Parents and schools: partners in safeguarding children’s rights and wellbeing.

Euan
Jul 10
8 min read

Adult and child holding hands, close-up. Child in a blue striped shirt, adult in a green sweater. Warm, outdoors mood with blurred greenery.

One morning not long ago, UK newspapers carried an urgent open letter with a dire warning: "The legal rights to an education that meets the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are under threat. Many thousands of children risk being denied vital provision, or losing access to education altogether." This letter, signed by over 100 prominent figures, from disability charities to well-known parents, launched the Save Our Children’s Rights campaign, urging the government not to strip away the legally enforceable support plans that many vulnerable students rely on. As Parliament debates a new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, parents and campaigners are raising their voices to ensure that families and schools work together, rather than at cross purposes, in supporting every child’s needs. The stakes are high, and the conversation goes to the heart of how parents and schools can collaborate better around children’s wellbeing and rights.

A Brewing Battle Over Children’s Support

At issue is the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), a document guaranteeing support for children with SEND. Proposed reforms have suggested removing the right to an EHCP for children in mainstream schools, effectively ending the legal duty for those schools to meet a child’s specific needs. Ministers argue the current system isn’t working and hint at providing support in other ways. Yet to parents, this sounds alarm bells. Hundreds of thousands of children with special needs could lose their legal entitlement to extra support in schools under these plans, a move campaigners warn could force thousands more students out of mainstream education. For many families, an EHCP is the only mechanism to secure specialist help in school. Without it, they fear their children will slip through the cracks.

Parents’ fears are palpable. In fact, "parents and carers, and many teachers, are terrified" by the uncertainty. Whenever officials are pressed on whether they will "get rid" of EHCPs, the answers have been vague. The government’s stated aim is to improve support earlier so that, in an ideal world, fewer families would need to fight for an EHCP. In theory, that sounds reasonable. Who wouldn’t want a less adversarial, better-resourced system? Schools are used to using 'quality-first teaching', and it all works fine... right? But parents know from hard experience that promises of support often don’t materialise unless rights are legally enshrined. One special needs parent (and Guardian columnist) put it bluntly: these plans feel like an "awful rights grab" that leaves families deeply anxious. They recall that for about 40 years such legal rights have been a cornerstone of the SEND system, and removing them would be a fundamental break from the consensus that disabled children need guarantees to access education.

It’s not just parents of young people with disabilities who are watching closely. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill itself is a broad piece of legislation, introduced with the promise of "important changes to protect children and improve education." It spans everything from safeguarding and support for children in care, to regulating home education and ensuring no child falls through gaps in services. These goals are laudable. Yet some measures in the Bill and related reforms have sparked objections from various quarters, including safeguarding experts, faith leaders, home educators, and parents. The very people the Bill aims to help are sending a clear message: policies for children’s wellbeing will only succeed if they are shaped and delivered in partnership with families, not over their heads.

Parents and Schools: Allies, Not Adversaries

If there’s a silver lining to this heated debate, it’s the reminder that parents and schools ultimately want the same thing: for children to be safe, well, and able to fulfil their potential. "Parents and teachers interact because of their shared responsibility for the welfare of the children in their care," write researchers Ken Brien and Bonnie Stelmach. Studies find that teachers value parental involvement, and parents place great trust in teachers. In other words, both sides want to work together. So why does it so often feel like a battle?

One issue is that historically, the parent-school relationship can become adversarial when resources are scarce. In the case of EHCPs, families have often had to "fight their local councils for the help" their child’s plan stipulates. Legal rights became a necessary shield in a system that was, as a recent Labour review admitted, "hostile to families" and full of bureaucratic hurdles. Understandably, councils and schools sometimes feel parental demands for rights strain their budgets. But from the parent’s perspective, those rights are the only thing ensuring their child isn’t forgotten. This tension won’t be resolved by cutting parents out, only by drawing them in as true partners.

Education experts have long argued that schools should treat parents as partners, not as problems. Joyce Epstein, a pioneer in school-family engagement, notes that "any partnership is better than no partnership at all." Her research, and that of many others, confirms a simple truth: when schools and families collaborate, children do better. In fact, districts that had strong family partnership programmes before the pandemic coped far more effectively during COVID disruptions than those that didn’t. The converse is also true: sidelining parents can undermine outcomes. No teacher, however talented, can replace the influence of a parent in a child’s learning. As Dr. Janet Goodall, a leading UK researcher on parental engagement, puts it, "it is not who parents are, but what they do [regarding engagement] that makes the difference to children's achievement." In other words, all parents, regardless of background, can make a positive difference by actively supporting their child’s learning, and that support is most effective when welcomed by schools.

What the Research Says: Children Thrive with Parental Engagement

Decades of research across countries echo the same message: children thrive when parents and schools work together. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in the UK finds that well-designed parental engagement initiatives lead to approximately four months of additional progress for students per year on average. This is a moderate but meaningful impact, comparable to many classroom interventions, and it comes at a very low financial cost, since it’s about fostering relationships and communication. The effect isn’t only academic; engagement also correlates with better behaviour, attendance and socio-emotional development in children. A global evidence review highlighted that "when parents engage in their child’s learning, both at home and at school, student achievement and wellbeing are increased." Moreover, schools that prioritise reaching all parents (not just the easiest-to-reach) help close attainment gaps.

