Strengthening basic skills – literacy, mathematics, science, digital competencies and citizenship – is key to preparing pupils for their future. These five basic skills support individuals in developing critical thinking, engaging with their communities, staying healthy, adapting to a rapidly changing job market, and navigating today’s complexities, including digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI).
According to the European Commission’s Action plan for basic skills (2025), schools and teachers have a major role to play; however, they cannot achieve this on their own. Numerous studies have shown that parental engagement plays a significant role in shaping pupils’ academic outcomes across educational systems. This article explores what this means for the development of basic skills.
Understanding parental engagement
Parental engagement refers to the active and direct participation of parents in their child’s education and in the school community. This does not happen automatically; schools must actively nurture such engagement systematically through various strategies. One important strategy is creating opportunities for parents to be actively involved in school life. Parents can play a significant role, including supporting homework tasks, being an important voice in parent-teacher conferences, and volunteering in the classroom.
The findings of the OECD’s PISA 2022 study indicated that pupils who regularly take part in family activities (e.g. eating together), and whose family members dedicate time to talking with them about their school day had markedly higher test scores, particularly in maths. This trend persisted even after taking into account socio-economic factors, demonstrating the critical influence of parental support on academic success. While socio-economic status undoubtedly plays a role, the level of active parental involvement appears to be a decisive factor in nurturing academic proficiency.
Better home support is also reflected in pupils’ positive attitudes toward school and learning. Across all countries, those receiving greater family support showed a greater sense of belonging at school, life satisfaction, confidence in self-directed learning, and reduced anxiety about maths.
Parental engagement can shape pupils’ basic skills in several ways:
Home environment supporting scientific thinking
Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and ‘first-generation students’ (whose parents did not obtain a college or university degree) can face challenges such as a lack of material resources or access to STEM education, and may fear negative stereotyping or appearing less intelligent than their peers.
At the same time, a child’s home environment also has an important influence on their interest in science and in pursuing higher education studies. Working-class families may have high expectations for their children’s academic studies but also concerns about how to adequately support them. Children who have scientific role models among family or friends (which is less often the case for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds) are more likely to take an interest in scientific careers.
All families regardless of their socioeconomic status can nurture children’s curiosity for science through science media (books and magazines, TV programmes, science websites). Schools can also help by raising parents’ awareness of the key role they play in nurturing children’s curiosity for science.
Literacy skills start at home
From an early age, a child’s home environment has a significant impact on their literacy skills, shaped by a combination of family resources, parental behaviours and attitudes towards reading and existing community literacy practices and activities. From reading together to engaging in writing activities, children’s home environments are the first settings where their skills and motivation for reading are nurtured.
Parental engagement is an important influence on pupils’ literacy skills. Schools can support this by developing strategies to involve families, such as:
- raising parents’ awareness about the importance of being a reading role model for their children (teachers can share reading recommendations for parents who are not regular readers themselves)
- emphasising the importance of small daily habits (such as reading together for 15 minutes per day)
- ensuring that pupils and families are familiar with the local public library and have a library card (e.g. by organising a library visit for parents)
- encouraging discussions about books (the child’s favourite and least favourite things about a book, what they think the characters could have done differently, what in the book made them feel or think something new)
- paying particular attention to families with a migrant background, who may need more targeted support (due to possible language barriers, cultural differences or limited integration).
Developing digital skills from early age – but with care
Research has shown that young children engage with digital technologies at increasingly younger ages, and mostly from home. They do this by mirroring adult behaviour and through trial and error, which is not without risk. The time that young people spend online has also increased and become more solitary.
Children’s digital development and their experiences with technology vary greatly based on what they are exposed to in the home. Some may have abundant access to devices but little guidance; others may have regulated, limited or no access. This makes partnerships between families and schools essential. In the area of digital skills, schools can:
- share digital literacy goals with parents (so they understand what is expected from their children at different stages)
- guide parents in safe, age-appropriate technology use (this can be especially important for parents with low levels of digital self-efficacy)
- recommend safe and educational digital activities that families can enjoy together).
Further reading
Read more on parental engagement on the European School Education Platform.
- Home School Community Liaison scheme for educational inequality
- Educated parents make for literate youth
- Fostering parental engagement for pupil success and wellbeing
- Boosting pupil wellbeing through home-school collaboration
- Involving and engaging parents through innovative practices
- Parent-led programmes to foster school success
- Supporting parental involvement among newly arrived migrant and refugee families
- Overcoming common barriers to parental involvement
About the Authors: The European School Education Platform editorial team is made up of writers with wide-ranging experience in school education, communication and online media. The platform is the meeting point for the school education community and also home to eTwinning, the online community for schools in Europe. The platform and eTwinning are European Commission initiatives, funded by Erasmus+, the European programme for education, training, youth and sport.
**DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this article reflect the views of the author, not necessarily of COFACE Families Europe**
