YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

Does Introducing Parents to

Learning to Learn Techniques
have a Positive Effect on Pupils’
Achievement?

Linda Stephens and Irene Pooley

St Meriadoc CofE Nursery and Infant School, Cornwall

PROJECT AIMS
__________________________________________________________________
We aimed to discover whether involving parents and introducing them to various Learning to Learn
(L2L) approaches will develop their children’s self esteem and resilience as learners and so raise
standards.

RESEARCH FOCUS
___________________________________________ Focus in the 5Rs for
We are looking at the role of family learning in supporting Lifelong Learning:
Learning to Learn by arranging a series of evenings to introduce
parents to the major Learning to Learn approaches. We will Resilience
monitor the impact that the parent’s involvement has on the
Remembering
confidence and capability of their children.
Resourcefulness x
DIMENSIONS OF THIS CASE STUDY
___________________________________________ Reflectiveness
We are a nursery and infant school with a total of 155 full time
pupils plus 38 part-time in the nursery. The invitation to the Readiness
parents’ sessions went to all parents and between 30 and 40
parents attended each of the 12 sessions representing 50
children.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
__________________________________________________________________
• Sharing Learning to Learn approaches with parents raises their own self esteem and confidence
as learners.
• Involving parents in Learning to Learn enables them to feel more able to teach and help their
own children at home.
• The confidence of the parents communicates itself to the children.
• Even after only a few months improvements have been noticed in some of the children’s
performance.

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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

CONTEXT Learning Coordinator who is also a

____________________________ member of the management team. Both
have been involved with other research in
School the past. The Headteacher is keen to drive
The school is a 2 form entry nursery and the school forward and be at the forefront
infant school situated in an area of high of advances in educational practice. Last
unemployment and poverty. It is part of an year she completed a very successful
Education Action Zone (EAZ). Out of the action research into healthy eating and the
104 children at Key Stage 1 (Key Stage 1), lunchtime environment, which has created
20% are on the special needs register and a lot of interest from other head teachers in
of the 89 Foundation Stage pupils 30% are the county. She encourages all teachers
of concern to the teacher for various and teaching assistants to pursue any
reasons. 18% of the children are eligible research they are interested in.
for Free School Meals (FSM) although this
figure would be higher if we took into The Teaching and Learning Coordinator
account the number of part time children has had a long involvement with
we have. The catchment area of the researching the best approaches to
school is one where academic aspirations education both within and outside the
and attainment are traditionally very low. school system. She has long felt that
schools do not always provide the best
All year groups including the Nursery are conditions for optimum learning and strives
represented in this study as we feel that it to discover how to make learning more
is important for parents to become involved accessible to all children. She believes
in their children’s education as soon as that all children have the capability to be
they start school. gifted and as such has researched into the
provision for Gifted and Talented (G&T)
The school was invited to become part of children in Foundation and Key Stage 1.
the project due to its past involvement with She runs a challenge club after school to
educational research and interest in the stretch children further.
latest developments in teaching and
learning. All teachers have had training in Both teachers believe that parents and
using Assessment for Learning and 4 teachers should work together to provide
teachers are involved with Cornwall’s the best education for the children. They
research into formative assessment and have been heartened to see the response
have travelled to America as part of this. the parents have had to the evenings that
have been arranged and are looking
We believe that our children deserve the forward to a closer working partnership
best education available and are capable with parents at the end of the research.
of high achievements and this belief drives They are aware of the difficulties of
our research into the best approaches to sustaining interest and of keeping up the
use. We have also researched the effect momentum but feel quite positive about the
of healthy eating and surroundings on the benefits of this approach.
pupils and a number of changes have been
made to the way we approach lunchtimes Pupils
which has created a lot of interest from As mentioned before the research includes
other schools. a cross section from all classes within the
school. All parents were sent an invitation
Teacher(s) and those that have taken part represent
The two teachers leading this research are 46 pupils, i.e. 24%. We also have four
the Headteacher and the Teaching and parents from our last year’s Year 2 class

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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

whose children are now at the junior children. We have arranged for the best
school. The research will track how these speakers we could get in various L2L areas
children perform against their peers. The such as Mind Mapping, NLP etc to talk to
youngest pupil is three and the oldest the parents for approximately an hour a
eight. fortnight.

