RESEARCH ARTICLE
Attachment Aware Schools: Working with Families to Enhance Parental Engagement and Home-School Relationships
Janet Rose1, *, Louise Gilbert3, Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus3, Licette Gus2, Karen McInnes3, Rebecca Digby3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 9
Issue: Suppl-1, M8
First Page: 160
Last Page: 171
Publisher Id: TOFAMSJ-9-160
DOI: 10.2174/1874922401709010160
Article History:
Received Date: 30/06/2017Revision Received Date: 14/08/2017
Acceptance Date: 12/09/2017
Electronic publication date: 10/10/2017
Collection year: 2017
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Application of attachment theory in school contexts lacks empirical evidence. The Attachment Aware Schools pilot project was commissioned by two Local Authorities in England to improve the educational outcomes of Looked After Children, and to build an evidence base. Informed by attachment research, the Attachment Aware Schools program provides a coherent and integrated theoretical framework, discourse, and practice for all practitioners working with children and young people.
Objective:
The primary focus was to provide whole school and targeted attachment-based strategies to support children’s well-being, behavior, and academic attainment. This paper; however, documents a secondary objective, which was to facilitate collaborative partnerships with families.
Method:
As part of the mixed methods approach to the Attachment Aware Schools project, a series of case studies were collected and thematically coded. The case studies were generated by practitioners using an outcomes-based framework.
Results:
Although the case study sample size is small (N=10), the case studies presented here illustrate how the Attachment Aware Schools program can promote increased home-school engagement and shared practice between home and school. Outcomes include improved home-school relationships, reductions in behavioral incidents, and improved family dynamics.
Conclusion:
Attachment Aware Schools can be a vehicle for facilitating supportive home-school collaborative partnerships with positive outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.
