Parental responses to records of achievement: a primary school case study

Summary

The obligatory nature of written reports to parents was the starting‐point for a study of parental preferences for various forms of reporting children's achievements in a primary school. Discussion of the results centred on the importance of seeing written reports as only a part of home‐school communication and of taking parental views into account when devising written forms of reporting.

The provision of information about individual children's learning is regarded as a key management area and schools have explored and implemented several different methods of communicating relevant information to parents (Ebbutt, 1981). Gibson (1984) gave three reasons for attempting to develop effective communications between schools and parents. He maintained, first, that parents have a ‘right’ to know about their child's progress and that this is echoed in the accountability debate. Secondly, he suggested that good links help to forge good home‐school relationships; and lastly, that this will lead to improved pupil learning. From September 1990 all primary schools will be required to report annually to children's parents or guardians (Circular 17/89, DES, 1989). The minimum requirement is that all schools should make a written report for each child by the end of the school year, and that it should cover the child's achievements in that year. Other minimum requirements as to content have been laid down and a list of supplements to these have been given. Circular 17/89, however, encourages schools to develop their practices beyond the minimum in the context of a fully worked‐out policy on assessment, recording and reporting (SEAC, 1990). The majority of primary schools, including the school under study, had dispensed with written reports on children's progress in favour of discussions between parent and teacher. The abrupt change in policy necessitates schools reverting to written reports. The quantity and quality of these will be a crucial factor in developing effective communications between schools and parents. It is the purpose of this study to examine what parents think of some of the proposed changes.