Listening to parent feedback: why it matters
- Euan
- Jun 11
- 9 min read
As the school year winds down, many of us in education find our inboxes filling with end-of-year parent surveys and feedback forms. It’s a familiar ritual: we ask parents for their thoughts to help shape the new academic year. But once the responses roll in, what happens next? Do we file them away and congratulate ourselves for “engaging parents,” or do we truly listen and act? Here, we dive into why listening to parent feedback is so necessary, and how to avoid turning it into a token gesture. Short answer: genuine listening builds trust, improves outcomes, and strengthens your school community, whereas perfunctory feedback exercises can do more harm than good.
Why listening to parents matters.
Parents aren’t only stakeholders, they’re partners in each child’s learning journey. Research consistently shows that when schools and parents work together and listen to each other, students do better academically and feel more supported. One seminal study found that effective parental engagement can have an impact equivalent to adding two to three extra years of learning over a student’s school career. In other words, listening to parents isn’t a nicety, it’s a necessity for improving student outcomes.
As importantly, listening fosters trust. Parents who feel heard tend to trust the school more, forming a foundation for cooperation. Yet there’s often a gap between how much parents want to contribute and how much they feel listened to. In one survey, 85% of parents said they want to play an active role in their child’s education, and 72% want a say at the school level, but only 57% felt listened to by their child’s school. This gap matters. When we overlook parents’ voices, we miss out on insights about our students and risk alienating the very community we aim to serve. As one major report put it, “Parental engagement is a powerful lever for raising achievement in schools. When parents and teachers work together to improve learning, the gains in achievement are significant.” Listening to parents isn’t about ceding authority; it’s about tapping into an under-used resource for the benefit of students.
Beware tokenism in feedback.
With all the evidence that parent input is valuable, sending out a feedback survey can feel like a box we must tick, something “we did because we’re supposed to.” This is where the danger of tokenism creeps in. Tokenistic feedback collection means we ask for parents’ opinions, but we don’t truly plan to act on them. Parents are quick to sense when a school’s outreach is performative. In fact, only about half of parents (49%) believe their child’s school actually takes action based on feedback that parents provide. The other half? They likely suspect that their comments go into a black hole, making future feedback less and less likely.
No wonder, then, that fewer parents are bothering to give feedback at all. One national poll found that over 55% of parents hadn’t raised any issues or given feedback to their child’s school in the past year. This is a jump from 42% the year before. Think about that: more than half of parents stayed silent. Why? Perhaps because they felt it wouldn’t make a difference. When parents take the time to share their views but see no acknowledgement or change, it breeds cynicism and disengagement. Failing to respond to feedback doesn’t only waste good ideas, it actively erodes trust and damages relationships. As the UK’s National Governors’ Association warns, engaging with parents must “not be tokenistic” but rather regular and meaningful, built into the way the school operates. In short, collecting feedback is only the first step. What really counts is what you do with it.
Building trust to hear all voices.
This raises a critical question: how can we build the trust needed to get feedback that is honest, inclusive, and truly representative of the whole school community? Start by looking in the mirror: are we only hearing from the same “usual suspect” parents (the confident, involved few) while others stay silent? If so, it’s on us to change the approach. Trust begins with everyday interactions, not one-off surveys. As one school leader insightfully noted, trust is “hard to gain and easy to lose,” and it’s built on consistency and personal connection. Parents need to see that their input is genuinely wanted, and that speaking up won’t lead to defensiveness or repercussions.
One practical strategy is to make listening part of the school culture, not solely a yearly event. For example, Summer Hall Primary School* in Darlington doesn’t stop at two parent questionnaires per year, they “gather feedback much more” often, with an open-door policy and senior staff out in the playground every day to meet and chat with parents. Those informal conversations and visible accessibility send a powerful message: we’re here, we care, and we’re ready to listen. Over time, this kind of consistent openness encourages even hesitant parents to voice concerns and ideas. It also helps reach families who might not engage via formal surveys, including those who may feel intimidated by school or have language/cultural barriers. In one diverse school community, leaders examined data to spot which groups of parents were not engaging and then took action, hosting targeted coffee mornings and sessions for those parent groups to make sure their voices were invited and heard. The lesson is clear: meeting parents where they are builds trust, whether that means literally standing at the school gate each morning or arranging forums that make quieter voices comfortable to speak.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but a mix of channels can help ensure all voices are included. Some approaches schools use include:
Surveys and questionnaires: Quick to deploy and great for broad input. Make them accessible (multiple languages, both online and paper options) and consider anonymity to encourage honesty.
Parent forums or councils: Regular meetings (in-person or virtual) where parents can discuss school matters with leaders in an open forum. These can act as a “pulse check” for parent sentiment and a venue for two-way dialogue. Building trust with all parents is essential to encourage parents from all backgrounds to get involved.
Focus groups and workshops: Small, invited group discussions on specific topics (e.g. homework policy or school dinners). These allow for deeper exploration of issues and are especially useful for hearing from under-represented or hesitant parents in a more supportive setting.
