Family Engagement in Puberty Education

This post on Family Engagement in Puberty Education is the seventh in a series of nine topics requested by puberty educators.

Importance of Family Engagement

Every school includes family engagement in their priorities because they know how important it is. Family engagement in education is vital to children’s welfare and their academic success. Maintaining a strong home-school partnership is also the foundation for a high-functioning school that is supported by the community and avoids needless controversy.

When it comes to teaching puberty education, family engagement is even more important. After all, parents are the primary sex educators of their children. Parents begin teaching their children through modeling, behavior, and verbal and nonverbal communication from birth. Yet, most parents did not get a positive sex education when they were young. Therefore, many parents rely on schools to provide the education they lack.

Each part of the home-school partnership has its role to play. Parents and other family members are the only ones who can teach their children family and spiritual/religious values. Educators are well equipped to teach students the factual information and skills needed to be safe and healthy now and into the future. When parents and educators work together, they are more effective than either one alone.

Two Keys to Success

The home-school partnership is built upon identifying common values and valuing the contributions of both parents and educators. Mutual trust must be built. Success is dependent on these two keys:

Communication
Transparency

Focus for Increasing Family Engagement

Given what research reveals about the barriers and facilitators of family engagement related to sex education, schools can focus on two main efforts:

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.

By using strategies that address these two main goals, the home-school partnership that supports and protects students can be strengthened. And schools can support and equip parents to exert their influence. After all, parental influence is one of the greatest influences on sexual behavior of young people.

Watch this video to learn more about Family Engagement in Puberty Education.