Doing Education With Families, Not To Them — Joe Pardoe
The parent-school relationship has changed - and it isn't going back. For many schools, relationships with parents feel more challenging than pre-Covid. Expectations have risen. Trust can feel fragile. Staff are under pressure. Yet the traditional approaches to parent engagement often leave both schools and families frustrated. This session explores a different way forward. Rather than seeing parents as an issue to manage, problems to solve or audiences to inform, what would it look like to view families as genuine partners in the work of education? Could this be a win-win-win opportunity for those offering a 'Whole Education'?
About the speaker
Joe Pardoe is a former teacher and senior leader with nearly twenty years’ experience helping schools design curriculum, connect with their communities and build stronger relationships with families. He began his teaching career in Japan and China before returning to the UK through Teach First in Hull. He later joined School 21, where he played a leading role in developing one of the country’s most innovative curricula - serving as Head of Humanities, Head of Project-Based Learning, and ultimately Head of Curriculum, Assessment and Innovation. Following this, Joe led professional development across a multi-academy trust as Head of CPD, supporting teachers and leaders to rethink curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Today, his work focuses on two connected challenges - helping schools design curricula that feel real, relevant and rooted in their communities, and bridging the gap between families and schools so that they can act as genuine partners. He believes the education system works best when it is built with people, not done to them - and that success should not be reserved for a few, but experienced and articulated by every child. Joe is a recipient of a Whole Education Award for his contribution to project-based learning. He has given evidence to the Education Select Committee at the House of Commons, and his work has been published in multiple education books.
