Parental involvement in the education process has long been recognised as crucial to successful learning for children and young people who have learning difficulties, with research highlighting the importance of good two-way communication between parents and teachers. Parents should have regular communication with their child’s teacher(s).
Findings from our recent survey indicated that 61% of parents at primary school stage were either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with the communication they received from teachers and schools in relation to their child. Similarly, 60% of parents in the post primary age survey were of the same opinion. While these percentages are positive, it is a concern that between 39% and 40% of parents were dissatisfied with the communication received.
We are launching, as a pilot project, a communication information document for both parents and teachers.
This document is available as a free download on our website and we ask members to share this with their child’s school. In addition, templates for a communication log for both primary and post-primary stages are now available as a free download for those parents who may wish to provide a log for their child’s teacher (s). Template pages can be printed as required and added to a folder /booklet to be used daily by both parents and teachers.
This is a pilot project for the 2021-2022 school year and will be reviewed in mid- 2022. If the project has been useful and successful, we will then publish, and have available to purchase, a dedicated, printed communication log for parents and teachers. A Communications webinar will also be hosted on October and further information on that will be published in the DSI digest and social media in due course. We are continuing to work on the development of a similar information document for the development of essential planning approaches at both primary and post-primary levels. This document will be available to download in due course and a webinar on this topic will also be held in October.
Communication documents and templates are available to download from the following links:
