During half term I took the opportunity to read the latest Becta proposal “Exploiting ICT to improve parental engagement, moving towards on-line reporting”. I will state right from the start that this is a proposal that I fully support in principle although with reservation in some practical aspects.

They state early on in the report that consultation took place in the latter part of 2007 and that “all (parents) said they wanted to be more involved in their children’s education” whilst “schools see the benefits of greater engagement with parents”. I do wonder if there is any significance in the wording of the two quotes? Could we conclude that schools “see the benefits” but don’t necessarily want to persue them and conversely, do parents want “to be more involved in their children’s education” but not necessarily with the school?