Supporting your school

But most members tend to be women . Less than half ( 47 %) of PTAs have a male member on their committee , and research from the Paternal Involvement and its Effects on Children ’ s Education ( PIECE ) study 1 , led by the University of Leeds in collaboration with the Fatherhood Institute and the University of Manchester , shows that fathers are four times less likely to engage in PTAs compared to mothers .

Challenging social norms

Fathers often face barriers when it comes to school involvement . Although attitudes towards gender roles have relaxed in recent years , there are still members of the population who believe women should take primary responsibility for childcare ( e . g . Allen and Stevenson 2023 2 ).

The way our society operates reinforces this belief . For example , fathers tend to work longer hours and earn more than mothers ( Andrew et al . 2021 3 ), so it makes more financial sense for the mother to adapt or reduce her hours to take on the main childcare responsibility .

Many schools and early years settings also assume the mother is the primary caregiver and first point of contact , even if the father is the main or an equal caregiver . In our survey of 248 UK fathers for the PIECE study , it was found that :

• Almost 40 % of dads said childcare providers and schools mostly or only contacted the mother about homework activities

1

piecestudy . org

2 natcen . ac . uk / sites / default / files / 2023-09 / BSA % 2040 % 20 Gender % 20roles . pdf

3

ifs . org . uk / inequality / the-careers-and-time-use-ofmothers-and-fathers /

• Nearly half of dads said only the mother was contacted about their child ’ s sickness

• 45 % said only the mother was contacted for the payment of bills ( Norman , Smith and Davies 2023 4 )

This sends a message that dads are secondary carers , which may discourage them from getting involved at school . As most PTA members are mainly women , it ’ s not surprising that some dads will feel reluctant or uncomfortable about engaging in an all-female space .

4

piecestudy . org / blog / supporting-fathers-to-get-moreinvolved-at-school /

Andrew Keesing , Vice-Chair at Marshgate PSA

“ Traditionally PTAs are run largely by mums , but ours is mostly dads . I got involved because I wanted my kids to see me make an impact in their school , which creates a positive example for them . Hopefully , by supporting the education system , it ’ s having a positive impact on their own approach to school too .”

30 PARENTKIND . ORG SPRING 2024