Family-School Partnerships Framework

The Australian Family-School Partnerships Framework document  is a resource for school communities. Its purpose is to encourage and guide schools, school systems, parent groups and families to support family-school partnerships.

The Framework contains:

• a vision for improved partnerships between Australian families and school;
• a set of principles to guide families and schools in developing partnerships
• seven key dimensions of effective family-school partnerships
• a set of strategies providing practical guidance to school communities and school systems in implementing and fostering family-school partnerships.

The Framework is based on existing good practice and provides an agreed national approach to guide schools and families working on these issues. The Framework recognises that many positive developments and innovations are already occurring in schools and that a one size fits all approach to partnerships is not feasible. Partnerships need to be underpinned by broad principles and strategies but remain specific to school context, including family/community characteristics, school size, levels of schooling and student needs.

The Strengthening Family and Community Engagement in Student Learning Resource 

The Strengthening Family and Community Engagement Resource builds on the Family-School Partnerships Framework and has been designed to assist schools build and strengthen family, school and community partnerships to support children’s learning. 

The resource incorporates a new School Assessment Toolkit (Reflection Matrix) to support school planning processes. The tool will help schools to reflect on and decide where they are placed on a continuum of engagement and where work can be celebrated and further developed.

Important information: Once downloaded save file to your computer, open the resource with Adobe Reader as this will give you access to all the attachments including the School Assessment Toolkit.

Engagement in learning is 

FOR Learning: schools take specific steps to connect parents and family to in school learning

THROUGH Learning: involves inquiry based learning opportunities for families such as adult education classes, learning circles or seminars

ABOUT Learning: parents and family actively engage with teachers and understand more about the processes of learning, how teachers teach and what can be done at home to support learning