ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises recent evidence in response to four key questions concerning parent engagement in their children’s schooling. Fifty-seven original empirical studies published since 1996 in reputable refereed journals,1 along with six recent, particularly well-done reviews of literature, form the database used to answer these questions2 and to craft a series of best-evidence recommendations for parents, school staff and educational policy-makers. The questions are about:
• the abilities, dispositions and behaviours needed of parents, teachers, principals, and school staff to foster parent engagement;
• factors contributing to poor communication and tense relationships between parents and teachers or principals;
• features of the context (e.g. school environment, socio-economic status, urbanrural characteristics, school-community relations, etc.) enhancing different types of parent engagement;
• sources and types of assistance in the development of resources and training programmes to foster parent engagement.
