Engaging Parents and Community
We now understand far better that learning takes place everywhere, and the more we involve parents and the community in the learning process the better.
Research shows that families and whänau who monitor their children’s progress at school are more likely to have children who are successful learners.
Parents increasingly want choice and UnitedFuture believes that within the NZ context some of that choice could well be offered within a school campus rather than just the traditional choices between state, integrated and private school options.
It is UnitedFuture policy to:
- Develop a web site to inform parents about the characteristics, facilities and performance of all New Zealand schools.
- Pilot programmes aimed at increasing parent involvement in schools literacy programmes.
- Target Maori and Pacific Communities for closer involvement in school life and student learning to improve achievement rates.
- Provide additional support for schools catering for extremely diverse communities to engage better with those diverse groups. Often schools positioned in the middle of the decile rankings are the most in need of this support.
- Allow parents to apply for a subsidy/tax relief if they have secured out-of school tuition for their children as a means of improving achievement in literacy or numeracy where this has been identified by the school as a need.