Week 5 - Home school connections

As we reach week 5 I look back at what an informative and interesting 5 weeks it has been. Coming into this course I had no idea that my idea of literacy would be completely reconceptualised in such a short period of time. With a greater understanding of both literacies and children’s learner identities we now move our focus to home school connections, a term which refers to the influence of the home environment on a child’s learning and ability to succeed at school, and the importance of a healthy relationship between these two environments (Allen, 2010).

The establishment of a healthy and strong home school connection is essential for all students, especially those from culturally diverse or lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This establishment brings a greater involvement of parents in the school environment allowing the students family to be more involved and knowledgeable of the child’s learning and social experiences in an academic context. This also allows the teacher to gain a better perception of the child’s life world, allowing for better understanding of the child’s learning needs as well as the funds of knowledge with which they bring with them into their learning environment (Allen, 2010).

 

Funds of knowledge refer to the set of skills, experiences, implicit and explicit values and knowledge which a child brings with them from their home environment in their ‘virtual backpack’, each day when they enter the classroom.  It is essential that these funds be identified as it provides teachers with a greater understanding of how the child learns, and also allows them to learn about their past experiences and culture which may be able to be incorporated into classroom activities, increasing the child’s participation in the classroom, as well as their interest in subjects and this also promotes a greater sense of respect and trust between the teacher and both the student and their parents/families as the relationship between the school and home environment begins to flourish (Allen, 2010).

 

Often times it is difficult for these connections to be established as there are often various barriers which prevent teacher-parent interactions. These barriers are commonly based upon the parent’s lack of understanding of what is trying to be achieved by the whole process so it is the duty of the teacher to persevere in overcoming all obstacles, and establishing that first form of communication, which will hopefully develop and mature into a healthy and positive home school connection (Allen, 2010).