Policy recommendations for strengthening family, school, and community partnerships

Family, school, and community engagement varies by country and context yet partnerships between families and schools are critical to building a shared vision of education everywhere. Families and communities are critical to strengthening and transforming education systems, and partnering with learning institutions to support student learning, development, and wellbeing.

The Center for Universal Education co-led the writing and development of a set of country policy briefs with collaborating civil society and government institutions on different education systems contexts. These policy briefs take the research conducted in the large international study—the Six Global Lessons on How Family, School, and Community Engagement can Transform Education (2024) —and tailor the findings and recommendations to specific countries and regions. The policy briefs provide specific strategies and recommendations for building stronger partnerships and relational trust in each context.

Global policy brief series

Building partnerships where families, schools, and communities stand together in Sierra Leone. Engaging and partnering with families is a central pillar of the Government of Sierra Leone’s efforts to improve student and school outcomes in their current education policies, frameworks, and plans. The recommendations support government institutions and civil society organizations in expanding the roles and responsibilities of families from a solely accountability role, to one where families are essential partners in supporting learning at home and building deep and equitable participation across communities.  

Convivência Escolar: Positioning families as partners in strengthening education systems and schools in Brazil. Although education frameworks at the national, state, and municipal levels in Brazil formally recognize the importance of family engagement, they often fall short in providing concrete and actionable guidance to operationalize family and school partnerships. Drawing on participatory research with families and educators across three states, this policy brief offers evidence-based recommendations to support government institutions and civil society actors in reimagining families, not merely as overseers of attendance or decisionmaking bodies, but as integral partners in advancing equitable and high-quality education.