Although all parents involved want the best Objectives

for their children many have quite low We aim to educate parents about the
expectations of their academic ability. For importance of self esteem, self talk and
the last three years our Key Stage 1 test persevering when stuck and to give them
results have been below the national strategies to help them and their children
average. Because the children come from become better learners. By so doing we
a total of seven different classes the range hope to produce children who are resilient
of learning to learn approaches they and resourceful in their learning and who
encounter is varied. For example, four will go on to become lifelong learners. In
classes have been involved in Assessment the short term we aim for improved
for Learning research and are used to performance in school and greater parental
being given learning intentions, success involvement and support.
criteria and three of them also regularly self
evaluate their work. Two of these classes Hypothesis
do a Brain Gym® programme every day. This project aims to investigate whether
The remaining 3 classes, at present, are involving parents and showing them
aware of these approaches but do not use various L2L approaches will develop
them regularly. children’s Readiness and Resilience and
so raise standards and develop confident
and lifelong learners.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
____________________________
RESEARCH PROCESS
Rationale ____________________________
We chose to investigate whether explaining
L2L approaches to parents would have a Teachers’ Choices
positive impact on their children’s learning We decided to hold a series of nine
because we feel that children spend more sessions for parents. These were held in
time under the influence of their families the school hall every fortnight starting in
than their teacher. October and continuing into the Spring
Term. We agreed that the best time to
We feel that much of how a child performs hold the meetings was in the evenings so
in school has to do with confidence, self that more people would have a chance of
esteem and self belief and that for the most attending and also because some of the
part parents have a greater influence in speakers were not available during the
these areas than we do. We felt that day. This proved to be a good choice as
people living in this area have low self although some people said that they
esteem and aspirations when it comes to couldn’t attend due to childcare problems
academic achievement and that this is most parents managed to find babysitters
reflected in the way their children perform and in some cases both parents were able
in school. to come.

By turning parents into lifelong learners we An invitation was sent out to all parents of
are hoping to do the same for their children in our school and to the parents of

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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

last year’s Year 2 who are now in our sister • three main ways to learn, Visual,
junior school. These children had Auditory and Kinaesthetic (VAK) and
previously been introduced to a few L2L Brain Gym®;
ideas. We wanted the sessions to be • overcoming barriers to learning by
available to as many parents as possible. raising self esteem;
• memory skills and techniques to aid
An initial invitation was sent out which memory;
included a paragraph about our • visual learning including Mind Maps®;
involvement in the Learning to Learn • the different ways of being intelligent, a
Phase 3 Evaluation. We made it clear that brief overview of all of the intelligences;
although it was not necessary to attend all • thinking skills, various ways of
sessions we would be keeping a register of promoting thinking e.g. by Odd One
parents so that we could see whether Out puzzles, Mysteries, Fortune Lines;
regular attendance had more effect that • the importance of talk in particular
just coming to one or two talks. using a Philosophy For Children
approach; and
We were very encouraged by the very
• formative assessment and reflecting on
positive response we got and many
your own learning.
parents asked if we could perhaps do the
sessions again as they were unable to
At the end of each session parents were
make that particular evening.
encouraged to note down anything that
they felt they had learnt from that particular
We set out to be as welcoming and friendly
session or general comments about how
as possible as many parents still have a
they thought it had gone.
hesitant or even negative attitude towards
school and teachers. We also aimed to
Although we originally planned to have 9
keep each session light hearted and fun,
sessions parents requested more,
as well as imparting knowledge. At each
especially in the area of NLP. The teachers
session we offered tea, coffee and biscuits
involved were very enthusiastic about all of
and there was time for a chat before we
the approaches talked about and as the
started. The sessions lasted for an hour
sessions progressed became increasingly
although sometimes overran.
aware of a sense of belonging amongst the
parents who attended regularly. Both
The first session was led by the school’s
parents and teachers looked forward to the
Teaching and Learning Coordinator and
sessions for the camaraderie as well as the
provided an overview of L2L. The school
learning opportunities. Everyone came
purchased a CHAMPS® CD and this was away feeling that they had learnt
used on an interactive whiteboard to something worthwhile.
introduce the ideas of brain based learning.
Evidence Collected
For subsequent sessions we enlisted the The older children of parents who attended
help of LEA advisors, advanced skills these sessions have completed the project
teachers and independent consultants all questionnaire i.e. those children in Years 1
of whom were known to be experts in their and 2. The children from the Foundation
field and were good speakers. Stage were considered too young to be
able to complete this questionnaire. We
The topics covered were: did try modifying it for the younger children
• seeing yourself as a learner, which but found the exercise too time consuming.
included self talk and Neuro Linguistic
Programming (NLP);

