Survey of Australian Parents
The Family-School & Community Partnerships Bureau (the Bureau) was established in 2008
by the two peak parent organisations, the Australian Council of State School Organisations
(ACSSO, representing and supporting parents with children attending government schools),
and the Australian Parents Council (APC, representing and supporting parents with children
attending Catholic and Independent schools).
These organisations share a commitment to ensure that schools, school systems and other
education stakeholders recognise parent engagement as a highly valuable, evidence-based
lever for facilitating student learning and achievement, and driving school reform.
Supported by Australian Government funding to enable APC and ACSSO to use their unique
expertise and networks, the Bureau works with principals’ associations, education
authorities, schools, governments and community organisations to encourage and support
effective family, school and community partnerships. This work includes undertaking
research, creating and disseminating information, and developing resources.
This report and the underpinning survey, focussed on parents’ involvement in their
children’s secondary schooling, builds on parent surveys conducted by the then Department
of Education, Science and Training (DEST) in 2003 and 2007. Among other findings, the
results of these earlier national telephone surveys showed a substantial decline in parental
involvement in schooling between primary and secondary school.
The aims of the 2010 survey were therefore to:
• determine the adequacy of support provided to children and parents in the transition
from primary to secondary school
• assess the importance parents place on different types of involvement/engagement in
their child’s secondary schooling1
• assess the adequacy of school communication with parents in relation to student
activities, school decision-making and responsiveness to parental and community
concerns
• identify difficulties parents face when actively seeking or otherwise wanting to be
involved in their child’s secondary schooling.
The survey results provide broad insights into what is and is not working for parents in
terms of their involvement in their child’s secondary schooling. In so doing, they provide a
useful evidence base for schools and parent groups to consider new ways to meet parents’
desire to appropriately support their children as they move into and through secondary
school
