ABSTRACT
Parental engagement with children's learning (rather than parental involvement with schooling) offers the best solution for the significant gap in achievement between children from different socio-economic backgrounds in England. The school-centred model would place emphasis on schools telling parents what to do to support their children's learning. Under the paradigm, 'school improvement' ceases to be seen as an end in itself but is a vehicle for enhancing learning, one vehicle among many, rather than a purpose of its own. The continuum begins with parental involvement with the school, a concept which includes actions such as volunteering in school and attending meetings. Taplin describes a theory of change as the logic that underpins a programme or initiative, showing how outcomes relate to one another and, importantly, how they are connected. The chapter presents a causal cloud of attitudes, beliefs and structures that are precursors to the ultimate outcome of raised attainment for children from low socio-economic groups.
