Engaging low-income families in school-based health interventions: A case study of Food and Fun Clubs in Wales
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: Sch of Social Sciences
Abstract
The project focuses on low-income families' engagement in school-based health interventions (through the Welsh Government's Food and Fun: School Holiday Enrichment Programme. Key objectives are to:
Examine variation in levels of, and socioeconomic patterning in, parental engagement in school-based health intervention in Welsh schools and local authorities;
Understand the methods/processes adopted to engage parents in school-based health interventions in schools with high, medium and low levels of engagement;
Investigate teachers', parents' and children's perspectives on school-based health improvement and their impact on: i) parental engagement in children's schooling ii) children's connectedness to school and iii) children's health, wellbeing and educational performance.
Examine variation in levels of, and socioeconomic patterning in, parental engagement in school-based health intervention in Welsh schools and local authorities;
Understand the methods/processes adopted to engage parents in school-based health interventions in schools with high, medium and low levels of engagement;
Investigate teachers', parents' and children's perspectives on school-based health improvement and their impact on: i) parental engagement in children's schooling ii) children's connectedness to school and iii) children's health, wellbeing and educational performance.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Amy Simpson (Student) |
Publications
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P00069X/1 | 30/09/2017 | 29/09/2027 | |||
| 1946494 | Studentship | ES/P00069X/1 | 30/09/2017 | 30/03/2022 | Amy Simpson |
| Description | The findings from the research have furthered understandings of how poverty impacts families educational experiences without contributing towards deficit approaches towards parents who may face a broad range of challenges involving and engaging with schools and learning. The research indicated how schools are laying on a range of events for families to attend in attempts to engage parents with schools, particularly in deprived areas in Wales. Schools' events which were informal in their nature yielded the highest attendance rates, and the research found parents engaged with their children's learning although there were differences in what types of learning was valued within the home in comparison to within the school. School staff often did not view how parents supported children at home as 'learning' and therefore they often reported there was limited parental engagement with learning within the home. The research also further supports the idea that government standards and expectations for children should not be universal, as children and families are shaped and influenced by their environments, communities, cultures and the resources available to them and therefore we should not expect all children to achieve the same outcomes when the playing field is not equal. The research concluded that schools needed greater knowledge and understanding of how poverty impacts and shapes families and their potential to involve and engage themselves, with support staff arguably being central to how this could be achieved. |
| Exploitation Route | The paper I published on parental involvement in schools and parental engagement in learning could be used in practice to support the re-conceptualisation of learning at the school level to increase the importance of informal learning and development of skills which could in turn see perspectives on parental engagement change. There is scope for further research into how parental engagement in informal learning effects children's outcomes, particularly in more deprived communities where parents may hold different values to the school their children attend. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | Online Blog- How Does DECIPHer build its research capacity? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A blog on how the research centre I worked within developed research capacity. This was the focus of my ESRC research placement, and it was an opportunity to applied what I had learnt, whilst promoting how the research centre (DECIPHer) built research capacity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://decipher.uk.net/blog/how-does-decipher-build-its-research-capacity/ |