Strategies to Provide Parent Materials

This post on strategies to provide parent materials is the eighth in a series of nine topics requested by puberty educators.

Two Focuses for Increasing Family Engagement

Research has revealed barriers and facilitators of family engagement related to sex education, and suggests that schools focus on two main efforts to increase family engagement:

Provide parent materials that address the barriers to parental engagement and encourage parent-child communication at home.
Increase school and teacher confidence to communicate with parents about sex education.

This post will address the first focus by suggesting eight strategies for providing parent materials. Some of the strategies address ways to engage parents in their children’s puberty education at school. Other strategies are designed to encourage parent-child communication at home.

Why Provide Parent Materials

Schools can build relationships with parents and parental support for the puberty education program by providing information and resources for parents. Remember that most adults did not get a positive sex education when they were young. This can result in parents feeling uncertain about how to talk to their children about puberty. Parents might also feel hesitant about talking to educators. When the school provides parent materials related to puberty education, they demonstrate a strong commitment to empowering parents to talk to their children about puberty at home. This investment of resources is an investment in a home-school partnership.

Eight Strategies

These eight strategies are just a few of the many strategies schools can enact to provide parent materials and increase family engagement in puberty education: