Viewpoint

Last summer I attended a conference with several of the best schools in the country. Some of the discussions at the event covered parents and how we could get more information to them about their children via a school’s web site.

The conversations reminded me of a debate in the national press which flared up over the summer regarding the Government’s proposals to get schools reporting to parents online from this year. The Government’s goal is to use any means to get more information into a student’s home as there is a well documented link that children do better if their parents are more engaged in their learning.

Too much to do, too little time

The tone of the press articles, but not the debate at the conference, surrounded the fact that teachers have far too much to do without having to put information online for parents to see.

No one would doubt that teachers have a lot on the plate already but the press coverage seemed to ignore some key points.

We are half way there already

All schools already record basic information about their pupils with regard to assessment and attendance in their management information systems (MIS).  Furthermore, many schools record behaviour information or reward points for achievements on their central MIS.  There are very few schools that do not use some form of electronic system; be it a word processing package or something more sophisticated, to write reports.  Therefore it’s just a small step to put this information online.  Teaching staff do not have to be involved at all.  The technology takes care of everything. 

It’s so simple

What I am trying to demonstrate is that it’s not a case of schools having to start from scratch to get the information parents want online.  They have the information electronically anyway; they just need to publish it.  Perhaps it is time to get a little more web-enabled and give parents another opportunity to get more closely involved in their child’s education. 

Capita supply SIMS Learning Gateway, a single, secure web-based gateway into the information held in a school’s SIMS management information system and other standard school applications.  The system gives parents, staff, pupils and local authorities easy access to all the school information and news they need, wherever they happen to be.