What if we could open school computer rooms to parents?
In order to improve the parent-school relationship and measure the impact of ENTs on co-education, the project to open school computer rooms to parents will allow their training and the exchange of good practices.
Background
All international studies confirm it: the involvement of parents and teachers in co-education has a real benefit on children learning at school.
“Parent engagement is an important factor influencing academic achievement, social/emotional outcomes, and high school completion rates.” say Krista L. Jensen and Kathleen M. Minke (1)
For historical and cultural reasons, France has considerably been behind on this subject. Schools seem to be an unassailable stronghold for parents willing to invest in co-education, and the relationship with teachers is often difficult or non-existent. In order to investigate further, I have launched an online survey on March 2021 targeting parents in France who have children in the 1st and 2nd degrees. I received 256 filled questionnaires back. In this survey, I learnt that 73% of parents would like more interactions with school.
In the early 2000s, the French public services, eager to rely on digital tools to promote the parent-school relationship, launched a major program to develop ENT (Digital Work Space) in schools. The School Life module included in the ENT aims to inform parents and promote discussions and exchanges with teachers. In the survey conducted using my online questionnaire, I learnt that 92% of parents think that digital tools help making the relationship with school more fluid. But it seems that only 12% of parents has been introduced or trained to the digital tools offered by the school.
Challenge
In order to overcome this training problem and to better educate on the benefits of co-education, my project is to organize a program which will open schools’ computer rooms to parents during a special week: “Open Computer Rooms to Parents Week”. In these rooms and during this whole week, volunteers, parents, teachers and education staff, convinced of the benefits of co-education, will welcome parents. They will organize school ENT demos, share best practices and give parents personalized advice. Volunteers will help parents log in with their own credentials and explain the difference between a family and a student account. Parents will be able to exercise and use the ENT School Life module on school computers or on their own laptops or mobile phones. They will leave with the application installed that they can use at home, the contact details of a parent referent, a guide to the features of the School Life module, links to videos and tutorials.
Users
The main users of this program are parents. In France, there are:
However, other stakeholders in the 1st and 2nd degrees will be impacted by this program in France (3):
- 866,500 teachers may volunteer to create a relationship with their students’ parents
- 61,510 school directors may volunteer to help teachers create a relationship with the students’ parents
- Education staff involved in digital at school: ERUN, IEN in charge of digital tools, RUPN, ENT Project Managers at DANE, etc.
- Parents’ Associations: APE, APEL, FCPE, PEEP and independent lists
MakerEd Contribution
The idea behind this project is to promote physical contacts in order to trigger digital activities. Because many parents in France need reassurance to start using a digital application, the “Open Computer Rooms to Parents Week” program will allow them to be in contact with another parent or teacher who will show how the ENT School Life module works. Parents will also be helped and will practice while a peer will stand by their side. When leaving school, the parents will have in their hands an explanatory brochure and the contact details of a parent referent. ENT materializes…
In order to attract them to the school computer room, not only parents will learn how to use the ENT but they will also practice the 3D printing by printing their first name on the school logo in 3D. A ✨ contest ✨ will be organized for the best way to mix their name (font and color that they will choose) with the school logo. Parents will leave with the piece of art and photos will be taken. At the end of the week, the best name/logos will be published on the school web site for celebrating parents who came at the workshop in the school computer room.
Methodology and Expected Results
This program will give rise to two studies in order to observe the impact using ENTs on the parent-school relationship. A short-term study and a medium-term one. A representative sample could be made up of 2 primary schools, 2 middle and 2 high schools, ie around 1,300 parents. The study should be conducted in an Academy allowing me to access to ENT data, anonymously for ethical reasons.
- What impact does the classroom opening program have on the use of ENTs by parents?
To answer this question, a satisfaction questionnaire will be distributed to parents at the end of the sessions regarding the quality and usefulness of the training. Also, the data of parents’ connections to ENT before and after the training will be studied and compared.
A satisfaction rate> 3.5 / 5 and an increase in connections are expected over the following 15 days. If this increase is higher than 20%, the impact will be considered positive compared to the resources committed.
2. What impact does the use of ENTs by parents have on children’s academic performance?
To answer this question, we will establish two test groups over two years: parents attending at least one of the program sessions and parents who did not attend one of the training sessions. We will be able to analyze the results of the students in terms of skills acquisition and grades at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years and compare them over time and between the two test groups.
The first objective of this program is to determine the impact of training parents in the use of ENT on their engagement in co-education. The second objective is to measure the impact of co-education on the academic results of students.
References
(1) Jensen, Krista L. and Minke, Kathleen M (2017) Engaging Families at the Secondary Level: An Underused Resource for Student Success
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1165629.pdf
(2) Insee (2016) French Economy Datas — Families https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4277630?sommaire=4318291
(3) National Education, Youth and Sports Ministry (2020–2021) — Education System Key Figures
https://www.education.gouv.fr/les-chiffres-cles-du-systeme-educatif-6515
