Parental Involvement in Education.

PARENTAL INVOLVMENT IN EDUCATION

(Dawn Islamabad, Sunday, July 11, 2010, p. 21)
Darvesh Karim, Faculty Member, AKU-IED-PDCN Gilgit.

There is a question which always arises in the minds of parents, teachers and the administration of schools that "Why there is a need for parents to be involved in school life as it is the child who attends the school, not the parents?"

It is well understood and researched that when we involve parents in education, children's learning positively relates to higher achievements. So, the more intensively parents are involved in their children's learning, the more beneficial are the achievements and their effects with a long-lasting impact. There are strong indications that the most effective forms of parent involvement are those which engage parents in working directly with their children on learning activities. Programs which directly involve parents with their children like observing and helping in reading, supporting at home works and tutoring them using materials and instructions provided by the teachers, show particularly impressive results.

Likewise, any activity which provides parents the opportunity to take part in decision making about school programs, is also called involvement. This may include being a school board member, a participant on a parent advisory committee or a local school improvement council, or an active member of the PTA- Parent Teacher Association. Areas/programs in which parents can help to make decisions include goal setting, development and implementation of program activities, assessment, personnel decisions, and fund allocations etc. However, the area of parental involvement in daily educational activities has been one of the most controversial issues. Some parents would like to play a more active role in this type of involvement, whereas most school administrators and teachers exhibit great reluctance to encourage parents to become partners in governance and they assume it an unnecessary interference and hindrance to the smooth functioning of schools. Therefore, it is very much critical to remove the misconceptions parent, school administration and teachers may have about one another’s motives, attitudes, intentions and abilities. So, it is important to create such an atmosphere that these stakeholders may sit together by keeping the students achievements on top priority in their views. It is important for schools to arrange conversation programs for parents all times. They need to be aware that they are not only being approached to communicate the weaknesses of their child and problems of the school, but for the fun and other aspects as well.

If the aforesaid form of parental involvement is accepted and initiated then it firstly may cause to the growth of parents' ability to serve as resources for the academic, social and psychological development of their children with the potential for long-lasting influence, as the direct involvement of parents with their children's learning positively relates to higher achievements and long lasting impact. Furthermore this form of parental involvement in education with their children directly and with schools may increase parents' own skills and confidence and sometimes enhancing their own education and upgrading their jobs, thus providing improved role models for their children. On the other hand this involvement may increase in parents serving as advocates and promoters for the schools, throughout the community and area.

To practically implement this form of parental involvement, initially schools have to repeatedly communicate the message to parents that their involvement and support makes a great deal of difference in their children's school performance, and that they absolutely need not to be highly educated or have large amounts of free time for their involvement. If this encouragement and involvement starts all the way from the time their children first enter school because parents use to be aware of child’s initial development, then it will have a long-lasting impact, because parents will be passing the information about the child to teachers, which will allow them to build on the attitude, skills and knowledge already attained.

Besides the encouragement, schools should manage programs to teach parents those activities such as modeling reading behavior and reading to their children, which will surely increase children's interest in learning. Likewise schools have to develop and initiate parent involvement programs, orientations and trainings for parents that include a focus on parent involvement in instruction - conducting learning activities with children in the home, assisting with homework, and monitoring and encouraging the learning activities of their children.

Secondly, it is a huge responsibility of schools to make special efforts to engage the parents of disadvantaged students, who standout to benefit the most from parent participation in their learning, but whose parents are often initially reluctant to become involved, but schools have to continuously emphasize that parents are partners of the school and that their involvement is needed and valued.

Concluding this paper I must say that the benefits of parental involvement in education are of many folds. Parental involvement is a combination of commitment, trust between the stakeholders and active participation on the part of parents while on the part of school welcoming behavior, assuming parents as school partners and to ready sharing and accepting parents' active participation and initiating parental awareness programs. This partnership will surely lead to a successful school in terms of improved students achievements and outcomes and improved institutional capacity, which use to be the major objective of establishing a school.