Parent Voice Report shows positive outlook for parents

Parentkind have issued their 7th annual report providing parents’ views on their child’s mental health, schooling and education. It asked parents questions around the extent to which they believe their voice is heard by policymakers at all levels and how they see their role in their child’s education. Perhaps due to the schools closing for most children in the pandemic, parents now feel more involved than ever in their child’s education.

Some key findings to reflect on in education:

• 54% of parents felt their child’s school takes action based on their views or feedback
• 50% of parents felt their child’s school should be more accountable to parents
• 77% of parents are happy with the quality of education their child receives
• 88% of parents agreed that a good education for their child goes beyond exam results with exam stress being the top concern for parents 
• 88% of parents deem mental health development as an important focus within the curriculum
• 58% of parents believe that the current state education system enables children from more privileged backgrounds to succeed more than others

However, parents of children with SEND are less likely to say:

• Their child feels safe at school (77% vs 83%)
• Their child feels happy at school (74% vs 82%)
• Or that the curriculum meets their child’s needs (73% vs 80%)

And parents living with a disability are significantly more likely to:

• Have raised issues or provided feedback on their child’s education, across all channels
• View it as ‘very important’ for the curriculum to develop good mental health and wellbeing (68% vs 59%)
• Strongly agree the school does enough to provide all pupils with the chance to succeed (27% vs 20%)

The Parentkind website has a blueprint for parent-friendly schools which identifies 5 areas for schools to develop to be more parent-friendly.