Parental Engagement

Winning parental support
Parental support is vital to a successful e-learning programme, both at the point of launch and over the longer term to fully realise the educational benefits and financial sustainabilty.

The way you initially engage with your parents needs careful planning as you may only have one main chance to get their interest and win their financial backing of the initiative.

School today is a very different experience compared to 20-30 years ago so it’s important to spell out to parents quite how different things are. The biggest change is almost certainly the use of ICT so it's important to point out the evidence on how much of an impact good home access to ICT can have on an individual’s attainment.

Getting this message across can be achieved through a number of different, but equally important, channels:

• Via your students, their ICT skills may be as good, or even better, than their parents, so on this matter particularly their parents might respect their views
• Via a written communication from the school to parents (samples are available on outr affiliate site)
• Via a launch event 

We have compiled a useful Q&A sheet to cover many of the questions that parents may ask - download Q&A sheet

Involve your students
It is vitally important to involve your students at every stage of the project. Harnessing their enthusiasm will make a significant contribution to getting the message home. However, students need to be made aware of the educational benefits of having a computer device at their disposal when at home rather than focusing solely on the hardware or the games they will be able to play!

Briefing the students who will be involved in the programme will aid in building an understanding amongst parents of the children’s commitment. It is also a good idea at this stage to engage a group of students to assist with the planning and delivery of the launch event; this will be discussed later in this section.

Making your first contact with parents count
Your first contact with parents is critical to the success of the project, as its aim is to get the recipient along to your planned launch event. The letter that you send home has to set out your intentions clearly, in plain English that can be understood by someone with little or no ICT knowledge.

If you choose to give parents the option to opt out of the scheme then make that clear from the start but explain that no child will be excluded from the programme due to their financial circumstances.

The communications should avoid too much detail but should aim to include:

• How providing ICT resources to students to use outside school hours can greatly increase their opportunities to learn and raise attainment levels
• How the resources (hardware and software) can be used by all the family
• The schools’ vision for the use of ICT, with an emphasis on home access
• An invitation to join their child at a school event to hear how they can be involved in the exciting project the school has planned (inviting parents to attend the event with their child is key to its success; projects that have not done this in the past have not had such a good attendance as those who have)
• The event details, time, location etc
• The points outlined above are for guidance only; the format of the letter home will be shaped by a number of local factors. Please see our Letters to Parents pack further down on this page. Always get your letter checked out by the e-Learning Foundation before you send it to ensure it is compliant with Gift Aid rules.

Avoid calling the programme a “laptop scheme”, listing a detailed specification of the machine and using over-technical language. This is about learning, not gadgets!

At what stage do you mention financial contribution?
This will very much depend on local conditions; you as a school will know your parents better than most. You must make a decision as to whether you mention financial contribution in your letter or wait to discuss it as part of your presentation at the launch event.

Both strategies have been adopted by existing projects; as a general principle we advise our schools to be open with those they are trying to engage.

Technical support

There is no point pretending that the introduction of large numbers of personal devices is not going to require different levels of technical support. It is. So as you plan your e-learning programme you will need to assess the level of technical support that the school needs to provide:

•Do you need to increase your server capacity?

•Can all pupils and teachers access the network wirelessly throughout the school?

•Is your Network Manager fully on board?

•Have you done the right warranty and technical support deal with your supplier? The right technical support arrangement, even if it involves a higher warranty charge, can create big savings in on the ground support.

•How will devices be charged during the day (assuming their battery life does not cover the school day)
•What is your strategy for pupils who bring their own computer into school?
•Are families clear what help is available for technical problems experienced outside school hours?

Connectivity

If an e-Learning Foundation programme consists entirely of the provision of a laptop or other computer device then it is highly unlikely to maximise the learning benefits of technology. Every successful project consists of (at least) four elements: computer, content, context and connectivity.

Making sure that every pupil can go online at home has proved to be a major challenge for many schools, the major reasons being:

Broadband has been expensive in the past, up to £25 a month, beyond the means of many low income families
The Internet is an unknown entity for many families new to technology; even feared by those who are concerned they will not be able to control the time their children spend on the Internet (instead of playing outside or reading books), what they will do on it (too many games, pornography), and what the outside world will do to their children (radicalisation of Muslim children, paedophiles, etc)
Many homes are unable to get a landline from BT because they either have a bad credit rating, no credit rating, or the property has been blacklisted because of a previous tenant.
Despite these problems many schools have been able to help their pupils get on-line at home in the following ways:

Wi-Max and Wi-Fi
Some schools are sited centrally to where their pupils live, typically in a large estate, a village or a small town. They are therefore able to share their broadband locally using Wi-Max and Wi-Fi technologies.

