Parental Opinion Survey Summary of Findings

Mark Peters, TNS-BMRB

Presentation at DCSF Conference: The Use of Evidence in Policy Development and Delivery, 9 February 2010

1

Project Backgroundto provide a voice for parents we will set up a new national Parents Panel with links into a full cross-section of public opinion, so these perspectives are better reflected in government policy making Childrens Plan, 2007, page 21.

Parents Panel:explore parents experiences and views on a range of key issues related to government policy making and development, initially focusing on the Childrens Plan.

Parental Opinion Survey: provide Ministers with information about the opinions of parents on a range of issues focusing on their role as parents, their confidence as parents and their views about support services.

2

Parental Opinion Survey - BackgroundAimsCollect data to measure opinions and behaviours across a range of parenting issuesQuestionnaire designed around a number of parental confidence indicatorsSampleRandom Probability SamplingParents randomly chosen from selected households, some questions refer to randomly selected reference childFieldworkAnnual Survey of 2,384 interviews (between 9th February - 18th May 2009)Interview length 31 minutesResponse rate 63%QuestionnaireLinks to existing research (Parental Involvement in Childrens Education Survey, National Survey of Parents and Children)

3

Develop Baseline Measure of Confidence

4 Core Themes:

Confidence in parenting skills

Perceived ability of parents to support their childs learning

Access to parental information and advice services

Confidence in parental support services

4

Confidence in Parenting Skills5

Confidence of parent when caringfor/with child%6

Find parenting rewarding%7

Find parenting frustrating%8

What drives Frustration?Key demographic factors include:

Increased number of children;Lower education background; andWorking status (two full-time working parents).

Attitudinal factors include:

Perceived lack of time;Perceived behaviour issues; andLack of parental confidence.

10

Managing behaviour SpecialEducational Needs

Parents of children with SEN were more likely to:argue with their children at increased frequencyget on less well with their childrenhave problems with their childs obediencestruggle to control their childs behaviourexperience behaviour problems which have affected their mental healthexperience tension with their partners and major family rows

11

Perceived Ability of Parents to Support Childs Learning12

Whether involved in childs progress through school life%12

Who is most involved in childs school life?%% who say they are a little more involved/much more involved than their partner13

%Who wants to be more involved inchilds school life?14

Creating a Baseline of Parental Confidence15

Confidence IndexConfidence Index provides a measure of overall parental confidencecreated using statistical processes to establish a number of themes (i.e. dimensions) related to parental confidence

Respondents were also allocated into one of the following groups based on their score:Lower confidence: The score range for parents in this group was between 35 and 61;Medium confidence: The score range for parents in this group was between 62 and 76; Higher confidence: The score range for parents in this group was between 77 and 94.

16

Confidence Index %17

Implications of High ConfidenceEnjoyment of parentingConfident parents were more likely to enjoy parenting and find it less frustrating. They were more likely to be content with the amount of time they spent with their child.

Parental involvement Confident parents were more involved in their childs education.

Behaviour ManagementConfident parents argued less with their children, faced fewer struggles managing behaviour and experienced less tension as a result of their childrens behaviour. 18

Access to parental information and advice19

Information / services accessed by parents%20

Service users by key characteristics%21

How received information, advice or support%The vast majority of service users said they had received the information/advice/support in the way they had wanted22

Confidence in support services23

How confident would know where to go if needed information about parenting issues %3443145224

%How confident would know where to go if needed information, by key characteristics 25

Usefulness of services used %26

Conclusions

Building confidence and self esteemConsistent messages around lack of confidence for some groupsHow do we engage these groups? How can services be promoted to the groups most in need?

Some parents may need more help supporting their children at home A significant minority of parents claimed that they never felt confident helping their children with homework. Greater links may be needed between home and school for these parents.

Parents of children with SEN face particular challenges (especially around behaviour issues)How can we better meet the needs of parents of children with SEN?

Many non-resident parents lack involvement but desire more involvement with their children; they also lack confidence in supporting their childs learning/development and in knowing where to go for information and adviceHow can we engage non-resident parents that want to be more involved?

27

Conclusions

Fathers are less engaged than mothers in their childrens education and less likely to use support services - these differences are not explained by working status

Is there anything more support services can do to help alleviate parental frustration?

Vast majority of parents who had used parental support services found it easy to obtain the information they needed in the format they requiredHow can support services reach out to less confident parents who dont know where to go when they need information or advice about parenting issues?

Large majority of parents generally believe that existing services are usefulSurvey indicated more could be done to enable parents to shape services according to their particular needs - limited provision for parents to provide input on their customer experiences in the form of feedback facilities28

Parents Panel: Approach and illustration of findings

Anna Sweeting, TNS-BMRB

Presentation at DCSF Conference: The Use of Evidence in Policy Development and Delivery, 9 February 2010

29

Parents Panel - BackgroundAimTo explore parents experiences and views on a range of key issues related to government policy and offer ministers and policy-makers a direct insight into parents perspectives on the issues that affect them.

