COVID-19 has caused the closure of university campuses around the world and migration of all learning, teaching, and assessment into online domains. The impacts of this on the academic community as frontline providers of higher education are profound. In this article, we report the findings from a survey ofn = 1148 academics working in universities in the United Kingdom (UK) and representing all the major disciplines and career hierarchy. Respondents report an abundance of what we call ‘afflictions’ exacted upon their role as educators and in far fewer yet no less visible ways ‘affordances’ derived from their rapid transition to online provision and early ‘entry-level’ use of digital pedagogies. Overall, they suggest that online migration is engendering significant dysfunctionality and disturbance to their pedagogical roles and their personal lives. They also signpost online migration as a major challenge for student recruitment, market sustainability, an academic labour-market, and local economies.

Based on the literature of the field, this article traces a continuum between parental involvement with schools, and parental engagement with children’s learning. The article seeks to shed light on an area of confusion; previous research has shown that different stakeholder groups understand “parental engagement” in different ways. Other literature makes it clear that the greatest benefit is derived from the furthest end of the proposed continuum, that is, parental engagement with children’s learning. The continuum gives examples of each stage of the movement along the continuum. The continuum is illustrated not only in prose but as a diagram. The article concludes with a discussion of the agency of parents and schools in the movement along the continuum.

Background: This paper outlines the findings from a research project carried out in the UK that explored the relationship between parental engagement and student achievement. Purpose: The 12-month research project was commissioned to explore the relationship between innovative work with parents and the subsequent impact upon student achievement. A main aim of the research project was to capture the views and voices of parents, students and teachers and to explore the barriers to parental engagement and the respective benefits to learning. Programme description: The study was qualitative in design and collected in-depth case-study data from 20 schools and 314 respondents. In addition a range of documentary evidence plus performance data were collected at each case-study site. Sample: A sample of schools in England was selected on two main criteria: firstly, the type of development, and secondly, the particular focus of parental engagement. Schools in the sample were selected to ensure that there was a broad geographical spread and a mix of urban and rural schools. Other factors were also taken into account to ensure a diverse range of schools (e.g. number on roll, socio-economic status (SES) and black minority ethnic (BME) percentages). Design and methods: Case-study methodology was used as the prime method of data collection in the study. In addition, school data sets relating to student performance, behaviour and attendance were analysed. These data sets allowed patterns and trends to be identified. This analysis formed the basis of the more detailed interrogation of the case-study evidence at each of the 20 sites. Results: The research findings highlight a number of barriers facing certain parents in supporting their children's learning. It is clear that powerful social and economic factors still prevent many parents from fully participating in schooling. The research showed that schools rather than parents are often ‘hard to reach’. The research also found that while parents, teachers and pupils tend to agree that parental engagement is a ‘good thing’, they also hold very different views about the purpose of engaging parents. It is also clear that there is a major difference between involving parents in schooling and engaging parents in learning. While involving parents in school activities has an important social and community function, it is only the engagement of parents in learning in the home that is most likely to result in a positive difference to learning outcomes. Conclusions: Parental engagement in children's learning in the home makes the greatest difference to student achievement. Most schools are involving parents in school-based activities in a variety of ways but the evidence shows but this has little, if any, impact on subsequent learning and achievement of young people.

This paper asks a series of questions to prompt critical, informed thinking around research and practice in relation to parental engagement with children’s learning. The questions ask how we, who research and work in this area, acknowledge and deal with the discourse of a culture of poverty, whether and if the “private sphere” of the family indeed remains private, what may be considered “good parenting” and why. The questions go on to investigate the place (or lack of it) of gender in work around parental engagement, and looks to the future to ask what work in this field can do in the face of the inequities in society which have required the field to exist in the first place. Finally, the questions are reframed to form the basis of a new research agenda.

This article builds on the seminal work of Paulo Freire, whose critique of the ‘banking model’ of education have inspired educators to look beyond mechanistic, didactic means of teaching, toward more constructivist, engaging methods. In this article, I argue that, although the teaching of children has changed as a result of work such as Freire’s, school staff often revert to a ‘banking model’ when seeking to engage parents. This paper utilises Freire’s characteristics of ‘banking education’ as a lens to look at relationships between schools and families. Based on this, the paper then suggests a way of moving toward a more equitable, sustainable and fruitful partnership between all those involved in schooling and learning (with the former being a formalised subset of the much larger latter)

This paper examines the linked concepts of school–home communications, and parental engagement in children’s learning, both of which are vital for supporting learning, particularly at times of transition. The paper examines the theoretical basis for both of these concepts. A distinction is drawn between communication (which can be simply the giving/receiving of information) and dialogue, which requires active participation by both parties. The literature in the fields of parental engagement, communication and technology is examined, including the importance of support for children above primary age, leading to a series of principals for the introduction of technology in school–home communication. The introduction of technology into the life of the school and communication with families can represent a considerable cost, both in terms of finance and in terms of teachers’ time, and therefore decisions in these areas should be made on the basis of the best possible evidence. The paper concludes with challenges and recommendations for policy-makers, researchers and practitioners.