Attainment Scotland Fund evaluation - families and communities: thematic evaluation report 2024

Engaging with families and communities – emerging impacts

Strategic Approaches

The National Summary Report highlights that most local authorities have strategic approaches in place to support engagement with parents and families. In the majority of these, parental engagement has been a real focus across a variety of cross-sector plans, policies and frameworks. Many local authorities have in place a parental involvement and engagement strategy (PIES) the development of which have been supported by the publication of Education Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Parental Engagement, Family Learning and Learning at Home in October 2022, and its official launch in May 2023. The Triennial Report notes that half of the local authorities reported that their parental involvement and engagement strategies (PIES) were being developed or under review.

Specific Support – Home link workers etc

The Report notes that almost all local authorities have staff with specific roles to support children, young people and their families. Most local authorities are using Attainment Scotland Funding to employ, for example, home link workers, family link workers, family learning teams/workers, community workers etc. This can be at both a strategic level, used across the whole authority, and/or school level. At school level, the Report notes that Pupil Equity Funding is used to create bespoke roles to ensure that the needs of the families in their specific situations and local contexts are met. The Report notes that there is strong evidence that the combined work and support from these roles or teams has had a considerable impact universally and for those who have been targeted.

Examples of the emerging impact of specific roles and teams supporting children, young people and their families:

• A local authority using PEF to support a team of family liaison/health and wellbeing officers working across 15 establishments attributed (in school improvement and pupil equity fund reporting) the work of this team having a positive impact on vulnerable pupils and families in terms of school attendance and engagement.
• A local authority using PEF in over forty schools to employ family support worker and other support staff to work directly with families to support learning and re-engagement. This has resulted positively on family and learner engagement and improved attendance.
• Families impacted by poverty are assisted by the attainment challenge funded Barnardo’s Family Support Workers. A joint needs analysis determines bespoke support. This has led to improved mental health, improved relationships between parent and child, and financial signposting to ensure all benefits that are available are received.
• A local authority has employed home school link workers (HSLWs) to support the engagement of families. The majority of HSLWs are employed via PEF. HSLWs have an appropriate focus on equity. The majority are aware of and sensitive to family socio-economic circumstances, challenges and barriers. In almost all cases this has resulted in positive relationships with families based on trust and respect. As a result, an increased number of parents and carers are confident to engage with schools in supporting their children’s learning.

Collaboration and partnerships

The Report notes that local authorities engage with other services and partners to varying degrees to provide specific support roles for families and to support family learning opportunities. Highlighting that this is through partnership agreements and that where these agreements exist, they are most commonly with Community Learning and Development (CLD) services and target families living in poverty.

It is noted that a few local authorities promote partnerships and processes through family engagement policies or frameworks to ensure the widest possible reach. The most successful examples are where strategies and frameworks have been developed in collaboration with parents and representative bodies.

In addition, the Report notes the following:

• The majority of local authorities have agreements with third sector partners which support family learning. These include for example Barnardo’s, Save the Children, Motivation, Commitment and Resilience Pathways, Mentors in Violence Prevention, and other local organisations.
• Partnerships with the NHS and allied health professionals support the wellbeing of both parents and children. A reduction in stress, better skills acquisition, a better understanding of children’s learning and more willingness to approach schools when there is a problem are among the positive impacts of these partnerships.
• A few other collaborations to support family learning were highlighted in a minority of authorities. These included approaches to support refugees and engagement with the Regional Improvement Collaborative (RIC). Input from the RIC has been used to build capacity to deliver a particular programme in secondary schools.

Views of wider stakeholders (children and young people, families and communities, and third sector organisations) of approaches to engagement with and support for families and communities

The Report notes that some local authorities outlined consultation with parents and stakeholders when reviewing and producing their parental involvement and engagement strategy (PIES). Others said that further work is required to involve and engage parents and families when establishing a shared vision.

Examples of incorporating the views of wider stakeholders reported in the National Summary Report are noted below:

• A local authority notes that its parental engagement strategy was formulated through a consultative process involving various stakeholders, including parents.
• Local authority reported that parental engagement strategy has been developed by a steering group of parents, pupils, teaching and early learning centre staff, taking account of national and local priorities. This has an appropriate focus on equity.
• Local authority noted that Headteachers, Parent Council chairs, wider school and parent forums took part in a consultation prior to the refresh of this strategy. The majority of participants felt that areas identified for improvement reflected their experiences and that the aims and principles were appropriate.
• The local authority has a highly valued ‘Parental Engagement and Involvement Strategy’. This is reviewed regularly by parents/carers, headteachers and stakeholders. The strategy explicitly addresses equity through a focus of reducing barriers for specific groups of parents. Regular meetings are held with parent forums. An Equalities Parent Forum has been created to encourage full involvement of all parent groups, ensuring that equal rights are promoted.
• Local authority reports that parents/carers were active participants in the development of the strategy and have since gone on to develop a guide for Parent Councils. The guiding aim of the strategy is to ‘get it right for every child’ with the focus on supporting parents/carers to be active participants in their children’s education.

The Education Scotland National Summary Report concludes that the ASF is being used effectively by local authorities and their schools to support families and communities. Of particular note is the use of funding for specific roles such as home link workers and engagement officers. The Report also recommends that when local authorities are planning and developing supports for families and communities that ‘they ensure that strategies/policies/frameworks have been developed with children, young people and their families, including those with lived experience of poverty’.