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Ofsted launch Parent View today, a new online questionnaire service, where parents and carers can anonymously give their opinions on their children's schools.
The authors of a recent report on what parents want from their children's' school say the facility goes some way to address the concerns raised by their research, but say it is just 'one step' and that schools must continue to work to give parents a 'voice'.
The report, entitled 'A new conversation with parents: How can schools inform and listen in a digital age?', found parents want more power to act on any concerns they might have.
Research for the study - commissioned by the Pearson Centre for Policy and Learning - was carried out by parenting advice and support charity Family Lives and education commentator Fiona Millar.
It found that only 42 of parents.
Meanwhile, 42), and the way bullying and poor behaviour is managed (46 of parents said that impression of the quality of teaching was very or somewhat important to them, whilst 94% cited the school's general reputation in the local community.
The authors say the launch of Parent View - which will allow parents access to other mums' and dads' opinions of local schools - appears to address the demand for information. They also supported the anonymity of the service, as many of the respondents to their survey cited that anonymity would influence whether or not they would complete an Ofsted survey about their kids' school.
Fiona Millar, journalist and author of the report, said: "Our research underlines that parents want to play an active part in education and work with their children's schools. In order to be able to do this they want more, and different, information to what is currently available. Our report suggested that they would like to get more regular updates about their own child's progress and also to hear views of other parents.
"We welcome the launch of Parent View as a definite step in the right direction. However, it must be highlighted that this is only one step and both Ofsted and local schools up and down the country could do a lot more to include the parent voice, particularly through the use of technology and school websites."
Rod Bristow, President, Pearson UK said: "This research underlines that parents really want to play an active part in education - we must think beyond one-way transmission of information and more about a dialogue: a conversation between schools and parents."
What do you think? Do you welcome the launch of Parent View? Will you use it?
Do you feel your comments about your child's' education are taken seriously by your school?