#BTColumn – Empowering parental involvement

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

In a recent issue of Barbados TODAY the Chief Education Officer from the Ministry of Education stated, “Studies suggest that parents’ involvement is one of the largest predictors of student achievement…. It can also positively affect a child’s behavior and social adjustment.” This statement is well supported by research evidence, and in addition, research shows that there are other benefits of parental involvement. For teachers, effective parental involvement is reported to improve parent-teacher relationships, teacher morale and school climate. For children, involvement of their parents is reported to lead to improvements in their attitudes, behaviour and attendance at school, as well as in their mental health. For parents, involvement in their children’s education has been linked to increased parental confidence, satisfaction in parenting and interest in their own education (Hornby, 2011).

It is therefore important that education systems, schools and teachers do all they can to help parents to be involved in their children’s education, both at school and at home. In order to ensure optimal involvement of parents in the education of their children schools need to focus on parents’ need for supportive guidance and also on their potential contributions to their children’s education, in support of teachers. The following suggestions are intended to help teachers and schools address these two aspects of parental involvement, that is, teachers supporting parents and parents supporting teachers.

Teachers supporting parents

Communication. It is important for all parents to have effective channels of communication with their children’s teachers. Parents need to know that they can contact the school at any time when they have a concern about their child. Some parents prefer to communicate by telephone, others would rather talk to the teacher face to face, while still others find that contact through written notes, text messages, or email suits them best. This requires teachers to use various written and oral communication skills in order to ensure that a wide range of communication options are open to parents (Hornby, 2011).

Liaison. Parents want to know how their children are getting on at school, to find out what their children have achieved and whether they are having any difficulties. They regard teachers as the main source of information on their children’s performance at school and therefore need to have a constructive partnership with them. Teachers can facilitate this by keeping in regular contact with parents through such means as phone calls, home visits, notes sent home with the child and by meeting with parents at school. A highly effective way to develop constructive liaison with parents is through ‘student-led parent-teacher meetings.’ (Hornby & Greaves, 2022). These involve teachers, students and their parents holding three-way meetings to review progress and plan their future learning goals.

Education. Many parents are interested in participating in parent education workshops aimed at promoting their children’s progress or managing their behaviour. An effective format for teacher-led parent education workshops is one that combines guidance about promoting children’s academic and social development with opportunities for parents to discuss their concerns. This format enables parents to learn new skills and gain confidence through talking with other parents as well as teachers.

Support. Some parents will, at various times, need supportive guidance or counselling, even though they may not directly request it. Many parents will approach their children’s teachers in search of guidance for the problems related to their children that are of concern to them. Therefore, teachers need to be good listeners in order to help parents with everyday problems, and to refer parents for professional counselling when concerns are raised that are beyond their levels of competence (Hornby & Greaves, 2022).

Parent support for teachers

Information. All parents can contribute valuable information about their children concerning their strengths and weaknesses, along with any relevant medical or other personal details, which can be helpful to teachers in building relationships with students. In addition, making full use of parents’ knowledge of their children shared at parent-teacher meetings makes parents feel that they have been listened to and that an active interest has been taken in their children.

Collaboration. Most parents are willing and able to collaborate with teachers by reinforcing classroom teaching at home, such as in home-school reading or behaviour management programs. However, some parents, at some times, are not able to do this because their resources are already fully committed in other aspects of family life. So, while requests for parents to carry out work with their children at home should always be offered to all parents it should be expected that some parents will not be able to participate. Therefore teachers need to develop flexible partnerships within which parents’ choices are respected.

Resource. Some parents are willing and able to act as voluntary teacher aides, either assisting in the classroom, or in the preparation of materials, or in fund-raising. Others may have special skills that they can contribute such as helping prepare newsletters, craft activities, or in curriculum areas where they have a special talent. In addition, some parents may be able to provide support to other parents either informally or through participation in self-help or support groups.

Policy. Some parents are able to contribute their expertise through membership of parent or professional organizations. This includes being a member of parent-teacher associations, or being involved in a parent support or advocacy group. Others are able to provide in-service training by speaking at workshops, or by writing about their experiences. Teachers benefit from parents who contribute in these ways through the knowledge and understanding they gain.

Education system support for parental involvement

Engaging parents in effective parental involvement is much more feasible when children attend schools in their own neighborhood. Whereas, it is much more difficult to do this when children travel to schools outside their local communities, which is the case for many students in Barbados. Attending neighborhood schools encourages members of local communities, including parents, to get involved with schools in educating children from their communities. Therefore, it would be extremely beneficial to the implementation of effective parental involvement in Barbados if selective secondary education, by means of the Common Entrance Examination (CEE), were to be abandoned so that all children can attend their neighborhood primary school and then transfer to their neighborhood secondary school to continue their education.

By maintaining the current system of transfer to secondary schools the Ministry of Education is allowing the continuation of the difficulties that schools and teachers experience in attempting to implement effective parental involvement in the ways described above. This is creating barriers to achieving the potential academic, social and behavioral gains from parental involvement that are espoused by the Ministry of Education, as noted at the start of this article. Therefore, abandoning the system of selective secondary education based on the results of the CEE is critical to the development of effective parental involvement in Barbadian schools.

Many other benefits of abandoning the CEE and adopting zoning for transfer to secondary schools were discussed in an article in Barbados TODAY on 15th May 2019. These include the opportunity to implement a comprehensive policy for the education of children with special needs and revamping curricula at both primary and secondary schools, which were addressed in articles in Barbados TODAY on the 4th and 20th June 2019. Along with the benefits of bringing about increased levels of parental involvement, in what will then become comprehensive neighbourhood schools, these changes will bring about a more equitable and effective education system that will result in improved education outcomes for all children and young people in Barbados.

References

Hornby, G. (2011). Parental involvement in childhood education: Building effective school-family partnerships. New York: Springer.

Hornby, G. & Greaves, D. (2022). Essential evidence-based teaching strategies: Ensuring optimal academic achievement for students. New York: Springer.

Garry Hornby is an Emeritus Professor of Education and can be contacted on: hornbygarry@gmail.com