The best examples are Eastserve in East Manchester (www.eastservebroadband.com) and Aston Pride in Birmingham (www.digitalbirmingham.co.uk). This approach will often require the consent of the provider, either the Local Authority or the Regional Broadband Consortium. There is a capital cost involved for the equipment needed at the school, and homes may also require a small aerial, although it may also be possible to put them on street furniture (like lamp posts). However once in, the economies can be substantial. The other advantage is that the Broadband access can be filtered to the school standard.

Wired up cities
Some towns and cities are planning to create a “wireless cloud” for all the residents e.g. Brighton, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Ipswich. Under this arrangement all the families would have wireless access to the Internet without the need for any special equipment. Schools are advised to check with their Local Authority if such a project is planned as this may provide an excellent solution.

Package deals
Some families may already have signed up to Sky or Virgin Media for their television and telephone needs. Where this is the case they may find that adding broadband will be relatively inexpensive and in some cases they may be able to save money if they take the whole package.

Plug in dongles
For those without the ability to access any of the above, the school may have to provide a plug in 3G “dongle” that enables the computer to dial out to the Internet. These are now available with a 12 month contract with unlimited usage. For example T-Mobile offers a 12-month contract to affiliated schools for just over £10 a month + VAT (with a £5 contribution to the e-Learning Foundation for every one sold).

Hot Spots
A less attractive option, but perhaps useful within a wider context of local access, is for a school to survey their local environment to identify their local “Hotspots” where pupils can get free access to the Internet. These may include local libraries, community centres, youth centres, etc. However, these are unlikely to be filtered so this may not be a good option for Primary Schools.

Security

Schools need to put in place measures to protect their pupils, their ICT equipment and their data. Many solutions should not cost the school anything while others may result in a reduction to the cost of insurance.

There is no one solution for all, so we have summarised some of the approaches that other schools have taken.

Take advice
Local police crime reduction advisors have been found to be very helpful by many schools. They will often give free evaluation of the options you have to secure your ICT and can provide workshops or talks for children and parents.

Protecting children
Primary Schools based in areas where street crime is a major concern often operate a policy that the children can only take laptops home if they are accompanied by an adult. Other advice passed onto us from schools includes:

Avoid using computer bags with logos from suppliers, the children are advertising the fact they are carrying expensive equipment!

Make the weight of the laptop a consideration when selecting which brand and model, modern notebooks can weigh around a kilogram compared to two killogrammes for a laptop

Protect your laptops with security marking pens.
Paint equipment with Smartwater [www.smartwater.com], a chemical DNA solution only visible under UV light that the Police can detect on criminals months after the crime.

Install tracking software like Computrace [www.absolute.com] which tracks a stolen machine when it is connected to the Internet.

Ask the manufacturer to emboss your school logo on the lid of your laptops (they should do this for free if you order a reasonable number of laptops) or encode the machines in a way that disables them permanently without a PIN number.

Ensure that when computers are being taken home, there is a clear home -school agreement in place that encourages parents to share the responsibility for the safe transit and care of the computer.

Accidental damage is far more prevalent than theft, so ensure that all children have a well padded bag to carry school equipment. Talk to the children to ensure that they understand why they need to take care with the equipment to prevent damage.

General security measures
When the equipment is in school, keep them securely stored (and fully charged) in a rugged secure unit [www.lapsafe.co.uk].

Where the equipment is stored in lockers, make sure that the lockers are firmly bolted to the wall. Make clear to students that heavy items should not be stored on top of the equipment.

Load anti-virus software on any computer that is going to be connected to the network and keep it up to date. This can work out very cheap, especially through open source software or a LA licence.

When you take delivery of new ICT equipment, ask the supplier to take the boxes away with them. If they are left with the general school rubbish, thieves could be alerted to your new equipment!

Paying for security
Discuss your plans with your insurance company, they may have minimum requirements. You may find that the security measures reduce your insurance premiums.

Insurance

Contrary to what some people might think, the vast majority of insurance claims connected to school laptops are linked to accidental damage and theft from school premises rather than theft in transit or at home, which is relatively rare.

Make sure your school laptops are fully insured for use both within the school grounds and when being taken to, and used at, home or other locations. A good policy will provide cover against theft, fire, flood and accidental damage, regardless of where the laptop is. It should also provide cover for teachers, pupils, governors and parents.

You are unlikely however to get cover for theft from an unlocked car, when left unattended in a public place, including a bus, when it has been used by a friend (i.e. not a member of the pupil’s immediate family) and when there is evidence of wilful neglect.