Fewer parents feel involved in their child’s education, while one in five say they don’t get clear information from schools on how to support learning at home. Parentkind has published the results of its latest national parent survey for 2026. It is the UK’s largest annual parent poll, with this year’s survey asking parents about their engagement in school, enrichment, school trips and school holidays. YouGov carried out the survey of 6,053 parents, which is weighted to be nationally representative. The survey found the number of parents who felt involved in their child’s education dropped by a fifth from 80 per cent in 2023 to 59 per cent this year. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) said they did not feel involved this year, compared to 9 per cent in 2023. The figure for parental involvement was higher for primary school parents, with 65 per cent saying the felt involved. Almost three quarters (74 per cent) of parents in the most affluent households felt involved, compared to 46 per cent in the poorest households. There is also a regional divide, with London reporting the highest levels of involvement (76 per cent) compared to Yorkshire and the Humber (54 per cent). At the same time, 85 per cent of parents said they would like to get more involved with their child’s school, but face barriers in doing so. This is slightly lower than 2023, when 91 per cent wanted to get more involved. Parents said the biggest barrier was not having enough time (44 per cent), while 21 per cent said they were not asked to help out, and 13 per cent said they were not sure what skills or knowledge they could offer. Parentkind said it would “continue to work with the Department for Education to call for every school to have a lead for parental engagement”. Lack of home learning support Almost half (48 per cent) of parents said they wanted to spend more time supporting their child’s learning at home, and 43 per cent were happy with the amount of time they spent supporting home learning. But almost one in five (19 per cent) said their school did not give clear information on what they should be doing to support learning at home. Three in five (60 per cent) said they got clear information from schools. But this was higher for primary school parents (67 per cent) compared to secondary school parents (55 per cents). There was also a drop in the number of parents who said their school communicated well, with 65 per cent saying they did, compared to 71 per cent in 2023. And two fifths (40 per cent) said their child’s school took action based on parents’ views and feedback, down by 7 percentage points from last year. Quarter of children do no enrichment While 45 per cent of children spent up to an hour a week at school clubs, a quarter did not take part in any enrichment activities outside school. Three in ten parents said this was due to the cost, while a fifth said their child was too busy with other activities. More than a third of parents (35 per cent) wanted their child’s school to offer coding, technology and science clubs, while only 22 per cent reported their schools offered them. Just under a fifth (19 per cent) of schools offered swimming lessons, while 32 per cent of parents wanted their child’s school to offer it. More than a third of children (38 per cent) did not go on any school trips in the last year, with one in six (16 per cent) saying this was due to the cost.