Parental engagement significantly boosts children’s academic success, with evidence from around the world demonstrating an average of four months of additional progress over a single academic year (EEF, 2025). Furthermore, there is international evidence that parental engagement can improve children’s wellbeing, behaviour and attendance too (Sheridan et al., 2019). Yet, despite its proven importance, England’s educational policies remain unclear and inconsistent regarding parental engagement, potentially limiting its positive impacts.

In a recent study, our small team of researchers from the University of Warwick and the University of Cambridge critically analysed England’s national education policies, identifying inconsistencies that undermine efforts to effectively harness parental engagement (Jones et al., 2025a). Our research shows that parental engagement is frequently mentioned in high-profile national policies (such as the Education Inspection Framework, Teachers’ Standards and Headteachers’ Standards which guide practices in schools in England), but the definitions and practical guidance provided by these policies are often vague or contradictory.

For example, the Teachers’ Standards primarily position parental engagement as informing parents about progress, neglecting to emphasise relationship-building or the critical importance of parental engagement with learning. Conversely, the Headteachers’ Standards focus on partnerships and relationships with parents but fail to emphasise the need to engage all parents through equitable practices. This is particularly important in light of the educational inequalities that were exposed and widened by the Covid-19 school closures.

‘This gap between evidence-based practices and policy-driven expectations exists largely because current policies lack a clear equity lens and fail to provide adequate guidance.’

This fragmented policy landscape results in schools in England frequently adopting superficial approaches – such as hosting school-based events – which are generally less effective than supporting parent–child learning interactions at home (Axford et al., 2019). We argue that this gap between evidence-based practices and policy-driven expectations exists largely because current policies lack a clear equity lens and fail to provide adequate guidance. Additionally, we highlight the critical role of teacher education, noting new evidence of gaps in teachers’ parental engagement training, knowledge and skills (Jones et al., 2025b). Similar parental engagement policy implementation gaps have also been identified elsewhere, including in Canada and New Zealand (Smith, 2022; Antony-Newman, 2024).

To address these critical issues, we recommend that policymakers:

1. Articulate a consistent, evidence-based definition that focuses on parents’ engagement with their children’s learning rather than parental involvement in school
2. Adopt an explicit focus on engaging all parents so that parental engagement efforts contribute to narrowing rather than widening attainment gaps
3. Ensure policy alignment creates conditions that support family learning at home and in the community
4. Strengthen pre-service and in-service training to provide educators with the skills to foster meaningful parental engagement.

As England navigates a crucial political period, clarifying and refining parental engagement policies offers a powerful means to enhance educational outcomes and advance educational equity. Policymakers, school leaders and educators should urgently prioritise clearer, more inclusive and evidence-based parental engagement strategies to fully harness its transformative potential.

Furthermore, we advocate that there is work to be done internationally in this area. Given the importance of parental engagement within education globally, we suggest that this research provides a suitable foundation and methodology for those who wish to explore this topic in more detail within other national policy contexts. Such work could highlight further approaches which would be of benefit when considering any future reforms.

This blog post is based on the article ‘The positioning of parental engagement within England’s current educational policy landscape’ by Cat Jones, Pallavi Banerjee and Luke Jackson, published in the British Educational Research Journal.

References

Antony-Newman, M. (2024). Teachers and school leaders’ readiness for parental engagement: Critical policy analysis of Canadian standards. Journal of Teacher Education, 75(3), 321–333. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231199365

Axford, N., Berry, V., Lloyd, J., Moore, D., Rogers, M., Hurst, A. Blockley, K., Durkin, H., & Minton, J. (2019). How can schools support parents’ engagement in their children’s learning? Evidence from research and practice. Education Endowment Foundation. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/evidence-reviews/parental-engagement

Education Endowment Foundation [EEF]. (2025). Teaching and learning toolkit: Parental engagement. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/parental-engagement

Jones, C., Banerjee, P., & Jackson, L. (2025a). The positioning of parental engagement within England’s current educational policy landscape. British Educational Research Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4175

Jones, C., Palikara, O., & Sideropoulos, V. (2025b). Do teachers have the knowledge and skills to facilitate effective parental engagement? Findings from a national survey in England. Educational Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2025.2506802

Sheridan, S. M., Smith, T. E., Moorman Kim, E., Beretvas, S. N., & Park, S. (2019). A meta-analysis of family-school interventions and children’s social-emotional functioning: Moderators and components of efficacy. Review of Educational Research, 89(2), 296–332. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318825437

Smith, M. (2022). Enacting parental engagement: Policy work in a primary school setting. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 57, 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40841-021-00227-y