I get asked this question a lot. Unfortunately, the word “friendly” has all sorts of connotations in the minds of many that do not further the cause of systemic family engagement. Many people loosely throw the term around to mean everything from caving in to every parent’s demands to using it as a battering ram to clobber any decision, regulation, or policy that somebody, somewhere doesn’t like. I thought it was time to set the record straight. From our perspective, the following paragraphs constitute the foundational philosophical pillars of what we believe constitutes a Family Friendly School.
A family friendly school is one that is committed to establishing healthy relationships with all families to support the learning outcomes of all children through active family engagement.
Schools that support a family friendly philosophy believe in and nurture the active engagement of all parents and families and put into place systems and processes to engage those parents and families that may, for whatever reason, be disengaged. Schools that are family friendly understand that families are the first and most influential teachers of their children. Without successful relationships and engagement, the ultimate goal of all students learning may remain an elusive dream.
A family friendly school is a welcoming school that desires effective two-way communication with families and is committed to ensuring that all students and their families have successful experiences. At those junctures when conflict or problems arise, a family friendly school is committed to an open dialog about issues. A family friendly school engages families in the creation of procedures, policies, and practices and continuously reviews them to ensure applicability and clarity. Once established, policies, procedures, and practices are adhered to by all staff, students and families and are communicated diligently throughout the school and community. The key to success is constancy to purpose.
A family friendly school has at its core the fundamental principle that families must be engaged in the academic lives of their children and to that end, incorporates the philosophy into an overall continuous improvement plan. School staff reach out to all families, with an emphasis on those families that are non-traditional or whose situations may lead to disengagement from education. All staff support the important construct of home learning by designing systems and processes to build the educational culture, capital and capacity of all families so that their children, regardless of circumstances, are successful.
Most importantly, a family friendly school does not surmise successful engagement based on anecdotal information but rather, engages in a model of quality planning and evaluation that incorporates specific data to ensure the continuous improvement of efforts to engage all families and thus, improve the learning outcomes for all children.