Parent representatives and ambassadors: Some schools have parent reps for each class or year group, or involve parent governors. These representatives can gather feedback from a wider circle of parents and bring those perspectives to the school leadership regularly.
When holding group sessions for parents to attend, it can help to hold these on more neutral ground, such as at a community centre or conference room in a local hotel. This can shift the power dial more towards a shared power dynamic, where parents feel more comfortable to attend and share their views.
By diversifying how we listen, we send a message that every parent voice matters, not only the loudest ones. And when parents see that the school is proactive and creative in seeking their input, it reinforces trust: it shows we’re not doing this to tick a box, but because we value what they have to say.
From feedback to action.
Of course, gathering honest feedback is only half the story. The real trust-builder is what comes next: acting on that feedback (or at least responding thoughtfully). To truly empower and engage parents, we must close the feedback loop. That means letting parents know their voices have been heard and showing them how their input leads to changes. Follow-up is everything. As one education insight put it, acknowledging parents’ insights and taking clear next steps based on their feedback builds trust and encourages ongoing engagement. In contrast, if parents speak up and then hear nothing for months, it’s as if their feedback vanished, and so might their willingness to participate next time.
What does closing the loop look like in practice? A great example comes from Woodhill School*, which didn’t collect an autumn parent survey and file it away. They published a summary of the main themes parents raised alongside the actions the school was taking in response. This was effectively a “You said… We did…” report. For instance, parents at Woodhill wanted a simpler way to get information about their child’s day-to-day school experience, so the school launched a new parent app to bring together updates in one place. Parents also voiced concerns about inconsistent communication across year groups; in response, Woodhill reinforced its communication policy and shared best practices with all year teams to level up the consistency. By publicly sharing these “you said, we did” outcomes, the school sent a clear signal: we listened, and here’s what we’re doing about it. This building of trust and transparency can encourage a wider demographic of parents to share their thoughts and opinions.
Similarly, at Summer Hall Primary*, leaders took parent feedback from a 2023 survey and made concrete improvements on every point raised. Parents suggested adding more lunch choices, and the school introduced a third meal option on the menu. Some were missing important letters, so the school updated their website to post all letters home (no more “lost in the book-bag” excuses!). Parents wanted more modern communication, the school adopted an email and app system to cut down on paper notes. Even attendance rewards were tweaked in response to feedback: Summer Hall started celebrating 99% attendance, not only perfect 100%, to be fair to kids who might have had medical appointments or other commitments. This kind of responsiveness might seem small, but to parents it’s incredibly meaningful. It shows that the school is listening, learning, and willing to adapt. The payoff is a stronger partnership: parents who feel valued are more likely to stay involved and support school initiatives, creating a positive cycle of trust.
On the flip side, consider what happens when feedback is not handled authentically. If a school asks for input and then does nothing (or keeps any actions secret), parents will quickly pick up on the pattern. The next time you send out a questionnaire, you’ll get fewer responses, or the feedback will be superficial because parents think, “What’s the point? Nothing changes anyway.” As professionals, who have probably all worked in a range of settings, we will have experienced the tokenistic employee survey - the results of which we knew wouldn’t change anything. I am sure we can recall how frustrating this would be. It is no different for parents providing feedback to your school.
By contrast, implementing even a few visible changes based on feedback can have an outsized effect on goodwill. It’s better to tackle a couple of issues and report back (“You told us X was a problem, here’s what we’ve done about it”) than to promise the moon and deliver silence. When parents see a tangible link between their feedback and school improvements, trust soars. They know their voices truly make a difference, which in turn makes them more likely to engage in the future. In essence, listening well and acting on feedback creates a virtuous circle, a healthier, more collaborative school culture where parents and educators are pulling in the same direction.
Get involved.
Finally, let’s turn the reflection onto ourselves as professionals. How does your school or organisation handle parent feedback now, and what could you do to make it more authentic? As we prepare for a new academic year, it’s the perfect time to reflect and reset. Consider starting a conversation with your team: Are we genuinely listening to all our parents? Have we fallen into any tokenistic habits without realising? What’s one step we can take to better close the feedback loop? You might be surprised by the insights (and creative solutions) that emerge when these questions are on the table.
We also invite you to share your experiences. Have you tried a new approach to gathering or acting on parent feedback that worked well? Perhaps you ran a parent forum or set up a “you said, we did” board and saw positive results. Let us know - your story could inspire others. And if this topic has piqued your interest, you can explore more ideas and resources on building authentic parent-school partnerships on our website. The goal is for all of us to continue learning and supporting each other in this messy, necessary work of real parent-school partnership. After all, when parents and schools truly listen and respond to one another, everyone wins, especially the students at the heart of it all.
Let’s keep that conversation going into the new year. Here’s to listening better, acting together, and seeing our school communities thrive as a result. Your actions now will set the tone for the trust and collaboration to come. So, how will you get involved? The floor - and the future - is yours.
*School names changed to respect anonymity.
"Listening to parent feedback: why it matters"
&Parents is a social enterprise committed to transforming the way schools
and partner with parents.
&Parents encourages schools around the world to transform parent-school collaboration.