Parental engagement is widely recognised as a key factor in student success. However, in international schools, it often presents unique challenges. Parents are deeply invested in their child’s academic journey, yet they may struggle to align their expectations with the school’s approaches to learning.
During parent-teacher meetings at our school, several questions and concerns repeatedly surface:
- “How can I help my child study effectively at home?”
- “Why isn’t my child improving despite spending hours revising?”
- “Please continue to help and support my child.”
These questions revealed common misconceptions about study habits, workload, and the balance between independence and support. Instead of addressing these queries in isolation, we took a strategic approach, using parent FAQs and wellbeing data to develop a structured and proactive model for parent engagement.
Understanding Parent Concerns: What the Data Revealed
To develop meaningful parent engagement, we need to analyse the concerns from parents and students alike and identify areas of misalignment. In addition to the recurring questions listed above, this includes examining student wellbeing and academic data to track patterns of stress and disengagement, and utilising student voice surveys to understand how students perceive parental support at home.
From this analysis, three key misconceptions emerged:
- Study time equates to effective learning: Many parents associated long hours of revision with strong academic outcomes, without realising that passive study habits were ineffective.
- More teacher support leads to better results: Some parents viewed increased intervention as a direct path to improvement, overlooking the importance of student independence.
- Last-minute cramming as a successful study method: Both parents and students frequently underestimated the benefits of spaced and repeated retrieval practice.
Recognising these recurring concerns and misconceptions allowed us to reframe conversations between parents and the school, aligning parental support with research-backed learning strategies.
Source: British International School Hanoi
Building a Proactive Parent Engagement Model
Rather than offering generalised advice, we designed parent engagement initiatives that were structured, data-informed, and in some cases, student-led.
Student-Led Parent Workshops
A student-led learning committee collaborated with the deputy headteacher, Stephanie Miller, to develop a parent workshop focused on fostering meaningful academic discussions at home. Instead of school leaders delivering the information, the students themselves conducted sessions covering:
- How to recognise and praise effective effort rather than focusing solely on outcomes.
- How to use the academic report as a tool for reflection and growth instead of merely a performance measure.
- How to ask supportive, open-ended questions that encourage student reflection instead of direct correction.
This student-led format helped parents understand different ways to recognise and motivate their child while reinforcing the school’s emphasis on effort-based learning.
“Parental engagement is often treated as secondary to school operations, but when approached strategically, it can become a powerful multiplier—not only for academic performance but also for student confidence, resilience, and independence.”
Using Wellbeing and Academic Data
Instead of hosting standalone parent events, we aligned workshops with key academic transitions to provide timely support. For instance, in preparation for Year 11’s transition into the IB Diploma Programme, parents were introduced to the increased workload and academic expectations, helping them shift from tutoring-heavy support to fostering their child’s independent study habits.
Additionally, we ran pre-exam parent-student session to help families understand important study and lifestyle habits during this period, such as:
- Structuring study sessions to maximise retention rather than relying on last-minute revision.
- Recognising the impact of sleep on memory and cognitive performance.
- Learning to distinguish between productive stress and performance anxiety.
Introducing parents to evidence-based study strategies at critical moments helped them move from reactive concern to proactive support.
Creating a Shared Language Between School and Home
One of the main challenges we identified was the misalignment of language; parents and schools often used different terms to describe the same concepts, which led to misunderstandings. To bridge this gap, we have developed different methods of support:
- Parent-friendly phrasing frameworks to ensure school and home discussions reinforced the same learning principles.
- Guidance for using metacognitive, open-ended questions to encourage students to think critically about their learning.
- Student-led guidance for parents, ensuring that conversations about learning were centred around student needs rather than solely on school messaging.
By embedding a shared language, we created a more cohesive approach to learning where students received more consistent messaging from both school and home about study habits, stress management, and academic expectations.
Source: British International School Hanoi
Parent-Student Study Planning Sessions
As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen school-home alignment, we are trialling a new approach to exam preparation: parent-student study planning sessions. These are structured sessions where parents and students work together to create personalised study plans. The goal is to shift discussions at home from “Why aren’t you studying more?” to “What’s your plan for reviewing this topic?”
By providing a clear framework for these discussions, we anticipate that this initiative will help with the following:
- Reducing tension at home, helping parents and students to engage in productive conversations about study habits instead of pressure-driven ones.
- Empowering students to take ownership of their revision strategies while receiving constructive support and effort-based praise from their parents.
- Aligning home and school messaging, ensuring that the study strategies scaffolded at school are reinforced at home.
We will continue to assess its impact and consider ways to refine and integrate this approach into our broader parent engagement strategy.
Rethinking Parent-School Partnerships as a Strategic Lever
Parental engagement is often treated as secondary to school operations, but when approached strategically, it can become a powerful multiplier—not only for academic performance but also for student confidence, resilience, and independence.
By shifting from reactive communication to structured, data-informed collaboration, schools can transform the parent-school relationship from a transactional process to a dynamic, ongoing partnership. Parent-school alignment is not about changing parental expectations; instead, it focuses on equipping parents with the right tools, language, and strategies to engage meaningfully and effectively with their child’s learning.
Ensuring that parents and students share a common understanding of learning requires intentional school leadership, structured communication, and ongoing collaboration. By taking a proactive approach, schools can move beyond simple information-sharing to create a culture of aligned support, where parents are empowered to reinforce the learning strategies that drive student success.
Key Takeaways for International School Leaders
For schools looking to refine their parent engagement strategy, these five approaches can help improve school-home alignment:
- Regularly track parents’ frequently asked questions to identify recurring misconceptions and areas for targeted intervention.
- Schedule parent engagement at key crunch points for your students to provide timely and relevant support.
- Involve students in shaping parent learning, ensuring their voice is central to the conversation.
- Promote a shared language between school and home to ensure consistency in messaging about learning and study habits.
- Shift parent engagement towards practical, evidence-based strategies that promote student independence rather than reliance on teachers or tutors.
By Gemma Archer
Gemma Archer is the Assistant Head of Secondary (IB) at British International School Hanoi. She holds an MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice and applies cognitive science and evidence-based study strategies to foster students’ independent learning habits. You can connect with Gemma on LinkedIn.
