There are many parents who will never become part of the school council.  Some of them will never volunteer their services to the school.

Yet, almost every parent sending a child to school wants to know, "How can I help my child do better in school this year?"

There are several very important things that 'just plain parents' can be doing to support their children every year

• Simply being good parents, supporting the emotional and nutritional needs of children as they grow
• Communicating effectively with their child's teacher, to assist in overcoming any challenges, or to advise the teacher of challenges the child is facing outside of the classroom
• Supporting the child in the completion of homework or the selection of courses that will prepare the child for post-secondary programs.
• Attending school events such as assemblies, plays, science fair nights, parent teacher interviews etc.  Simply attending the school reinforces to the child that what the child does every day is important to that parent.

These are four of the Eight Types of Involvement - the four that every parent can and should become involved in to help their children every year. 

They do not involve joining the school council, volunteering in the classrooms or leading fundraising activities - yet, they are very important types of parental involvement.

To some, they do not look like 'parental involvement', because they sometimes do not take place at the school.  Re-defining 'parent involvement' is one of things the Eight Types of Involvement framework does.  The framework looks at the issue of parental involvement from the parents perspective, "How can I help my child ...?", not the traditional school perspective, "How can parents help the school ...?"

One of the beliefs of the School Council Support Centre is that school councils can and should take an active role in nurturing these kinds of involvement - to support both the parents within the school and their children.  Although these parents may never attend a school council meeting, parents who provide active and appropriate support at home will assist their children in doing better in school.  

... and that assists in fulfilling the purpose of school councils ... to support student learning.

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Last modified: September 13, 2007