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CHAPTER FIVE: AWARENESS AND USAGE OF MAKING THE DIFFERENCE LEAFLETS

The previous chapter looked at awareness and access of information sources on parental involvement in general and this chapter examines awareness and usage of the series of Making the Difference leaflets specifically.

5.1 Key themes and messages attributed to Making The Difference leaflets

Those school and local authority respondents who had accessed sources of information and support on parental involvement were given the opportunity to express their thoughts on their understanding of the key themes or messages behind the Making the Difference materials. Responses to this question were spontaneous and respondents were not prompted with any pre-coded responses.

As Chart 5.1 shows, 83% of local authority respondents and 69% of school respondents spontaneously noted the key theme / message was parents' involvement in their child's education and learning. Around seven in ten local authority respondents (69%) and four in ten school respondents (42%) said the key theme / message was welcoming parental involvement in schools. Lower proportions (6% of local authority respondents and 26% of school respondents) thought the key theme / message was to provide ways for parents to express their views. At a lower level, 8% of school respondents spontaneously stated the key theme or message was to provide information for parents and raise issues with parents, and 6% of local authority staff said the key theme / message of Making the Difference leaflets was to provide information in a way that was accessible for parents.

Chart 5.1 Understanding of key themes or messages behind the Making the Difference materials

Notes to Table
Source: Q4 (Schools), Q2c ( LAs)
Base: School respondents who had accessed sources of information and support on parental involvement (237); All Local Authority respondents (35)

5.2 Recall of receiving leaflets

5.2.1 Schools

During the course of the telephone interviews, all respondents were asked to say spontaneously and with prompting, which leaflets they recalled receiving.

As can be seen from Table 5.1, the leaflets spontaneously recalled by highest proportions of school based respondents were Homework (cited by 34%), Parents' Evenings (21%), Enterprise in Education (20%) and A New Law to Support Parents (20%). Less than one in five respondents recalled any other leaflets on a spontaneous basis and 39% of these respondents were unable to specify any of the leaflet(s) in the series.

Once prompted with the full series of Making the Difference leaflets, recall increased across all 12. Once again, the highest level of recall was for Homework (89%) and a similar proportion also recalled Getting Involved in Your Child's School (88%) and Healthy Choices (87%). The two leaflets that lowest proportions of respondents recalled receiving were New Technology in Learning (51%) and School Holidays (52%).

Table 5.1 Recall of receiving leaflets (spontaneous and prompted) - Schools

Notes to Table
Source: Q5a-Q5b
Base: All School respondents (248)

5.2.2 Local authorities

Local Authority employees were also asked about the leaflets they recalled receiving.

As can be seen from Table 5.2, higher proportions of local authority respondents recalled receiving each of the Making the Difference leaflets on both a prompted and unprompted basis. The leaflets spontaneously recalled by highest proportions of respondents were A New Law to Support Parents (89%), Homework (86%) and Getting Involved in Your Child's School (83%); all other leaflets were recalled by 7 in 10 or more respondents.

When prompted, 8 in 10 or more local authority staff recalled each leaflet. Those leaflets recalled by highest proportions of respondents were A New Law to Support Parents (97%), Enterprise in Education (91%), Homework (89%) and Getting Involved in your Child's School (89%).

Table 5.2 Recall of receiving leaflets (spontaneous and prompted) - Local Authority Staff

Notes to Table
Source: Q3a-Q3b
Base: All Local Authority respondents (35)

5.2.3 Parents

There was a quota requirement for those attending focus groups for a minimum of 2 parents to be aware of some of the Making the Difference leaflets, although many respondents attending focus group discussions were aware of two or three of the leaflets from the series. However, there was no consistency as to which of the leaflets were recalled. A few respondents, who did not recall seeing any specific leaflets in the series, did note that they felt they had previously seen the information provided and suggested that some of this had been provided in school handbooks or other information being sent out to parents by schools.

5.3 Use of web materials

During the course of the telephone interviews, all respondents (both school and local authority staff) were asked to indicate whether they had accessed or used the related Making the Difference web materials for teaching and professional staff on the Parents as Partners website in any way. Chart 5.2 shows that this was not a source utilised by large numbers of respondents, although slightly higher proportions of local authority staff had accessed this (cited by 31% of local authority staff and 27% of school staff).

Chart 5.2 Whether accessed or used the related Making the Difference web materials for teaching and professional staff on the Parents as Partners website

Notes to Table
Source: Q15 (Schools), Q13 ( LAs)
Base: All School respondents (248), All Local Authorities respondents (35)

Similarly, respondents were also asked to say if they had accessed or used the related Making the Difference web materials for parents on the Parentzone website and there were significant differences between the two key sub-groups (see Chart 5.3). A much higher proportion of local authority staff had accessed the Parentzone website for materials (71% compared to only 29% of school staff).

