The report includes the results of a thorough mapping and analysis of innovative and effective practices for increasing parental engagement, collected from the participating countries of the project, as well as at EU level.
Chapter 1 presents the overall background in which the results and added value of the deliverable are positioned. It briefly discusses the increasing importance of migrant and refugee parental engagement in their children’s school life after the post-2015 migration crisis and highlights the objectives of the report.
Chapter 2 continues by presenting the methodology that was followed for the identification and collection of the existing practices, as well as the basic typologies of classifying and unpacking parental engagement. As such, Chapter 2 offers theoretical tools and conceptual structures through which the collected practices are analysed and understood. Special emphasis is given to the 6-level Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler model, as the latter is selected for the analysis of the practices, in order to address some basic questions about parental engagement.
In Chapter 3, the report provides additional theoretical background regarding the basic elements and types of parental engagement as well as the essential role of teachers and educational stakeholders in migrant and refugee children’s schooling. It discusses the benefits of such practices, and it also delves into the complex term of “hard-to-reach” parents.
Chapter 4 focuses on the presentation and analysis of the most innovative practices. The practices are organised and presented at country level. For each practice, the Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler model is deployed in order to break down its basic components. Moreover, for each country, an overview of main trends and characteristics of most innovative practices serves is provided.
Chapter 5 concludes the document by discussing the main findings of the analysis. The practices are put in a comparative context, so the reader can understand similarities and cleavages between the participating countries. The core conclusions include: (i) that a one-size-fits-all solution is not a sustainable solution and that national specificities do matter; (ii) that factors such as the cultural environment, the role of state authorities and the degree of maturity of civil society co-defined which parental engagement methods are the optimal for a given context; and (iii) that the scale of implementation of a practice (e.g., local or regional) is critical for its success.