Encouraging Engagement: an emerging role for school based family workers in English secondary schools

Abstract

Richard.Rose@northampton.ac.uk The establishment of positive relationships between home and school has long been recognised as a desirable state which can have a significant bearing upon the success of students both academically and socially (Henderson and Berla, 1994, Wolfendale and Bastiani, 2000). By contrast, when relationships between schools and parents or carers falter, the consequences can be detrimental to all parties and in some instances can lead to disaffection and the perpetuation of negative attitudes towards schooling (Crozier, 2000). The Every Child Matters agenda established by the UK government (DfES, 2003) emphasises the need for schools to consider the development of all students, not only in respect of academic attainment, but also with due regard to their social, economic and health needs. With this demand has come a recognition that this ambition requires much greater cohesion across professional and voluntary services working in partnership with schools. Government initiatives such as the establishment of full service extended schools (DfES, 2005), Excellence in Cities (DfEE, 1999) and Sure Start (DfEE, 1998) have led to innovative approaches for the support of young people who may be at risk of exclusion, disaffection or disengagement with the education system. Evaluations of the efficacy of such initiatives are only just being made and it is therefore important that researchers gather data, which may inform further developments and policy at school, local authority and national levels. This paper describes one initiative, the use of family workers in school, and considers how service users perceived this system. Research into the efficacy of two extended secondary schools afforded the author an opportunity to examine in detail how the role of family workers had been developed within those schools and