What did you do in school today?

Kissing the kids goodbye at the classroom door each morning is a far less harrowing experience than it once was, but many's the parent who still heads home fretting about how her or his child will spend the day. Last September a training programme entitled Parents in Partnership was set up at Drimnagh Infant School in Dublin. "We wanted to find some way to demystify the education system for parents," says the school principal, Mary McGarry.

"Through funding from the local KWCD Partnership we set up two programmes in the school for parents; they were designed to outline the contents of the curriculum, how children learn, and the role parents can play in their children's education." The programme consisted of a six-week course for parents with children in junior infants, another six-week course for parents with children in the special-education class and development of a learning support library. "We have done an interim evaluation report which shows that parents now have a greater awareness of what goes on in the classroom each day," McGarry says.

"They feel they are listening more intently to their children when they come home and chat about school - they understand who `Annie Apple' is, for example - and they no longer find homework an intimidating or frustrating chore."

As parents came to grips with the curriculum content, they found their children's skills improved quite considerably.

Diane Martyn has a five-year-old daughter in the special-education class. "Before I did the course I had no idea how it all worked. If you'd told me they'd be playing games I'd have laughed - I'd have thought it was ridiculous!" she says.

"But now I have hands on experience of how my daughter actually learns through certain games. Each week we go up to the school and play with the children in the classroom, and I can see how it helps them focus their concentration and develop their visual and auditory memory. "My own child's concentration has really come on. Before she would have been all over the place - now she can sit still and put the various parts of the game together." According to McGarry, all the parents involved in the programme were anxious to explore ways to help their children reach their full potential. "I thought my world was over when I discovered my child was behind," Martyn says. "I desperately wanted to help her, so I took up every course I could find. "She spent her first year at school in the junior-infants class and she would get really annoyed trying to do the work. She moved to the special class last September, but that was a whole new teaching technique which I didn't understand. "I wanted to do this course so I could learn about this particular learning system, and be able to help Nicole learn. I'm amazed by the difference it's made already. Nicole is much happier at school, and she's started to really love learning."

Personal development is also an important element of the programme. "As part of our programme we did a self-esteem course," explains Martyn. "It's not just about teaching your child skills - you want them to believe in themselves. "So we looked at how to build up our own self-esteem. The fact that you believe in yourself rubs off on your children - they see you speak up for yourself and they start to do the same thing."

Maria Fitzgibbon is the school's special-education teacher. "We don't have enough teaching staff in special-education classes, so we are very dependent on parents to do work with the children," she says. "We needed a course for the parents to explain the role of the games; we had to explain that this is the homework, and that focusing on something like reading would in fact impede their children's development. "From the evaluation we've done so far, it seems the parents enjoy working like this with their children. It isn't easy to assess the effectiveness of a programme like this, but I would say that if the parents are more comfortable with what the children are doing, and they are keen to work with the children, then it can only be beneficial."

Parents of children in junior infants also participated in the partnership training. "I wanted to get involved in the course because as a first-time mother I had no idea what goes on in school these days," says Susan O'Halloran. Her son Luke started school last autumn. "I wanted to know what my child was going to be learning, and I wanted to know how I could help him. "But the course was wider than that. One of the best things we learned was how to listen to our children without interrupting and putting words in their mouths. We also learned about how the curriculum works - and he's fascinated that I know what he does at school.

"A lot of parents are quite nervous about their children going to school. Through the course we found out that the kids actually have great fun while they learn; in fact, I was amazed by the education they can get from some of the games and through the songs and rhymes they learn. "But I think one of the most important things about being able to do a course like this is that you develop an interest in what your child is doing at school. You know what they are doing and why. "You end up getting great pleasure out of helping them with homework, and the enthusiasm I have gets him even more excited about what he's doing!"