Find out about how local authorities and schools are able to help Eastern European parents based in the UK.
Over the last decade a growing number of Eastern European families have moved to the UK. These families may speak Lithuanian, Polish, Bulgarian and other Eastern European and Slavic languages.
Children are adaptable and tend to integrate well and gain the basic education they need to progress in life. Parents of Eastern European descent, however, may well find that they struggle with communication barriers between home and school. There may also be a feeling that the school does not understand their unique perspective and cultural experience, leading to a lack of engagement on their part.
This lack of communication and engagement can lead to parents feeling separate and lacking in control over their child’s education. Parents may feel out of touch with what their child is learning, and unable to support them in their homework and educational decisions (such as choosing subject options). If there is an issue in school, a parent may feel unable to speak out to get the right support for their child, which can be highly problematic.
Luckily, many schools have the infrastructure in place to provide the right support to Eastern European families including:
- Teaching staff how to engage Eastern European families effectively in relation to education and school life
- Providing various educational resources with subtitles or a voiceover in languages like Polish, Lithuanian and Bulgarian
- Providing support for families who are struggling through difficult circumstances
- Providing education and support to staff who need to engage with Eastern European families who might have poor English language skills
- Using support from local authorities to help support Eastern European families and children within the UK school system
Of course, a large factor in whether schools can offer support to Eastern European families comes down to the local authority and the kind of support they offer. A school is supported by the local authority who can provide various resources and guidance, often working together to ensure the family is adequately supported.
One huge emphasis on helping Eastern European parents is on language. Without support, Eastern European families can end up with children effectively becoming interpreters for their parents, which could be problematic.
Children are often placed into free nursery, school and language services as a priority to help them integrate into schools. Parents can be left behind when this happens. However, local authorities are increasingly using multiple tools like educational videos to help overcome the language barrier, and actively encourage further learning on the part of the parents. Polish voiceovers are commonly used in educational resources provided by many local authorities in the UK. Lithuanian, Bulgarian and other Eastern European languages are also usually catered for with voiceovers.
These educational videos are an important first step in helping Eastern European parents understand how everything works for their child’s education, but, crucially, what they need to do in order to move forward in their own language learning to better support their children. More often than not the local authority and/ or school will also have an Eastern European contact who the parents can speak to as a direct contact. This person is central to ensuring there is somebody who understands them and their needs, and is able to answer their queries.
In addition, local authorities also ensure complete lists of local services helpful to Eastern European parents are made available, so that there are multiple contacts and ports of call for various queries and needs.
For more detailed information read the excellent research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research “How Schools Are Integrating New Migrant Pupils And Their Families”.
Lawrence Blackwell’s Bio
Larry has had a varied career in PR and Marketing with responsibility for the marketing department of several SMEs and experience in international organisations. He has developed new marketing strategies with a particular focus on understanding and exploiting multi-lingual campaigns. He speaks French, Spanish and his native English and is a regular contributor to the Matinée Multilingual Blog.