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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

Parents were encouraged to make written DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

comments and feedback after each ____________________________
session and also to report on any
successes they’d had implementing the Findings
L2L techniques which they had learned. At From the point of view of getting parents
the end of the series of talks parents were more involved with their children’s learning
issued with a questionnaire to determine the evenings can be deemed to have been
how they felt their attendance would benefit a great success. Not only did we have a
their children’s learning. Much of our quarter of our pupils represented but of
evidence has come from the parents those parents who attended 44% attended
themselves as this research project all nine sessions and 80% attended half or
focused primarily on educating the parents more.
and through them the children.

We have also looked at the children’s

reading tests and where relevant, SATs
results, in order to see if any improvement
in performance is discernible at this early
stage. As we hope to raise children’s
confidence in their own learning, class
teachers were asked if they could detect
any increase in children’s self esteem and
confidence in their own learning ability.

The Role of Learning to Learn

Obviously the role of L2L has been central
in this research project. Each session of
the parent evenings have been about
different aspects of L2L. We chose those
areas which we felt most useful and which
are at present the most popular of the L2L
techniques. The aspects we chose have
been listed previously in this report and on
reflection we are pleased with the choice
we made as they have given parents a
broad and balanced outline of various
learning to learn approaches. As the
discussion of results will show each
approach was put into practice by at least
some of the parents. Those that tried the
techniques have been very positive about
the results and excited by the knowledge
that it is possible to learn how to learn.

Questionnaire completed by parents

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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

We have collected data from these parents he can do it right. I feel I am building
via a questionnaire and feedback session. up his self esteem.
We received 23 completed questionnaires.
Where both parents attended only one
questionnaire was completed. We were particularly pleased to note this
lady’s comment about the child being able
One of our research aims was to discover to ‘do it’ even if at the present he is finding
whether involving parents in L2L it hard as this is fostering the child’s
approaches would develop their children’s resilience, which was one of our initial
self esteem and resilience as learners. It is aims.
easier for parents to do this if they
themselves have good self esteem. 65% It is obviously outside the capability of this
of parents questioned rated their own research to determine whether children of
ability as average before starting the parents attending this course will gain long
course but all said that their confidence in lasting learning resilience but given that
their own ability had increased after most educators agree that parental
attending the sessions. For example, attitudes and input have the most effect on
a child then it is fair to assume that
introducing L2L techniques to parents of
I have more confidence in my children who are just starting out in their
learning ability and therefore I feel school career will have a beneficial effect
this can only help my child’s learning on their self belief and performance as
ability. learners.

