Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Education

31 July 2014

Minister welcomes parental engagement report

A report recommending ways to encourage more parents to get involved in their children’s education has been welcomed by Education Minister Hekia Parata.

The report of the Inquiry into Engaging Parents in the Education of their Children puts forward a range of recommendations that could help boost student achievement through better engagement with parents, families, whānau and communities.

Ms Parata says the report from Parliament’s Education and Science Select Committee underlines the importance of parental involvement in student success.

“Research consistently shows kids’ achievement improves when their parents work with teachers and others involved in their education. We have to make the most of that and support parents and communities as much as we can to be involved.

“The Government is making significant progress supporting early childhood services and schools to get parents involved in their children’s learning.

“We’re seeing benefits with existing parental engagement initiatives, such as Pasifika Power-Up and Reading Together. The Incredible Years programme is a great example of parents working together with educators, and it’s delivering good results for families with young children.

“The Ministry of Education is currently developing a website for parents with advice for those who want to get more involved, and it is also looking at a number of community-based initiatives.

“I consider parental interests and involvement a priority. We’ve made a great start, but there’s more to do. We will take time to consider the report’s findings and recommendations to look at how we can build further on that good work,” says Ms Parata.

A package of parental support initiatives was announced in Budget 2014. It included:

• Extending paid parental leave from 14 to 18 weeks over two years
• Making it easier for parents to enrol their children in ECE by raising ECE subsidies by $53.6m over 4 years
• Expanding the Reading Together scheme, and
• Extending and expanding Computers in Homes initiative for a further year.

The Ministry of Education website for parents can be found at: www.parents.education.govt.nz

The Education Review Office published a guide for parents entitled ‘How is my child going?’ – aimed at encouraging parents to ask more questions about their child’s progress. It can be found at www.ero.govt.nz

ENDS

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