Organization: Parentkind
Country: U.K.
Education level: Early Childhood, Primary, Lower Secondary, Upper Secondary
Organization type: Parent Organization
Family engagement type: Building Parent Knowledge and Advocacy Skills
Overview
Founded in 1956 by a group of parents, Parentkind is the largest network of PTA fundraisers in the U.K., with around 13,000 members (Parentkind, n.d.a). The network works to better understand the mindset of parents and how they interact with schools. It also pushes for consideration of parents as important stakeholders in the education process through advocacy work. The Parentkind survey follows a three-stage process: The survey generates evidence, the evidence is delivered directly into a standing parliamentary forum, and successful policy asks are then operationalized through practical tools.
How does it work?
Parentkind conducts in-depth research through a National Parent Survey of around 1,500 parents as well as focus group polling, to capture parents’ views around education. Topics include barriers that prevent family engagement, what kind of curricula parents value for their children, and how engaged parents feel with their school overall. Parentkind then takes this research to the media, policymakers, and education leaders. The network communicates the opinions of parents through publications and direct lobbying to push for parent voices to be incorporated at the systems level. Since its inauguration in 2015, the survey work has grown substantially. The annual poll, now known as the National Parent Survey, is commissioned by YouGov and, in 2025, surveyed nearly 6,000 parents of school-aged children.
Using these survey results, the organization has also published resources to make family engagement easier for schools and education leaders. Originally a blueprint for “parent-friendly school,” Parentkind has since developed a formal accreditation mechanism for parent participation, giving schools a structured, badged-based pathway to demonstrate and improve their parent engagement practices rather than just guidance to follow voluntarily.
What makes it work?
Parentkind takes an evidence-led approach in surveying. Rather than assuming what parents think, the organization uses surveys and other research tools to show trends in parents’ beliefs. It reaches parent/caregiver respondents in a variety of ways, from promoting the survey on social media to working with field agencies to speak with parents directly. Underpinning this work is sustained relationship-building with education stakeholders.
That groundwork has been translated into a formal parliamentary presence. Parentkind now serves as the official, non-partisan administrative department to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Parents. The group originated from an earlier iteration that focused on parental participation in education and now regularly meets to hear evidence directly from Parentkind’s research and partner organizations. They have run a formal inquiries, such as a 2025 inquiry into parent poverty, that translate survey findings into concrete policy recommendations.
Parentkind also ensures that the research findings don’t stop at policymakers’ desk. Rather than letting the survey results sit as standalone publications, the organization turns them into tangible resources that families, Parent-teacher associations (PTA) and schools can put to use. These can look like practical toolkits for families or even a PTA guide for governance. Partnerships with corporations and media outlets additionally extend the funding and distribution of reach, amplifying the scale at which parent opinion is heard to policymakers and the general public.
What is the impact?
Parentkind’s advocacy work has yielded significant policy changes. The 2019 annual survey, for example, showed that school uniforms were a substantial cause of financial concern for parents (Parentkind, 2021). Parentkind took this finding to legislators in England and Wales, who then passed legislation to reduce the financial burden of school uniforms (Parentkind, 2021). Parentkind has also worked to include parent voices in education policies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. After a survey showed that parents were worried about the fairness of scheduled exams for students during the COVID-19 pandemic and that parents preferred assessments to be based on teacher evaluations, Parentkind advocated for this change. This ultimately resulted in the Department for Education cancelling the scheduled exams in favor of parents’ preferred mode of assessment (Parentkind, personal communication, April 14, 2021).
Resources and testimonials
- “Whenever there’s a policy issue affecting parents, where we believe parents should have a say, we will submit a response.” – Kerry-Jane Packman, executive director of programmes, membership and charitable services (Parentkind, personal communication, April 14, 2021)
- Blueprint for Parent-Friendly Schools
References
Parentkind. (n.d.a). About Parentkind. https://www.parentkind.org.uk/About-Parentkind
Parentkind. (n.d.b). Blueprint for parent-friendly schools: The foundations for building effective home-school partnerships. https://www.parentkind.org.uk/For-Schools/Blueprint-for-Parent-Friendly-Schools
Parentkind. (2020, February 3). All Party Group—Parental Participation in Education.https://www.parentkind.org.uk/News/All-Party-Group
Parentkind. (2021, April 14). Concerns raised by Parentkind result in a new law on school uniform. https://www.parentkind.org.uk/News/Concerns-raised-by-Parentkind-result-in-a-new-law-on-school-uniform