Adolescents and children are developing behavioral patterns that influence both their current and future health. Young people are at risk of involving themselves in tobacco smoking, alcohol or other drug abuse activities, engaging in gang practices or violence, and becoming sexually active at a young age (Kim, 2017). Nonetheless, an increasing amount of research shows that promoting protective elements in the lives of adolescents and children can assist them in averting behaviors that expose them to risks for adverse educational and health outcomes (Kann et al., 2018). Protective elements comprise of individual characteristics such as career or educational goals, conditions of life such as the regular presence of parents at home at critical periods (such as after school), and behaviors such as engagement in pro-social practices (for example community sports) (Edwards & Redfern, 2017).
Involvement of parents in their adolescentes ’ and the lives of these children is an assuring protective element. The engagement of parents in schools is tightly associated with improved behavior of students, greater academic realization, and improved social skills (Kim, 2017). Besides, the engagement of parents increases the likelihood of adolescents and children averting unhealthy behavior such as drug abuse (Kim, 2017). Hence, this article defines and describes the importance of including parents in their children’s education and health and covers the contribution of parental engagement in school community. The paper further appreciates the role the students may have in the community and the strategies to involve both parents and children with their intended roles in the community.
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Role of Parents in the School Community
Parents play a vital part in maintaining the education and health of their children, motivating their children efficiently through school activities, and advocate for their kids and the efficiency of schools (Epstain, 2018). Parent engagement in schools can be defined as parents and schools functioning hand in hand to enhance the education, growth, and health of adolescents and children. Involvement of parents in schools is a joint task whereby schools are devoted to reaching out to involve parents in substantive ways, and parents are dedicated to actively backing their adolescents’ and children’s development and education (Epstain, 2018). The association between parents and schools fortifies children’s learning and health in the various settings, in school, at home, in out-of-school programs, and the community. Parental engagement is a crucial necessity for building a cooperative milieu for students to flourish and be successful in.
Engagement of parents in schools has been single out as a promising protective element for adolescent sexual and reproductive health risk conducts and consequences, such as early sexual activities, sex frequency, and birth/pregnancy (Edwards & Redfern, 2017). Moreover, when a student identifies that they receive support and care from both the school environment and outside the school from parents, children have reduced the probability to be engaged in drug abuse, violence, and several behavioral conducts linked with STD and HIV risk (Kann et al., 2018). Therefore, calls for proper strategies to involve parents in the activities of their children and adolescents to monitor their growth and development.
Strategies for Engaging Parents in the School Community
Efforts by schools to enhance health and learning among students have been proven to be more fruitful when parents get included. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015) endorses that schools employ the following framework to promote engagement of parents in school health and learning.
The first framework is to connect with parents by establishing a cordial relationship and communicating the vision of the school to mutually cooperate with parents to govern the health and learning of children (APA, 2017). The vision of the school for parent engagement can form the first step to a positive connection with parents, in addition to the parent’s expectations for being included in the school’s academic and health activities (CDC, 2015). Administrators of schools may employ the use of a survey to evaluate the interests and requirements of parents associated with health and learning. The outcomes from the evaluation can provide school administrators with better ways to communicate with parents and assist administrators in arranging the kind of activities to execute throughout the school calendar to enhance parental commitment.
The second framework is to engage parents by availing a wide range of regular occasions and activities to engage parent wholly (APA, 2017). These activities include offering parental support, intensifying communication with parents, establishing volunteer chances, advocating for learning at home, and urging parents to be included in school’s decision making, and working together with the community (CDC, 2015). The National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) has included these six activities of parent inclusion into a framework that federal states, districts, schools, and other institutions (Edwards & Redfern, 2017). The framework assists, sustains and organize research-founded plans of parent involvement required to engage parents in promoting health and education outcomes of students. Executing practices that cover all six types will raise the probabilities of including more parents in education and health of their kids across all grades.
The third framework is to sustain engagement of parents by covering the prevalent problems to acquiring and maintaining parents involved such as transportation, ensuring parents feel welcomed to the school and backing teachers in establishing connections with families (Epstain, 2018). If parents are wholly involved in health and education initiatives from the start, there are great chances of them to stay involved (CDC, 2015). Nonetheless, having parents engaged all the time can be a challenge, specifically as kids mature into adolescence and proceed to middle and high school. The most important strategies for staff and administrators is to recognize problems that prevent parents from keeping in touch and getting involved in health and academic activities of their children and after which cooperate with parents to tailor school activities to tackle the identified challenges. Also, it is essential for schools to acquire a devoted committee or team that supervises parent engagement.
