Why stakeholder engagement matters
Good decision making is well informed by the views and needs of key stakeholders and particularly parents.
Your board should have mechanisms that enable you to listen, understand and respond to the voices of your stakeholders. This is according to pages 14 and 20 of the Governance Handbook.
Parental engagement is especially important
It can "have a large and positive impact" on children’s learning (see page 21 of the handbook, linked above).
It's the board's responsibility to be sure your school has an effective strategy for engaging meaningfully with parents. This means parental engagement should be used to:
- Inform strategic decision making
- Support parents to understand the structure of the school and how it operates
- Help parents support their children's education
If stakeholder engagement is a concern at your school and you're the chair, you should kick things off by meeting with