John Bastiani – författare

School and educational achievement is dependent on many complex factors and is usually seen as the key outcome measure by which school effectiveness can be judged. Originally published in 2000, this book aimed to establish whether or not educational achievement can in part be ascribed to the quality and range of home–school links. It provided a timely contribution to the continuing debate at the time on the pivotal relationship between schools and the families which form their constituencies.Government initiatives such as the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and Sure Start acknowledged the importance of parental involvement. This book enabled all those interested in education to evaluate the educational benefits of a home–school relationship between pupils, parents, teachers and schools.

In the late 1980s positive interaction between home and school in education was receiving attention from politicians, parents and teachers. It was thought that by listening to parents, teachers might gain insight into the ways in which they could work more effectively with children and their families.Originally published in 1988, this book was of great practical value. It draws upon the authors’ work over the previous decade to explore the links between listening to the parental perspective on a child’s schooling and the development of more effective home/school practice. It describes the scene at the time, the philosophy and method for effective listening, the development of familiarity and understanding with parents, strategies for encouraging a home/school programme and the development of effective practice. Included are accounts by parents with widely differing backgrounds and experiences on their role as educators and their dealings with their children’s schools. The book concludes with a discussion of the important issues in home/school interaction and identification of the areas where further development is needed. Still relevant today, this book can be read in its historical context.

Originally published in 1997, the purpose of this collection was to raise the profile of the valuable work that was being done with minority ethnic parents and families in many different settings and circumstances. Contributors discuss issues and concerns and illustrate the range, scope and variety of provision and practice at the time. The collection will be of interest to those with a special responsibility for working with black and bilingual parents in schools and other agencies, and also to teachers and others who work with minority ethnic pupils in mainstream classrooms.

First Published in 1996. This book forms part of a series that brings together wide-ranging contributions which: are written from both professional and parental viewpoints; offer an assessment of what has been achieved; explore a number of problematic issues and experiences and illustrate developments that are beginning to take shape. It will appeal to those with a special interest in and commitment to home-school work in all its actual and potential facets. This book, like the series it introduces, is an attempt to capture the flavour of home-school work in Britain in the 1990s. It conveys a mixture of familiar concerns and recent developments, of shared interests and differences of approach that relate to differences of setting and circumstance.