The Role of Students in the School Community
The essential factor when engaging students in any duty in school is to recognize their first role: Learning. The education of students is paramount to being evocatively been involved throughout schools (Edwards & Redfern, 2017). Education via meaningful student inclusion ought to incorporate: drafted learning objectives, expressive action, and maintained deep reflection. Student responsibility happens when students adopt active duties in their academics by acknowledging that they are responsible for their education success (Epstain, 2018). Student responsibility is manifested when students arrive at choices and execute actions which propagate them towards their learning objectives (Epstain, 2018). Liable students accept responsibility of their deeds by practicing the following behaviors: practice academic honesty and integrity, communicate efficiently with peers and teachers, and stay clear from alcohol, drug abuse, tobacco, and early sexual encounters.
Students must be capable of realizing the significance of the association between a person and society. Human beings belong to a community, and students form an integral section of the community. Students cannot exist in total isolation from community life (Epstain, 2018). School-going students are bound to have connections with other individuals who collectively comprise of a society in which they establish relationships apart from their parent. Students can positively contribute to strengthening and improving society with the combined effort of the community. All though learning is the primary goal for students, however, Edwards & Redfern, (2017) assert that being energetic and youthful, students can get involved in numerous types of social work during their free time and in periods of crisis. By engaging in social work within the school, the environment helps prevent these students from negative social behaviors (Epstain, 2018). Students must solemnly swear to eliminate drinks and drugs from their localities and also assume active duties in literacy campaigns, as well as accepting the mandate to fight anti-social practices.
Strategies for Engaging Students in the School Community
In education, student engagement denotes to the extent of curiosity, attention, optimism, interest, and passion that a student portrays when they are being taught or learning. Engaging students in the process of learning improves their focus and attention, encourages them to implement higher-capacity critical thinking skills, and enhances the meaningful experience of learning.
The first strategy is intellectual engagement: this is to enhance student engagement in the subject taught, teachers may develop assignments or projects that are attractive to the interest of the student or trigger the curiosity of students. For instance, teachers can offer student more choices over the topics the students are tasked to write about (Edwards & Redfern, 2017). The second strategy is Emotional engagement: teachers may adopt a range of methods to enhance positive responses in students that will promote the process of learning, lessen negative conducts, or ensure students do not drop out of school (Epstain, 2018). For example, the environment for learning can be redesigned to render them more appropriate for learning. In addition, by adopting school programs such as counseling or peer mentoring to provide students with the support they require.
The third strategy is the emotional engagement of students: Educators may develop classroom schedules, employ constant cues, or allocate roles to students that cultivate behaviors that promote moral growth and learning (Edwards & Redfern, 2017). The fourth strategy is Social engagement: Educators may employ a broad range of schemes to trigger engagement via social interactions. Schemes such as community-based learning or learning through volunteerism may present social and civic issues into the process of learning (Epstain, 2018). Therefore, these four strategies can help in engaging students more within the confines of the school community. Students whose parents are engaged in their learning process have a higher likelihood of experiencing positive learning and health outcomes in comparison to those students whose parents are not involved. Communities, schools, and parents all need to work hand in hand to establish an environment that promotes the healthy growth of adolescents and children.
References
American Psychological Association (APA). (2017). Parent engagement in schools. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/programs/safe-supportive/parental-engagement/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Parent engagement: strategies for involving parents in school health. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Edwards, V., & Redfern, A. (2017). At home in school (1988): Parent participation in primary education . Routledge.
Epstein, J. (2018). School, family, and community partnerships, student economy edition: Preparing educators and improving schools . Routledge.
Kann, L., McManus, T., Harris, W. A., Shanklin, S. L., Flint, K. H., Queen, B., . . . Ethier, K. A. (2018, June 15). Youth risk behavior surveillance - United States, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29902162
Kim, M. (2017). Strategies for involving parents in school communication and application in a K-1 Special Education System. Creative Education, 08 (06), 765-787. doi:10.4236/ce.2017.86057