Topics covered includeParental engagementSupport for parents School informationExtended servicesFamily stabilityBullying/online safety

30

MethodologyPanel sample40 parents Recruited using purposive sampling, reflecting a wide mix of demographic and attitudinal factors From 5 areas: Bristol, Leicester, Leeds, London and Newcastle

MethodPanel members will meet quarterly over a period of three years to discuss a range of issues linked to government policyFirst panel in January 2009 attended by Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and FamiliesJust completed our 6th event which was combined with Parent Know How event 31

Methodology (cont.)Deliberative approachA deliberative approach was adopted to enable panel members to develop their views and fully engage in the research. Deliberative research aims to provide a forum for reflective, considered and informed discussion. Deliberative methods incorporated in the panels include interaction between panel members, presentations from DCSF staff, plenary sessions with Ministers, stimulus materials drawn from expert information, and video ethnography.

Video ethnographyFollowing each event, 4 parents took video cameras and were asked to interview friends, family and relevant stakeholders about topics discussed.Videos analysed and a summary produced which was showed at the beginning of the next event.

32

Example of findings:Perceived Ability of Parents to Support Childs Learning33

Perceived ability of parents to support their childs learningDifferent perceptions of what they considered supporting a childs learning to entail: Formal and informalVariations in the extent to which parents on the panel felt they should support their childs learning: How much responsibility for a childs learning should lie with parents and how much with schools?Two way dialogue neededWho should drive the process? Those that had negative experiences felt it was the responsibility of schools to drive any partnerships between parents and schools and those that had more positive previous experiences tended to think that the driving of a partnership should be conducted jointly.34

Perceived ability of parents to support their childs learningParents generally felt confident in their ability to support their childs learning Ability to engage varied according to the age of their childOlder children and teenagers perceived as the most difficult to engage with but most engagement needed

However their ability to support their childs learning generally rested on the extent to which they could overcome barriers: Personal issues Limited timePerceived lack of skills and confidenceChilds attitude towards parental involvement. External factors Lack of extended family supportSchools approach to learning

35

Perceived ability of parents to support their childs learning

Suggestions for improving parents ability to support their childs learningBetter understanding of how children are taught and topics coveredIncreasing confidence, skills and knowledge of parents Flexible opportunities for parents to engage

36

Parental Opinion Survey and Parents PanelJulia Gault, Head of Family Engagement, DCSFColin Stiles, Family Engagement, DCSF

Presentation at DCSF Conference: The Use of Evidence in Policy Development and Delivery, 9 February 201037

Tracking success

Departmental Strategic Objective 1 Secure the wellbeing and health of children and young people DSO 1.10 Parental confidence empowerment and positive roles

38

Chart3

69

71.5

74

Year

Average scores

Parental confidence index scores

Sheet1

6971.574

200920102011

Sheet1

0

0

0

Year

Average scores

Parental confidence index scores

Sheet2

Sheet3

Building policy 1Parental Opinion Survey helped build picture of families today:

Children, adults and families are by no means homogeneous - their individuality needs to be recognised and respected.Trend for a larger proportion of families to be brought up by one parent living alone In general, women are having fewer children and doing so later in life. Challenges parents face have changed, parenting may be becoming more stressful, particularly for lone parents and families on low incomes.

39

Building policy 2 Survey results are driving reforms:

Data on service users characteristics informs development of services providing information to parents.Guidance will be issued to LAs on how to build on successful family learning impact fundingEnsure accessibility of services to all families including lone parents and parents where English not the first languageData from survey drives legislative activity influenced the legislation flowing from the Schools White Paper

40

Building policy 3Survey results are driving reforms:

Government to promote the message that Sure Start Childrens Centres services are available to the wider familyThink Fathers campaign and Bookstart Dads ToolkitFamilies to receive an assessment for family and parenting support when the situation suggests they need helpLAs to offer intensive family intervention services to provide intensive support for families with the most complex needs

41

Testing ideasIn response to Parents Panel discussions the Government will:

Develop information and advice to help parents understand how they can support their childrens learning at school Improve communications with parents on facilities offered through Sure Start Childrens Centres and Extended ServicesImprove parents and employers awareness of family friendly employment rights and practicesReview whether further changes are needed to help parents access childcareWork with the Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) to develop some accessible national service standards for family friendly practice42

Looking to the future The Government will:

Continue to measure parental confidence through the confidence indicatorMeasure progress locally through the second National Indicator Set Families and Relationships Green Paper will build on the key findings of the surveyPursue Green Paper recommendations with the Parents PanelParents Panel: further develop facilitation techniques and in depth exploration of issues

43

Questions Colleagues are invited to consider:

Does the research resonate with your findings on your own policies and services?

What opportunities exist to take the findings forward across government?

44

Contact details

Contact:Colin Stiles, Family Engagement Division, DCSF

Tel:020 7783 8121Email:colin.stiles@dcsf.gov.uk

Report: www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RR194.pdf

ResearchBrief:www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RB194.pdf

45

Based on all parents (2,384).Based on service users (1,612).

Based on service users (1,612).

No sig difference that stand out, parents with younger children more likely to have received info F2F.

Based on all parents (2,384)

Confident = 77; not confident = 19

Based on service users (1,612).

Less confident: non-resident (64), non-white (66), parent of 18-19 (64), Eng not 1st language (65), terminal education age 15 or under (71)

Based on service users of... (if multiple user, service randomly selected so totals lower than overall user totals for each service):

Schools 524Health 474Sport and play 275Childcare 272Finances 237Pregnancy 188Safety and Protection 135Behaviour 129Law and rights 86Disability 131Teenagers 101Family support 64Relationships 65