Are Parents' Evenings Pointless
Here’s the kind of decision making I see in schools:
We have a reasonably traditional approach with hybrid on online and face to face. Surveys show 50/50 split in preference from parents, but staff overwhelmingly prefer virtual. Face to Face at key transition points - 7, 10, 12. Year 11 and 11 both have 2 parents' evening, the first face to face, the second virtual. Always tricky getting the balance right.
Parents and students meet with individual subject teachers for progress update and focus on next steps.
Faced a big challenge as the school has grown in creating time for enough appointments for everyone, especially where a teacher teaches multiple classes in the same year. We used to finish early for a 1pm - 7pm evening but impact on attendance on those days led us to revert back to 4pm-7pm with the result of fewer appointment slots. Any inventive solutions to this welcome!
My Inventive Solution
Ok, this is the way I think about anything we do in schools: does it have an impact?
I have seen no impact of parents' evenings in terms of academic progress. In my 30 year teaching career I have had one student dramatically change their attitude to lessons, so that they did begin to make excellent progress.
The real impact of parents' evenings is probably in the building of community and cohesion, building the reputation of the school. This may have a positive impact in terms of admissions, or making parents more engaged (potentially) in their child's education.
Because these are theoretical benefits which every school assumes, and no school actually measures, it probably makes sense to ask the two main groups involved - teachers and parents - what they would most like from parents' engagement, and in particular, what would they most like it to achieve?
Imagine we were starting a school on a remote island, so that we are not bogged down with 'we will do what we've always done' - what communication would we put in place? Who would attend? When? What evidence would be discussed? Would we agree tasks that students and parents would carry out? What learning habits would parents want their children to develop at home? Would we make them responsible for monitoring this?
If we start from where we are - tinkering with parents evenings which follow assessment points and lead to no extra progress from students, then do whatever you like - it won't make any difference.
If we start from where we want to be - anything is possible.