At the beginning of this week, Teacher Support Network released a joint report with Parentline Plus, the national charity for parents. The ‘Beyond the School Gate’ report was the result of consultation with parents and teachers across the UK, including Scotland.

The report makes recommendations to the Government to help improve parent/teacher relationships and encourage parental engagement in their children’s learning.

Teacher Support Scotland shared the report with the Scottish Parent Teacher Council to look at ways in which the recommendations could be applied in Scotland.

Eileen Prior, Executive Director for the SPTC, commented:

“The issues facing parents and teachers are for the most part universal and so this report picks up many of the themes that we encounter working with parents in Scotland.

“Fundamentally, the partnership between home and school is founded on sound communication and it is when this communication is difficult or non-existent that we see issues arising for individual children, schools and education authorities.

“Many local authorities and schools have HomeLink workers, who provide a valuable service in helping to resolve or pre-empt problems. However, the basic issue is the ongoing need for fresh thinking on ways to support sound communication between schools and parents.”

The Scottish Parent Teacher Council is a membership body for parents’ groups in schools, such as Parent Teacher Associations and Parent Councils, but they help all parents where they can. Their aim is to improve the working partnership between parents, teachers and others involved in education to help their children do better.

For further information on the SPTC, please visit their website www.sptc.info or call 0131 226 4378.