Charity finds removing passwords majorly increases digital parent engagement in homework

A charity has found removing compulsory parent passwords on an online educational platform has increased parental engagement in homework in disadvantaged families by 3,800%.

A grant of £58,292 awarded by The Access Foundation to educational charity, Learning with Parents, has helped optimise logins on the platform.

Learning with Parents supports all families to help them have positive learning interactions together, working to ensure that every child is supported at home to fulfil their potential. It drives inclusive parental engagement by partnering with schools and fostering better relationships between parents and schools.

With support from the Access Foundation, Learning with Parents has successfully implemented and streamlined its platform to optimise and increase usage by removing passwords.

The platform has improved login rates by removing compulsory parent passwords using embedded links, leading to a 94% reduction in password queries. It has also streamlined user account creation, including social logins when required, and has shared learnings across the sector, influencing over 20 organisations to enhance their digital engagement. 

These improvements have enabled more frequent parent-child interactions, reduced administrative workload for the charity and fed into improved practice across the education sector.

The number of recorded logins from disadvantaged families (those receiving free school meals) increased from 297 in September 2022 to 11,809 in September 2023.

Speaking about how the project was developed, Peyman Owladi, chief technology officer at Learning with Parents, said: “First, we mapped out how parents use the platform to understand where friction occurred in their journey. 

“Through extensive user testing and feedback, we simplified flows to be intuitive. Now parents simply click a personalised link and instantly start engaging with their child. 

“By dramatically reducing the barriers to engagement, these magic links empower more families to enjoy impactful learning together.”

Piers McLeish, co-founder of The Access Foundation, said: “We’re absolutely delighted that our grant has had such an unexpectedly positive impact on using the Learning with Parents platform. 

“An increased take-up rate of 3,800% is exceptional and a perfect example of where a simple idea can surpass expectations when well executed and supported by a great team. 

“We look forward to seeing how far this new platform can go in transforming the lives of children and their families through the love of learning.”

As well as improvements to the platform, Learning with Parents has developed and implemented a new digital reading log that allows parents to easily track reading progress through audio notes shared between home and school.

Research shows that regular reading at home leads to a widened vocabulary, more resilient mental wellbeing, a stronger sense of imagination and improved sleeping patterns. Historically, reading logs have been paper-based, leading to obstacles for parents when reading at home.

One teacher, who has been using the platform in his school, said: “We are seeing families engage in reading at home who were not previously doing so.”

The reading log has made a strong debut, launching in 80 schools and reaching around 10,000 families so far. Schools have shared how accessible the digital reading log has been, with many reporting that they have families engaging in reading who were not previously doing so and are now engaging in maths and English activities.

Through the partnership with The Access Foundation, Learning with Parents has created a scalable solution to digital exclusion that has far exceeded expectations. 

Removing these login barriers has proven to be a highly-effective approach and enabled the charity to create a new reading product, meaning it can support more disadvantaged families to have frequent and positive interactions together at home.