University of Sunderland

Shipton Participants¿ Interim Dissemination Bulletin

October 2003

As you will know, members of your family have taken part in the APSSE Project which is based at the University of Sunderland. The project started in May 2002 and will continue until April 2004. We are now in a position to share some of our findings with you. As the project is still on-going, we must stress that these findings are only interim. We will have more to say by the end of the project.

What are the aims of the research?

Just to remind you, the aims of the research project are to:

• develop knowledge of the understanding that parents of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origins have of the education system and of their children's educational experience,
• how they see their own role in relation to their children's education,
• their views on the nature of the relationships between home and school,
• find out the views of young people themselves about their school experience and their views on their parents' involvement in their education.

What have we done so far?

We have carried out interviews with mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. We have focussed on young people who were in their last year of primary schools and those at secondary school or college or university. Most of these interviews have been carried out in people's homes although we have also interviewed some groups of young people in youth clubs and schools.

In total we have interviewed 68 Bangladeshi families in Shipton and we have conducted a total of 242 interviews with parents and young people.

We have also visited a number of schools and have interviewed headteachers and teachers. We are currently collecting details of exam results and other information from schools.

What have we found out about parents' views of school?

What you like about the schools?

• Most families like the fact that the schools let them know when there are problems. These problems usually relate to attendance or behaviour.
• Some parents feel that they can rely on the schools to let them know if there are any problems and the feel that this has improved in recent years.
• Some parents find Parents' Evenings useful and like to hear about their children's academic progress

What you would like to change?

• Some parents who have raised concerns with schools feel that they are not always dealt with as well as they could be.
• Some parents would like more translators to be used at parents' events
• Some parents would like more information about their children's progress and more guidance as to how they can help them at home.

Where there is need for further discussion and development

• Some parents do not regularly attend parents' evenings; some do not receive or read their children's school reports.
• Some parents lack information about what their children are doing at school.
• Some parents lack confidence in their spoken English and don't feel able to approach their children's schools.
• Some parents do not let the schools know when their children are absent and believe that schools do not mind if their children are away for reasons other than illness.
• Some children lose their school place or miss important exams because of extended absences during visits to Bangladesh.
• There seems to be the need for more dialogue between schools and parents about absence from school.

What have we found out about young people's views of school?

What you like about school?

• Most young people said they liked being with friends, socialising and having fun
• Some young people said they enjoyed certain subjects including IT, DT, maths and art
• Having good teachers - good teachers were described as someone likeable; someone who cares and who helps, someone who explains the subject and the tasks well.
• Generally young people felt that their teachers `tried their best' and showed interest in the students and were involved in working with them.

What you would like to change?

• Some young people said they found school boring
• Some young people criticised teachers for not expecting more of them. Some said they felt white children got preferential treatment
• A lot of young people said that they experienced racial harassment both in and out of school on a frequent basis. This seems to get worse as children get older and often, the racial harassment can lead to, or involves fights

Where there is need for further discussion and development

• Most young people said that they tended not to complain about the racial harassment because either the teachers could not do anything or if they did complain and the teacher reprimanded the perpetrator then he/she would just do it again at a later date.
• Young people, particularly boys, mentioned truanting or `dolling' although there was some evidence of schools devising strategies to deal with this and working alongside parents.
• Some young people did not keep their parents informed about parents' evening or did not show them their school report.

What happens next?

We will hold a final dissemination event in March or April 2004 and you will be invited. We are also planning smaller dissemination activities with schools, and the Local Authority. We have contacted the Department for Education and Skills and Minister for School Standards; the Commission for Racial Equality, and the Director for Standards at Key Stage 3. We will be informing them of our findings and will request meetings to discuss these with them. We really hope that the project will bring about some positive changes which will be influenced by what you have said.

You can contact us :

Gill Crozier Project Director gill.crozier@sunderland.ac.uk 0191 515 2364

Jane Davies Project Manager jane.davies@sunderland.ac.uk 0191 515 2367

Sofina Khatun Researcher sofina.khatun@sunderland.ac.uk 0191 515 2380

Deborah Booth Researcher deborah.booth@sunderland.ac.uk 0191 515 3509

Dawn Osguthorpe Administrator dawn.osguthorpe@sunderland.ac.uk 0191 515 3509