Crucially, effective parent engagement is not about parents micromanaging schoolwork or taking over the teacher’s job. It’s about a partnership where each brings something to the table. Parents offer intimate knowledge of their child, plus influence in the home. Schools offer professional expertise and resources. When these forces align, the child gets consistent messages and support. Academic Alma Harris and Janet Goodall have described a continuum from parental involvement to parental engagement, noting that the greatest benefits occur when parents move beyond token involvement in school events to genuine engagement with children’s learning at home. For example, a parent discussing what they learned in class can reinforce and extend the school’s efforts.

The research also busts the myth that parents and teachers are natural enemies. In fact, surveys often show most parents and teachers appreciate each other. A 2023 survey in Queensland found 93 percent of parents felt able to talk to their child’s teachers about concerns, and 92 percent of teachers said parents were encouraged to be active partners in their school. There is a self-fulfilling prophecy here, however, that the majority of respondents to this survey were most likely parents who are the most engaged and feel that the school listens to them. Still, engagement can be stressful for educators. It takes time and sometimes training. Dr. Max Antony-Newman, who studies teacher preparation in Canada, argues that teacher readiness to engage with parents is a vital competence today, yet many teacher-training programmes barely cover it. We need to better equip teachers with the skills and time to collaborate with families. Likewise, parents may need guidance on how best to support learning at home, especially as children get older or if the curriculum has changed since the parents’ own school days. Bridging these gaps is essential: research by Jered Borup and Lisa Walters on online schools, for example, identified multiple roles parents can play that were key to student success. Even outside the traditional classroom, a parent’s role as supporter and advocate remains pivotal.

Building a Way Forward Together

Thinking about all of the above, how can we apply these lessons to the current dilemma over children’s wellbeing and rights in school? The solution lies in strengthening the parent-school partnership at every level, in policy, in school practice, and in everyday interactions.

Involve parents in policy decisions. The very fact that the Save Our Children’s Rights campaign amassed over 100,000 petition signatures so quickly shows the depth of parental concern. Rather than view this as opposition to be quelled, policymakers should see it as a resource. Parents are experts by experience when it comes to what children need. Consultations on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and on SEND reforms, must include parent representatives. We need policies that preserve essential rights while fixing flaws collaboratively.
Foster open, empathetic communication at the school level. An authentic partnership is only as strong as its daily practice. Parents often say they just want to be heard and taken seriously by their child’s school. Teachers, for their part, appreciate parents who communicate constructively rather than confrontationally. Schools can tailor communications to encourage positive dialogue about learning. The key is consistency and goodwill.
Build capacity for partnership. It’s not enough to exhort parents and teachers to work together; we have to support them in doing so. That means training and resources. Schools might provide professional development for teachers on effective parent engagement strategies. Likewise, community organisations can offer workshops for parents on navigating the education system. One promising idea is assigning staff as home-school liaison or parent engagement coordinators.
Nurture a culture of respect and shared goal-setting. In any healthy school community, parents and educators should see each other as teammates in a child’s development. This involves empathy on both sides. When disagreements arise, approaching the table with the question "What solution will best help this child succeed?" keeps everyone focused on the child’s interest, which is the common ground.

A Shared Mission for Our Children’s Future

In the end, the current fight over SEND rights is about much more than a bureaucratic document. It’s a test of our collective commitment to inclusion, compassion, and partnership in education. The answer lies in strengthening the relationships that uphold those rights, between parent and child, parent and school, school and community.

We know what works. Children are safest, happiest, and most able to thrive when the adults in their lives form a supportive circle around them. No law should break that circle. Instead, laws and policies should reinforce it. Parents are not merely stakeholders or obstacles with "pesky rights." They are co-educators, protectors, and advocates for their children. Treating them as true partners is the surest way to save and strengthen our children’s rights.

In this moment of change, we have a chance to reaffirm a basic truth: parents and schools need each other. Neither can maximise a child’s potential alone. But together, as partners, they form the foundation of a society that truly values every child.

Sources:

Guardian News: Aletha Adu, The Guardian – “Children with special needs in England may lose legal right to school support plans” (24 May 2025)
Guardian Letter: Jane Asher et al., The Guardian – “The right to an education, health and care plan must be retained” (Letters, 6 Jul 2025)
Guardian Opinion: John Harris, The Guardian – “After disability benefits, is Labour really about to target the educational rights of special needs children?” (7 Jul 2025)
Save Our Children’s Rights open letter (via The Guardian and
Education Endowment Foundation – Teaching and Learning Toolkit: Parental Engagement (2024)
AITSL Spotlight Report – Strengthening parent engagement to improve student outcomes (2023)
Brien & Stelmach (2023) – Int. Journal about Parents in Education: On parent-teacher interactions
Goodall, J. (2013) – Quoted in Educational Review: On parental engagement and
Joyce L. Epstein – Interview at JHU School of Education (2022).
Max Antony-Newman (2024) – Journal of Teacher Education: Teacher readiness for parent
Borup, J., Waters, L. (2015) – Study on parental roles in online
Department for Education (UK) – Education Hub blog on Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (2024)