An increasing number of parents are disengaging from their children's education, the annual National Parent Survey from Parentkind has revealed, with researchers warning that it could risk pupils falling behind. The charity's findings suggest some parents that are suffering from burnout because they have too many commitments and are left feeling like they are letting their children and employers down. By Nicola Woolcock and Georgia Lambert, The Times. The study found almost seven in 10 (69 per cent) of independent school parents say their child’s school listens to parents compared with just over half (51 per cent) of state school parents (page 54). Two in five (40 per cent) of independent school parents have had to make cut backs elsewhere to afford the costs associated with sending their child to school (page 75), and children at independent schools are more than twice as likely to spend between three and five hours on enrichment activities each week, compared to children in state school (12 per cent vs five per cent; page 85).

 In a letter to The Times, Cristina Odone, founder of the Parenting Circle agrees with Parentkind chief executive Frank Young, who wrote in the paper earlier this week on the benefits of parents engaging with schools in boosting children's learning and behaviour. Calling for disadvantaged parents to be given extra support, Ms Odone concludes: "We echo Young's appeal to the education secretary: every school should appoint a member of staff in charge of this vital task."
The letter appears below halfway.

The Times explores whether traditional school punishments such as detentions still work, and the growing challenges schools face in maintaining discipline. Journalist Esther Walker speaks to James Kazi and designated safeguarding lead at Westminster School, who says:  "Punishment isn’t valuable for its own sake; instead, [it is] much more a tool that can be used to help children understand why their behaviour was poor, and to build greater self-regulation." 

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