22 out of the 23 parents who filled in the

questionnaire believe that their attendance
As a parent it has given me at this course will benefit their child. The
confidence about learning for myself one who was unsure had only attended
and others. three sessions. Also 92% felt their
confidence in their ability to help their child
had increased. The remaining 8% already
had a high self belief, which had stayed the
same:
Before attending this course I felt I
could not learn any more than I
already knew but by attending this
course I feel if I want to learn I have learnt a lot of different ways of
something I can. Learning is fun! learning and by making learning fun
my children look forward and are
more willing to learn and feel able to
talk to me about their school work.
Even after just the first session one parent
reported her realisation that both she and
her son were capable of learning anything
had had a positive effect on him:
If one form of teaching for your child
doesn’t work I now know how to find
I told him that I know that he can do a better way of learning.
it even If at present he is finding it
hard. He is now asking to do his
homework and is delighted to realise

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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

sessions 66% achieved higher than

Already after one session it has average grades. However it is of course
made a difference – homework is impossible to draw any conclusions from
more fun now. this as it could be argued that these
children would have performed at this level
anyway.

My son is eager to learn and has What is striking about our school’s
learnt his spellings in half the time. performance over the last two years is the
correlation between the introduction of L2L
approaches in Year 2 and also to parents
and the rise in our PANDA grades. Last
year was the first year we really
We have already used Mind
concentrated on the Learning to Learn
Mapping® to learn left from right.
approaches of building resilient,
Also we have taught our child (three)
independent and confident learners and
many letters of the alphabet. All the
our average grades rose from E to A in
techniques we’ve used have been
both reading and writing and from D to A*
learnt on this course.
in maths. This year we have also
introduced parents to these ideas and
although the PANDA report hasn’t been
completed yet and results still have to be
We have learnt how to improve our finalised it is clear that we have maintained
capabilities – using both sides of the the higher standards achieved last year.
brain, Mind Mapping®, building
confidence etc.

There are many different ways to

teach, everyone is different.
Learning can and should be fun.
Less pressure really helps.
Everything is possible, be positive.
We can do it! Everyone can!

The above quotations coming from parents

in an area of traditionally low self esteem
and expectations represents quite a shift in
attitude and it is this ‘can do’ atmosphere
at home that in our opinion will ultimately
have the greatest effect on raising
standards in our school. However this will
be difficult to quantify until children have
been tracked over a number of years.

We have looked at this year’s Key Stage 1

SATS results and can say that out of the First spelling test a scanned in by a parent to show
children whose parents attended L2L baseline

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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

On an individual level we can definitely say He ended by saying:

that involving parents in L2L approaches
has led to an increase in standards for M’s attitude to homework has totally
some children as seen in example above: changed and so has mine – with the
help of this course/ speakers/
This dad attended all sessions and has teaching we all look forward to doing
been very enthusiastic and appreciative of the maths and other work. A calm
all of the approaches he has learnt: relaxing atmosphere – the
introduction of colour, music and fun
when doing homework – limiting the
I have found the new approach to amount of time spent into small
homework has had an amazing chunks has really worked and M’s
effect – it is fun and we both look dramatic progress, I believe, is a
forward to it. My child has come on result of a total change of attitude by
in leaps and bounds and has gained my wife and I.
in confidence. Mrs Paige (his
teacher) has also found this.

The dad photocopied and highlighted his

child’s spellings for the term, which shows
that the child’s progression from getting all
spellings wrong to getting them
consistently all correct directly correlated to
his attendance at the meetings.

Third example of child’s spellings showing

attainment after parents had attended all meetings
Second spelling example, showing improvement
over 6 weeks

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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

CONCLUSION • in some cases we can already see an

____________________________ improvement in the child’s perform-
ance in school.
Developing this Approach
We would definitely run this programme Although at the moment it is too early to
again as both staff and parents involved say, we have high hopes that a
felt that they gained a lot of benefit from it. continuation of this approach in our school
One of the drawbacks was the time will result in children who leave us well on
commitment on the part of the teachers as the road to being confident and capable
the best time was felt to be after school lifelong learners.
and certainly this did stop us from putting
on more sessions in the Summer Term,
which was very busy. Also the evenings BIBLIOGRAPHY
took a considerable amount of time to ____________________________
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 YEAR ONE PROJECT 2003/2004

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