Developing home-school links: Implications for learners, learning, and learning support

It is a fact that school-home links can be developed now by utilising a range of possible communications and information technologies. Yet there has been rather limited exploration of the implications of developing such links. It appears often to be a commonly held view that creating mere physical links will create positive outcomes. This paper will draw on the outcomes of a range of current and recent evaluation and research studies that have focused on home-school links, will explore the limitations of establishing technological links, and examine further educational and social factors which should be considered and integrated into successful models of home-school practice. The paper will show that learning expectations shift when home-school links are successful, but that learners in the traditional sense are not then necessarily learners in the same.