Conference

2008 Safe Internet Use

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Highlights of previous SSBA conferences :-

2007 Developing a Parent Council and Encouraging Parental Involvement

2006 The Way Forward for Parental Involvement

2005 Parents in Partnership

2003 Partnerships and responsibilities

2002 SSBA is fit for the future

2001 Roadshow

2000 International
and published book
available here online

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Workshops
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Towards a Code of Conduct for Working with Parents as Partners
in Service Delivery and Research

This workshop comprises a mix of presentation and some sharing and discussion of practice and ideas.

There are two sections of the presentation:

1. the involvement of parents as partners in service delivery (Wolfendale 1999a)

2. the involvement of parents as partners in research on parents (Wolfendale 1999b)

My background and involvement in these areas includes the following:

- as an educational psychologist over many years working with families;

- as researcher and practitioner working with parents on initiatives such as parental involvement in reading/ family literacy (Wolfendale and Topping 1996); special needs such as Portage (Wolfendale 1997); involvement of parents as partners in early years assessment, particularly developing the published profile parent-completed early years ALL ABOUT ME (Wolfendale 1998);

- evaluating parenting programmes in several locations in London

- researching the national Parent Partnership Schemes, initiated by the Department for Education and Employment (Wolfendale and Cook 1997)

- writing on the contribution of parents to school effectiveness (Wolfendale and Bastiani 2000).

There are two central premises of the presentation: however, there are intended to be linkages, since in some service delivery initiatives, research and evaluation are integral.

Premise 1 : that there has been significant work in involving parents and working in partnership in service delivery of family focussed programmes: examples include

• Portage, the early years/ special needs intervention programme in which parents are 'teachers', working with professionals in working with their child to reach realistic learning targets and goals

• Within LEAs Parent Partnership Services, for parents of children with SEN, who need information and support through statutory assessment and beyond

But there has been less involvement or none at all in service planning and monitoring of those services across a range of agencies that offer, e.g. home visiting, parental support, parenting programmes, based in schools or community venues.

A model has been proposed for parental partnership in service planning, delivery and review which covers prospective, concurrent, retrospective phases, and which is based on a number of moral, educational and economic imperatives (this model is presented in Wolfendale 1999a)

Discussion issues include: the extent to which practice has developed along the lines expressed above; how realistic is it to regard parents/carers as having an equal say at all stages of service delivery; what is the potential and what are the limitations of power-sharing in these ways?

Premise 2: that there has been and is a significant amount of research 'on' parents on e.g. their views, attitudes, lifestyles, coping strategies, etc. but likewise, less involvement by them or none in research planning and outcomes.

The plethora of research carried out by educational researchers and social scientists has put parents/carers/families under the spotlight, with scant regard for methodological and ethical considerations in this sensitive area. These include 'informed consent', 'the ethics of intrusion'.

A model of cooperative research has been proposed (Wolfendale 1999b) a cornerstone of which is a Code of Conduct divided into four sections:

i. statement of values and principles and purpose of the Code

ii. responsibilities and commitment by the researcher(s)

iii. entitlement and the rights of participants

iv. responsibilities and commitment by the participant(s)

Discussion issues include : what parents and carers contribute to 'acts' of research upon them and their families; is research 'purity' compromised by such open access; how feasible, desirable and realistic is the proposed Code of Conduct?

Professor Sheila Wolfendale, Psychology Department, University of East London

References

Wolfendale, S and Topping, K (Eds)(1996) Family involvement in Literacy: effective partnerships in education, London, Cassell

Wolfendale, S (Ed)(1997) Working with Parents of SEN Children after the Code of Practice, London, David Fulton Publishers

Wolfendale, S and Cook, G (1 997) Evaluation of Special Educational Needs Parent

Partnership Schemes, Research Report no. 34 for the Department of Education and Employment, London, DFEE

Wolfendale, S (1 998) ALL ABOUT ME, Nottingham, NES-Arnold

Wolfendale, S (1999a) Parents as Key Determinants in planning and delivering parenting education and support programmes: An inclusive view, Chapter 4 in Wolfendale, S and Einzig, H (Eds) Parenting Education and Support, new opportunities, London, David Fulton Publishers

Wolfendale, S (1999b) Parents as Partners in research and evaluation: methodological and ethical issues and solutions, British Journal of special Education, Volume 26, No. 3, September, pp. 164 - 169

Wolfendale, S and Bastiani, J (Eds)(2000) The Contribution of Parents to School Effectiveness, London, David Fulton Publishers

Back to 2000 Workshop Index