Chart 5.3 Whether accessed or used the related Making the Difference web materials for parents on the Parentzone website

Notes to Table
Source: Q14 (Schools), Q12 ( LAs)
Base: All School respondents (248); All Local Authority respondents (35)

5.4 Additional copies

During the telephone interviews, all school respondents were asked whether they had requested extra copies of the Making the Difference leaflets directly from the Scottish Executive or via the Local Authority.

As Chart 5.4 shows, just over half (51%) of all school respondents had requested extra leaflets from the Scottish Executive and 15% via the Local Authority. One in four (25%) school respondents had not requested any additional copies of leaflets.

Chart 5.4 Whether school has requested extra copies of any Making the Difference leaflets directly from the Scottish Executive or via Local Authority

Notes to Table
Source: Q11a
Base: All Schools respondents (248)

A majority (85%) of local authority staff had requested additional copies directly from the Scottish Executive.

Having ascertained whether or not additional copies had been ordered by schools, respondents were asked to say for which leaflets they had requested additional copies and how many extra copies of each had been requested.

As Table 5.3 shows, the leaflet for which highest proportions of respondents requested extra copies was Homework (cited by 62%). Around one in two had ordered additional copies of Getting Involved in Your Child's School (48%) and Healthy Choices (45%). The smallest proportion of respondents requesting extra copies was 29% for the New Technology in Learning leaflet.

Table 5.3 Schools requesting extra copies of leaflets

Notes to Table
Source: Q11b
Base: School respondents who had ordered extra copies (154)

The 61 school respondents who had not ordered any extra copies of leaflets from the Scottish Executive were asked their reasons for this. Thirty per cent said it was because they had received enough and 20% simply because they had never needed to order more. A small proportion (15%) claimed the leaflets were not useful or appropriate and of little interest to parents; 8% maintained they were not a good use of resources; 7% had produced their own copies; and 5% noted they had produced their own which were more relevant for parents because the leaflets suited the needs of the school. Five per cent also noted that they had made parents aware of the leaflets or that parents could ask for them if they wished.

Chart 5.5 Reasons for not ordering extra copies - Schools

Notes to Chart
Source: Q12
Base: School respondents who had not requested extra copies of leaflets (61)

Within local authorities, the majority of staff had requested extra copies of the leaflets from the Scottish Executive. Only 3% had not, as shown in Chart 5.6.

Chart 5.6 Whether local authority has requested extra copies of any Making the Difference leaflets directly from the Scottish Executive

Notes to Chart
Source: Q9a
Base: All Local Authority respondents (35)

Local authority staff were asked to specify the leaflets for which they had requested extra copies. As shown in Table 5.4, almost all (94%) respondents recalled requesting additional copies of A New Law to Support Parents. Around four in ten (42%) had requested the Getting Involved in Your Child's School leaflet and Enterprise in Education leaflet respectively. Around one in three had ordered copies of each of the other leaflets.

Table 5.4 Specific leaflets for which extra copies requested - Local Authority Staff

Notes to Table
Source: Q9b
Base: Local Authority respondents who ordered extra copies (31)

Given the small numbers of local authority staff ordering additional copies of each leaflet (with the exception of A New Law to Support Parents), the average numbers of copies ordered have not been applied to this data.

Local authority staff were also asked to say whether the extra copies ordered were for internal use or to distribute to schools. As Chart 5.7 demonstrates, around two thirds (68%) used the additional copies to distribute to parents via meetings, forums or events; 42% distributed the leaflets both internally and to schools; 32% distributed copies to schools and only 10% were using these for internal use.

Chart 5.7 How extra copies ordered were used

Notes to Chart
Source: Q9d
Base: Local Authority respondents who had ordered extra copies (31)

Only one local authority respondent had not ordered any extra copies and the reason cited for this was because they had made their own version of this information based on the original leaflet.

In summary:

• The key theme put across by the Making the Difference series of leaflets identified by both local authority and school staff was of parents' involvement in their child's education and learning;
• Levels of recall of receipt of any of the series of leaflets were highest among local authority staff. Unprompted, the leaflets recalled by highest proportions of school staff were Homework and Parents' Evenings; although levels of recall increased significantly once prompted (at least one in two recalled each leaflet). Highest recall from local authority staff was for A New Law to Support Parents, Homework and Getting Involved in Your Child's School. Once prompted, all leaflets were recalled by at least 80% of respondents;
• Only a minority of school or local authority staff had used Making the Difference web materials for teaching and professional staff on the Parents as Partners website, although usage of web materials via the Parentzone website was significantly higher for local authority staff;
• A large majority of local authority staff had requested additional copies of leaflets and the bulk of these were used to distribute to parents via meetings, forums or events.

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