“Does sharing learning intentions with parents

improve children’s achievement?”

Abstract
We were wondering if children might try to achieve more if they knew that their
parents knew what their learning intentions were.
Portobello School created a blog for each classroom designed to inform parents on
what their child’s learning intentions are for Reading and Maths.
Results indicated that when parents were reminded of the blogsite where the
children’s learning intentions were posted, there was a spike in the hits to that site.
As a result of using the blogs, staff have upskilled in the area of blog posting and
management as well as looking to enhance the blog further by adding other content.

Introduction

Everyone in Portobello School is using learning intentions in the class but it is not a
language that parents use. We are looking to strengthen ties with the community and
incorporating ICT in the classroom.
Portobello School had a literacy target; To raise the level of reading comprehension
through the teaching of the comprehension strategies.

Research shows that informing parents of the learning intentions has a positive effect
on the children’s learning. Research in Scotland based on the use of the Gaelic
language in maths showed the following:

Pupils are able to use Gaelic more in the home as parents are aware of the
terminology.

Learning has become more enjoyable, for example learning through play at
home and school.

Parents are clearer of their child’s targets in maths. They are given activities to
do with their children that mirror and support classroom activities.

Parents have become familiar with the Gaelic terminology used in maths. (A
maths phonetic booklet was sent home which can further support their child’s
learning.) One teacher had parents in class, observing active learning in maths.

Staff now have stronger links with parents and have benefited from their
questionnaire feedback.

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/sharingpractice/for/sharingcriteria/gaelicmedium
2007.asp
Another study showed that blogging enhanced the home/school link and has made
parents more aware of what is happening in their children’s classrooms. Their results
showed:
24% of our parents responded to the blog

Of these the majority had learnt about the blog through the school newsletter

Student promotion was the second most effective source of promotion

Followed by homework sheets and notices equally

Direct teacher contact was the least used point of contact.

Some parents indicated that they had difficulty in viewing the blog. This may be
due to entering the incorrect address. The majority however had found the blog
easy to use. Parents enjoyed viewing the photos of school events and felt it kept
them up-to date on the happenings around the school.

“Blogging – Is it worth the effort?” Action Research project by Maori Hill School
2008

“The communication link between home and school has been favorable and this
was shown form the parent surveys issued and this has been one more way in
which we have been able to successfully celebrate and share students learning
and experiences”
Andrew Sloan, Balmacewen School. Action research. project 2008.  

This research suggests that the combination of sharing learning intentions with
parents and the use of a blog, may improve children’s achievement in the areas that
we have chosen (Reading and Maths).
The enjoyment factor should not be taken lightly because, as this increases, and
learning becomes more enjoyable, children will take more risks in their learning.

With parents becoming more aware of the learning intentions, the terminology and
strategies that are used in school will become easier to understand thus making tasks
like homework a little easier for parents.

We want to enhance the home/school link and we are hoping that the blogs will
achieve this in some small way, whether it be through informal discussion within
families or staff/parent discussions.

Term 3 and the beginning of term 4 were allocated for the parents to view and give
online feedback on the blogs.
Results

Initial survey data

We did not get a very large response from parents, however, initial data on whether
the parents are aware of their children’s learning intentions in the areas of Reading
and Maths, the results are as follows:

Our final parent end survey again gave too few responses to give any indication of
change.

Online parental feedback has not happened. Over the entire period, only one
comment has been posted. This could be due to a lack of awareness by the parents
that they could actually do this, or how to actually add a comment.

The staff made a conscious effort to promote the blog in the weekly school newsletter
and as the graph shows, there are spikes on the 20th and 27th of October when we
really promoted the site to parents in the newsletter.
An extremely positive effect that has come out of the research is the attitude and skill
level of the staff involved in the project. We have all been through a learning journey
about blogs and their potential. We now have staff adding pictures and getting really
excited about the possible uses for the blog once the research project is complete. The
staff feel that the blog has huge potential for home/school links and are looking
forward to adding more areas that can celebrate children’s learning as well as inform
parents of children learning intentions.
Some of the things that the teachers have said about the action research and blogging
were:
• ‘Easy to update and change the blog’
• ‘Manageable for all!’
• ‘I would like to add more to it.’
• ‘A good way of involving parents’
• ‘I have gone through a lot of upskilling’
• ‘With not much effort, we could continue to use it and link it to our school
website.’

Conclusion
Although our initial question has not really been answered, as with a lot of research,
many other things have been brought to light.

We have found that in other research, our action research indicates that school
newsletters are the most efficient way of getting parents to view the blog.

Staff have upskilled in the area of blog posting and management as well as looking to
enhance the blog further by adding other content.
Encouraging parents to comment on the blog is something to develop in the future.
As well as getting parents to comment on the blogs, our hope is that children will be
able to do this also. Student promotion was regarded as a good way to improve
parental awareness. What better way than to allow students to post.

Bibliography

“Blogging – Is it worth the effort?” Action Research project by Maori Hill School
2008

Andrew Sloan, Balmacewen School. Action research. project 2008.  

Strengthening links between Gaelic and Curriculum for Excellence

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/sharingpractice/for/sharingcriteria/gaelicmedium
2007.asp