Ariel Trust is dedicated to enhancing parental engagement with the workshops and projects that are conducted in schools.
We have made the development of this work our top priority and conducted extensive research to achieve success in this regard. Based on our research, we concluded that the first step towards successful parental engagement is ensuring that the teachers who deliver the workshops feel comfortable throughout the project. This will have a positive effect on their ability to share information with parents, who in turn will be engaged throughout the process and attend the parental engagement workshop at the end of the project.
Initially, when we spoke to teachers from some of the schools we attended, we discovered that many of them were apprehensive and nervous about delivering the workshops, as it was out of their comfort zone.
We identified some of the areas in which we could offer additional support. We created a short film that demonstrated the steps teachers could take to prepare and feel more confident, such as a rehearsal process. The film included various examples, such as writing notes, rehearsing alone and with others, and finally putting the plan into action with their class.
After providing tools and support to the teachers, we spoke to them again and found that they felt much more confident to deliver workshops in the future. They expressed that the whole experience was valuable. We will be introducing these films to schools across Merseyside in the coming months, enabling teachers to deliver better workshops and enhancing parental engagement.
The following is the video we have produced, featuring the voices of teachers who are currently using forum theatre to deliver our programmes:-
