§ Mr. BlizzardTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to raise parents' expectations of their children's educational achievement in deprived areas. [89340]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisInvolving parents in their children's learning is crucial to raising their expectations and we are pursuing a number of initiatives to encourage them to be actively involved. Parents have an important role to play in helping to raise standards in Education Action Zones and in the new "Excellence in Cities" initiative.
We are supporting family literacy and family numeracy courses, targeted on parents and children with low basic skills, often in deprived areas. Many parents are helping with our summer school pilots this year, several of which are targeted at pupils in deprived areas who might not otherwise have access to the opportunities offered. And our "Playing for Success" initiative is establishing study support centres with Premier League and Nationwide Division One football clubs, most of which are situated in deprived areas. The centres target local pupils who have lost motivation, involving their parents through pre-course meetings and questionnaires.
The publication of school performance tables enables parents to look at the results obtained by similar schools and encourages them to demand more of those in which their children are educated.