Parents in Education (PiE)

New Website for Parents and Resource Pack for Schools on Home-School-Community Partnership

1. Parents can now look to the Parents in Education (PiE) website for resources to help them better support the education and development of their children. Developed by the Ministry of Education (MOE), the new website was launched by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Education, at the MOE Work Plan Seminar today. Mr Heng also announced that a Partnerships Resource Pack will be provided to schools to help them to engage parents and the community.

2. The PiE website will contain articles on parenting tips, educational news, information on the school curriculum, and resources for parents to support their children’s learning at home. MOE welcomes parents’ feedback on the PiE website and will continue to update and ensure relevance of the resources for parents .

3. The Partnerships Resource Pack for schools includes useful tips, good stories and best practices for partnership with parents, alumni and the community.

Building on Trust, Partnering as One

4. To strengthen partnership between home, school and the community, MOE has developed a Partnerships Framework, which serves to guide parents, schools and the community in their collaborative and complementary efforts, and to reach a common understanding of the goals and outcomes that they want to achieve for children’s learning and development. The framework ensures that a child’s education is supported at home and extends beyond the school into the community. The framework will be available on the PiE website. Schools will also display posters explaining the framework.

5. The framework outlines five principles to guide the partners in working together. These are:

• Trust is the foundation
• Remember the child
• Understand our shared responsibilities
• Seek common ground
• Together, we work towards common goals

6. The framework has been developed in consultation with parents, school leaders, teachers, and the COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools (COMPASS).

Home-School Partnership

7. Over the years, our schools have put in place various initiatives and programmes to engage parents and keep them informed about their children’s educational needs. More than 95% of our schools have set up Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) or Parent Support Groups (PSGs).

8. In 1998, MOE set up the advisory council COMPASS (COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools), comprising representatives from the schools, business community and self-help groups, to build home-school links. To reach out to parents and in appreciation of their contributions to schools, MOE organised the first COMPASS Parents Seminar for PSG representatives in March this year. Together with COMPASS, MOE will continue to engage PSGs to enhance home-school partnership.

9. To help schools build their capacity in their partnership and outreach efforts, MOE introduced the Parent Support Group (PSG) Fund in April this year. Schools may use the fund to try out new ideas to engage parents. Fifteen primary schools also received the Parents in Education (PiE) Fund to enhance their school-based parent partnership efforts. Schools which have forged excellent partnerships with their stakeholders are also recognised through the annual PARTNERS Award.