Parent engagement requires schools and families to share the responsibility of helping their children learn and meet educational goals, respecting each other’s unique skills and contributions to a child’s education.

Research shows that when parents are aware of what their child is learning in the classroom, and can add to their learning in other authentic ways, a student will generally:

• do better academically
• stay in school longer
• are more engaged in homework
• have better behaviour
• have better social skills.

Successful parent engagement looks very different from school to school and even year level to year level. Because each school community is different, engagement practices, and communication methods need to be tailored.

Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ) in partnership with the Queensland Independent Schools Parents Network (QIS Parents Network), the sector’s peak parent body, are dedicated to elevating and enhancing parent and community engagement in independent schools through targeted programs and regular events.

Our flagship program for member schools from 2024 is Mastering Parent Engagement, a year-long scaffolded program where school leaders and their assembled teams will discover why parent engagement is crucial in high performing schools and learn from experts and other school leaders about how to better harness the power of parents for improved academic and wellbeing outcomes. 

Member schools also have access to the Parent Engagement Connect workshop series, which explores strategies to engage parents effectively and sustainably on a particular topic of interest to members. 

This work follows on from ISQ and QIS Parents Network’s Engaging Parents in Curriculum (EPIC) research program [2021-2023], led by internationally recognised parent engagement experts from Griffith University, Dr Linda Willis and Professor Beryl Exley. 

Read the three EPIC reports and watch the short video (below), which gives an overview of the project. Member schools can also access insights from the project, as well as a full range of other materials related to Parent Engagement via the ISQ Member Hub.