ABSTRACT
Teachers and students are the two key components of learning and school-based relation-
ships, but there is a third party in the equation: parents. The involvement and engagement
of parents in school is important for learning outcomes, attendance and behaviour, as high-
lighted in government policies such as Every Child Matters which followed the Children Act
2004 in the UK and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in the US. There are distinct dif-
ferences between parental involvement and engagement. According to Harris and Goodall
(2007), parental involvement can be seen as a reactive approach, whereas engagement is
a more proactive approach; other researchers state that parent involvement starts with the
school and parent engagement begins with the parent.
