EAL video summaries for parents

By Pete on June 10, 2025 • ( 0 )

Earlier this year, we trialed video reports for our EAL parents and learners. Here’s a summary of what/why/how, pros, cons, etc.

What were the video reports?

We provided parents with a 5-minute video summary of their child’s progress across all subject areas. We displayed feedback from teachers in an accessible way on the screen and talked this through, describing progress, targets, and next steps.

Why video reports?

We were looking for new ways to connect with the parents of our EAL learners. These parents were turning up less to parent-teacher conferences, so we wanted to ensure that they were receiving personalized feedback (but not written reports). We opted for video summaries because:

they put a teacher face and voice to the feedback
visuals would hopefully make them accessible
they were permanent – watch again rather than absorb everything in real-time
they were easy to translate with closed captions
they were a watch-together opportunity for parent and learner
they were something they could send to relatives (often their other parent) overseas which might make them feel more connected.

How did we create these?

First, we checked there would be interest in a video summary! Thirty out of 100 or so parents of EAL learners were keen to receive a video summary.

We devised some criteria for teachers to evaluate. Like this stuff:

We sent a round robin via Google Forms to gather feedback. This included both ratings for the criteria and open responses.

We collated the feedback into a table which was clear enough visually (I mean, we hoped!).

We scripted chunks of the video summaries that were more general. The flow was typically:

– General intro

– Overall snapshot of progress

– Specific subject areas (strengths, areas for development, etc)

– Specific quotes and advice from teachers

– Next steps

– Summary of upcoming learning in English and how to prepare

Big chunks of that could be scripted with the same lead-in, transitions, etc.

We made the videos, then sent them out along with an email explaining the criteria for evaluation.

A short time later, we requested feedback from parents (Google Form again)

How did they go down?

Overall, around 90% said they found the summaries useful, and said they would request one again.

Which is a shame, because they were labour-intensive to create and I was banking on negative feedback so we could avoid the process again!

Nah, I mean, I’m pleased that parents saw some value in what we produced. It was practical enough to offer given the number of EAL learners we had at the time. However, as our numbers keep growing, I’m not sure video reports will remain a viable option.

Image by Nyoman Suartawan from Pixabay