On September 16, parents and school councils from the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Debbie Pushor, an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan, as she spoke about “Parents and Educators: Integral Links in a Care Chain”. During her two-hour presentation, Dr. Pushor explained how involvement focuses on what a parent can do for a school, while engagement is more of a shared connection, in which power and authority are shared by educators and parents, and the agenda being served is mutually determined and beneficial to all. Dr. Pushor spoke passionately about her vision for creating partnerships between families and schools. The evening consisted of an exchange of stories, ideas and beliefs between the attendees and Dr. Pushor, with all supporting the key message that parental engagement is powerful and plays a significant role in your child’s education.
Following the session, Anne Teutsch, Chair of the Ottawa- Carleton Assembly of School Council, commented that “Dr. Pushor’s presentation was a wonderful vision of engaged parents more as partners in their children’s education than as onlookers or merely helpers – a model in which the education of our children is enhanced by parents and teachers sharing the responsibility for their education. Dr. Pushor’s vision builds on the knowledge gained from studies showing that students whose parents play an active role in their child’s education show better results in any number of tests or measures of success.”
The following day, Dr. Pushor presented to educators from the school district, asking the participants to position parent knowledge alongside the educators knowledge. Amy Hannah, Safe and Caring Schools Coordinator, says “Dr. Pushor re-emphasizes the need to not only involve parents but engage them in the school community. She claims that parents are “knowledge carriers” and that as educators, we should consistently seek ways to learn from one another. This piece resonated with me as within the OCDSB, we have our Community of Character, which embeds the character attributes of respect, acceptance, appreciation and fairness. As a community, we are all responsible for the success of our students and this only reiterates that we must continue to engage with one another.”
More information on Dr. Pushor, parental engagement and her research can be found at: www.debbiepushor.com
Dr. Pushor was one of three speakers obtained by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board as part of the OCDSB Speakers’ Series – Connected Conversations – Parents and Teachers Helping Students Learn, a project funded through the Ministry of Education’s Parents Reaching Out grant program.
by Cheryle Watson
Policy Analyst Ottawa-Carleton
DSB
Popularity: 34%
Leave a Reply