Key Issue 2: Parent View Parent View: Full Report 2.1
The Ofsted Inspection Framework grade criteria for a school adjudged to be ‘Good’ for Leadership and Management states: “The school works well with parents, including those who might find working with the school difficult, to achieve positive benefits for pupils.” Underlining the expectation that schools need to engage with parents from all social and cultural backgrounds and educational experience.
2.2
Neither Parent View, nor the almost identical parental questionnaire that was circulated to parents before inspections (withdrawn and replaced with Parent View in September 2012) has a mechanism for ascertaining if the questionnaire has been completed by “those who might find working with the school difficult” or parents who are more at home within an educational environment.
2.3
If Parent View is to be used as a source of relevant and worthwhile information, some mechanism must be found for ascertaining if those parents who traditionally have found it hard to work with schools, are submitting their views.
2.4
Parent View is virtually identical to the paper-based questionnaire that it used to supplement and now replaces. This report was written using Ofsted inspection reports that were compiled using the paper-based questionnaires and Ofsted Inspection reports that used Parent View only.
2.5
Parent View returns have been historically low since its introduction in November 2011. Parental questionnaire returns have also been low. Many schools today have insufficient Parent View returns for Ofsted to be confident in publishing the survey results.
2.6
The questions Parent View currently asks, do not provide Ofsted with any evidence about the quality of Parental Engagement within a school. The questions are better suited to measure attitudes to Parental Involvement. This confusion between Parental Engagement and Parental Involvement is evident throughout the Ofsted reports we have studied.
2.7
Parent View is an unpopular tool with both parents and schools but the source of this unpopularity has not been definitively ascertained.
2.8
Parent View contains inherent weaknesses that provide little in the way of robust measurement. Opinion is sought on issues that, without guidance, most parents would be unqualified to provide.
2.9
Although the Ofsted inspection framework requires schools to work with parents “including those who might find working with the school difficult, to achieve positive benefits for pupils”, there is no mechanism within the questionnaire to ascertain:
Engagement in Education Ltd 2013
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