‘Beyond the school gate’ – the report released earlier in the week by Teacher Support Network and Parentline Plus – has been discussed in the House of Lords.

Baroness Walmsley at the launch of our report in Westminster on Wednesday.

Baroness Walmsley, who spoke at our event on Wednesday, strongly endorsed the recommendations that we made on teacher training and parent support workers.

She told the House: “Few things can be so profitable for the child in the long run than good relations, support and understanding between the family and the school”. A full quotation is below.

The Government Minister in attendance, Baroness Morgan – who is trying to drive new education legislation through the Lords at the moment - promised to respond to her in writing.

We will be following up the discussion by asking to read the government’s report. We hope that our recommendations influence forthcoming legislation on education; benefiting the wellbeing of teachers and academic standards in schools.

You can read the report here.

You can read a full transcript of the debate on Hansard here.

“Yesterday morning, the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, and I both spoke at the launch of a report on the involvement of parents in schools following research by Parentline Plus and the Teacher Support Network. So far in the debate, only the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, has mentioned parents' involvement. It was clear from that research that it is very important to a child's learning that teachers and parents communicate well. The report identified a number of barriers to that, and the panel of speakers identified others, such as lack of cultural sensitivity. The role of lack of communication with parents in the exclusion of children from school was also highlighted.

“One of the recommendations that came out of the report was the provision at every school of a parents' support worker. I agree. Indeed, the same recommendation appeared in one of my party's policy papers a couple of years ago. These workers can provide a very effective way of identifying the problems at home that get in the way of a child's learning and of helping to find ways of addressing them. They can remove the barriers between the parents and the school and provide a conduit to other services that might help. There is a wide range of possibilities. Will the Government ensure that every school has the resources to employ such a person if they feel they need one?

“Primary head teachers whom I met later in the day confirmed the value in their schools of the charity Place2Be, which the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, mentioned. Place2Be provides counselling to children and parents-someone to talk to and to help the child sort out his problems so that he is ready for learning. They made it clear that the role of these therapists in training the teachers to identify problems and signpost the children to help was also crucial. All these things are the signs of a good teacher. I echo the noble Earl's comments on all this.

“Another recommendation of the report that I saw in the morning was that teachers should have training in how to interact with parents, especially those who perceive barriers. This can be done during initial teacher training or in CPD for serving teachers. I know there are many demands on teacher training and many things that should be included, but few things can be so profitable for the child in the long run than good relations, support and understanding between the family and the school.

“At the end of the day, we should try to see things from the child's point of view and put him first. Avoiding the situation in which the school and parents are at loggerheads is one of the marks of an excellent teacher and an excellent school. I do not suggest that the Government try to tell them how to do it in a one-size-fits-all way, but I do suggest that the importance of home-school communications is emphasised, trained for, monitored, supported and evaluated as a key criterion of a good teacher and a good school.”