Green Gown Awards 2018 - Kings College London - Highly Commended

Parent Power, a project by King’s College London’s Widening Participation Department, recognises the importance parents’ engagement plays in their children’s success in the education system. The project uses community organising techniques to recruit and train local parents, enabling them to become university access experts who can aid local students in their journey to higher education and improve their chances of attending highly selective universities. 

Since July 2017, Parent Power has engaged over 200 underrepresented parents, recruiting 35 as local parent power leaders. The parents meet once a month to campaign on issues of educational inequality such as unaffordability of summer schools or the inaccessibility of open days. They have received training on tutoring, student finance and university access, won bespoke open days to top universities, bursaries to summer schools, and have met with the Met Police and local council to campaign for better local educational provision.

Top 3 learnings:

• People before programme: listen to what parents want rather than what you think they want.
• Relational 121s: having 121 meetings with parents is crucial.
• Developing parental leadership is essential.

Videos

• Green Gown Awards 2018 – Befitting Society – King’s College London – Finalist (click to hide)