buck, best-selling author, speaker, trainer and coach. -- Andy Buck