The role of parents in school activity has in the recent past attracted a heating debate. The general public assumes that education is a learners’ activity and parents’ primary duty is to pay school fees, but existing literature opposes this notation and indicates that parents’ involvement in their children education has significant benefits on the child's education achievement. While some people doubt the benefits of parent involvement in education, research indicates that parents’ participation in their children education has a positive impact on their studies irrespective of their social backgrounds such as race, religion, and economic class (Jeynes, 2011). Importantly, parent participation in school activities leads to high performances in their children school tests and the children have high chances of enrolling in a high-education program while compared to children of non-participating parents. As already indicated it is evidence that parents’ participation in school activities play a significant role in children education but one major problem is how to engage parents involvement in education effectively. Below is a discussion of some of the strategies that have proved to be effective in engaging parents in school activities.
Firstly parents can be involved in school activities through parenting. It is the duty of the parents to nature their children as they grow and develop from one stage to the other. The school can engage parents in their children education by establishing programs that aim at creating awareness to the parents on the developmental stages of children (Ferlazzo & Hammond, 2009). With such information parents will be able to provide adequate and age appropriate material as well as a friendly environment that allow children to learn at their pace. The knowledge of children developmental stages will also help parents to understand how their children grow as well as their needs in a specific stage. Hence, helping the children meet their developmental needs which in turn leads to holistic growth which is significant in a child's general well-being and education performance.
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Secondly, parents are involved in school activities through home learning. Home learning includes school activities that engage parents and children at home in learning, and such activities means, homework, and reading (Schweingruber, 2007). In this case, parents have the duty to monitor and help their children with their school activities that should are carried out at home. Literature indicates that home learning programs that engage parents reading with or for their children helping them with their homework as well as tutoring them while using school based material have a positive impact on parent performance in education as well as the child performance. It is also important to note that the home learning activities enables parents to make a close follow up of the child's progress in school activities (Jeynes, 2011).
Importantly parents can be involved in the school activities by engaging them in the decision-making process. Parents participation in the school committees, advisory team, and organizing committee is one of the effective strategies for engaging parents in the daily school activities (Hornby, 2008). In this case, the community and parents will be involved in the major decision-making process on various issues in the school, hence, providing them with an opportunity to take part in the school major decisions and activities.
Effective communication between the school and parent is also an important tool in encouraging parents’ involvement in education. In this case, the parents make and receive calls from the school and teacher on the progress of the child as well as at the event of an emergency (Ferlazzo & Hammond, 2009). Importantly parents sign school letters as an indication that they are aware of the content which is also one way of engaging them. The school can also plan for conferences whereby parents and teachers meet to discuss their children school progress freely. In such a forum, parents will be involved in active communication which is important in helping them understand the school activities and keeping them updated on their children academic progress.
Lastly, engaging parent in voluntary programs in the school is also an active strategy to help parents participate in education. In this case, parents are allowed to visit their children's school to evaluate the progress of the child. Additionally, parents can be trained in simple tasks which will enable them to work in the school or the classroom (Hornby, 2011). The voluntary opportunity will allow parents to participate in the education activities. Other voluntary t activities that have been found to be effective in influencing parents' participation in education activities involve school fundraising and school games.
Conclusively, parents play a significant role in promoting good education performance in their children by participating in school activities. It is necessary to note that parents' performance in participation is primarily influenced by the nature of activity with the active involvement encouraging more participation as opposed to passive activities and participation (Schweingruber, 2007). Additionally, it is important for the parent to start participating in a child's education right from their kindergarten as this forms a solid foundation for good performance. Parents’ involvement in education leads to high-class attendance, good performance in school tests, high possibility of the children enrolling in excellent education programs and high promotion rates from one grade to the other. Also, children whose parents are involved in the school activities tend to score high in social skill, good behavior, and good adaptation techniques that enable them to adapt the school environment with ease (Hornby, 2011).
References
Ferlazzo, L., & Hammond, L. A. (2009). Building parent engagement in schools . Columbus, Ohio: Linworth Books/Libraries Unlimited.
Hornby, G. (2008). Improving Parental Involvement . London: Continuum International Pub. Group.
Hornby, G. (2011). Parental involvement in childhood education: Building effective school-family partnerships . New York: Springer.
Jeynes, W. (2011 ). Parental involvement and academic success . New York: Rutledge.
Schweingruber, H. (2007). Increasing parental involvement in elementary education: An analysis of the effects of schools' practices on parents, teachers, and children . University of Michigan
