Presenting School Learning Findings

This chapter presents research findings on school learning arising from the Principal Leadership for Parent Engagement project. School learning encompasses Schwab’s (1973) dimensions/milieus of classrooms and curriculum (subject matter) as well as the additional commonplace of digital technologies (virtual classrooms). These three aspects are associated with school places and spaces (physical and virtual) where teachers typically work and students typically learn. Accordingly, analysis of qualitative and quantitative data collected from the participating schools and principals is presented under three headings: classrooms, curriculum (subject matter), and digital technologies (virtual classrooms). The concept of agency as achievement (Biesta & Tedder, 2007) is further employed to conceptualise what helped or hindered the principals’ effectiveness in parent engagement and the qualities and strategies associated with their success. This chapter casts new light on how the principals’ available resources—cultural, material, structural (Priestley et al., 2015)—affected their orientations to agency (Emirbayer & Mische, 1998) within their different settings and contexts. Based on the findings we draw conclusions about principal leadership for parent engagement that relate to the effect of traditional barriers to parent engagement on principal manoeuvrability for change and action; unexpected barriers to parent engagement as a result of the intensification of teachers’ work and rise of performativity; and the role of principals in championing emerging parent engagement opportunities.