Learning together national action plan: update

Purpose and priorities

Purpose

The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 sets out the requirement for local education authorities to publish their own parental involvement strategies. These outline how they will involve parents and families in the wider life of the school and meaningfully engage them in their children’s learning.

As documented in the Learning Together plan, parental involvement and engagement are not ends in and of themselves. They serve a purpose, and that purpose is to support the learning and development of children and young people. 

This update seeks to take account of and address barriers to participation. Following three key principles, all parents and families are supported to be involved and engaged in their child’s and their own learning by ensuring that:

• parents are the primary educators of children
• our priorities and our approach should be guided by the needs and interests of the child and their family
• we will achieve our aims through positive relationships based on trust, mutual respect and partnership

There is already a significant range of legislation, approaches, frameworks, strategies, guidance, and regulations relating to this policy area in Scotland. Collectively, the Learning Together plan provides an overarching framework within which local authorities, early learning and childcare settings, schools and practitioners should be guided. 

It is necessary to streamline accessibility to the various legislative and policy requirements placed on educators and practitioners leading on this work.

Rather than add further direction or prescription, this update supports the continuation of the approach taken by the Learning Together plan. It celebrates the importance of maintaining the autonomy and independence of local authority partners to respond in an agile and flexible way to local needs and requirements.

Priorities

In this publication, there are a range of key terms used in reference to involving and engaging parents and families. At times some of these terms are used interchangeably throughout documents, strategies, frameworks and academic research.

Continuing the vision set out in the Learning Together plan, this update focuses on four key areas:

• parental involvement
• parental engagement
• family learning
• learning at home

Further guidance and advice is included in each section along with a checklist and a selection of ‘child’s voice’ statements for local education authorities and practitioners to consider in developing local strategies.