Following breakdowns in relationships between schools and parents, Victoria Hatton suggests policy and legal changes from government that could rebuild cohesion
It’s time we acknowledged the elephant in the room, a problem that has become too big to ignore.
The social contract between schools and parents has broken down. Since the pandemic, complaints from parents have risen exponentially.
As two-thirds of respondents told our school leaders survey two years ago, many of these are classed as “vexatious”.
This is not only increasing the administrative burden on schools and trusts, it’s wedging a further divide between schools and parents.
The situation is not irreparable, however, and the first small steps have already been taken towards forging a more positive home-school relationship.
Complaints guidance for parents and schools
New Department for Education-backed guidance for parents offers schools an opportunity to reopen the conversation with parents about how to give effective feedback or raise concerns or complaints appropriately.
Further guidance for schools from Parentkind also gives leaders the chance to reconsider their own approach to complaints management, including their complaints policy and programme of dispute resolution training for staff.
However, many gaps remain in addressing the issue. With the schools white paper on the near horizon, there is a real opportunity for the government to give legislative “teeth” to enforce the home-school expectations it aims to set out.
Rebuilding the social contract
The first priority should be to reintroduce a mandatory “home-school agreement”, which clearly delineates the roles and responsibilities of both parents and schools.
Such a document would outline what parents can expect from the school in terms of education quality, communication and handling of complaints, as well as what the school expects from parents regarding support, engagement and communication.
Previous legislation should be reinstated and enhanced to stipulate that a child will not be registered at a school until all parents known to the school have signed the agreement.
Improve landscape of school complaints management
The government should align the legislative, regulatory and best practice frameworks for maintained schools and academies.
This should include clear, unified guidelines on which aspects of “staff conduct complaints” fall outside the school complaints process.
Government should also ensure the governor review stage focuses solely on how the complaint was handled at earlier stages, not reinvestigating the complaint itself.
Comprehensive guidance is required to prevent duplication across stakeholders such as the DfE, Ofsted, local authorities, Teaching Regulation Agency, MPs and even the police.
Alongside this, enhanced regulatory measures should introduce a foundational rule that no external agency may review a matter unless the school’s internal complaints procedure has been exhausted.
Developing a centralised portal as the sole entry point for parents to submit complaints that may require the attention of external agencies would support this policy, while identity verification would discourage anonymous complaints and ensure accountability.
DfE must back schools
The complaints issue has been punctuated by a rise in “vexatious” complaints and unreasonable behaviour from parents.
Common behaviours cited in our survey include personal attacks on staff, lengthy and overly complex emails, raising multiple complaints about the same issue and insistence on unrealistic outcomes.
The DfE must therefore give explicit backing to schools via enhanced guidance on what constitutes a vexatious complaint via clear definitions and examples.
Perhaps most importantly, the legislative “teeth” should come in the form of a last-resort mechanism that allows school leaders to remove a pupil from the school roll where there has been an irretrievable breakdown in the home-school relationship.
This would require a robust framework including mandatory mediation, documented warnings and a fair review process, ensuring all parties are treated justly and the pupil’s welfare is fully considered.
Final thoughts
While the challenges are pervasive, there is a significant opportunity for the government to implement transformative solutions that can repair the weakened social contract between schools and parents.
The Parentkind guidance is a welcome start to this discussion, but the schools white paper must provide the building blocks to a new era for the home-school relationship via new frameworks, guidance and regulations.
Your thoughts