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The research explored various strategies that have been used to maximise parental involvement of intermediate-phase learners in a low socio-economic context. Epstein’s (1987) theoretical framework of six parenting types was useful for this study.
The research questions that guided the study were:
- How are parents currently involved in supporting the academic performance of their intermediate-phase children in a low socio-economic context?
- What strategies can the school use to involve parents in enhancing the academic performances of intermediate-phase learners in a low socio-economic context?
2.2 Theoretical framework
This study was underpinned by Epstein’s (1987) school-family-partnership model of six types of parental involvement that has the key assumption that school and families should work mutually together in offering support to the learner. This model highlights that when there is a lack of parental involvement in the learners’ education, low academic performance is attained (Meier & Lemmer, 2015). The six types of parental involvement are parenting; communication; learning at home; volunteering; decision-making; and collaborating with the community.
2.2.1 Parenting
Epstein (2016) asserts that teachers should encourage parents be more actively involved in their children’s educational development. Therefore, it can be argued that schools should hold workshops for parents to understand how to best assist their children with their academic work. This is in line with the suggestions of Teba-Teba (2016). Parenting includes checking the work and progress of the child, as well as assisting the child to do well at school by boosting their confidence. Therefore, these workshops would also provide parents with the opportunity to share problems and solution around these issues with other parents.
2.2.2 Communication
According to Epstein (2016), home and school communication is of great significance in promoting parental involvement. It is indicated that to communicate effectively with parents, schools should use different mediums of communication such as WhatsApp groups (Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017). The communication between parents and teachers should be mutually respectful communication that is aimed at helping the learner to perform well academically.
2.2.3 Learning at home
Learning at home entails the school providing ideas and information to parents regarding how best they can help their children with homework and academic-related activities (Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017). Thus, learning at home involves interactive homework which to be scheduled and not given randomly. According to Madzinga (2021) learning at home has the advantage that children will complete homework, develop confidence, and improve their academic performance. The learners will appreciate the facilitation of the homework by their parents even after completing school and they will hopefully use this collaborative activity in the future when they have their own children.
2.2.4 Volunteering
According to Epstein (2016), volunteering applies to recruiting and organising assistance and support from parents for school programs and learners’ activities. Volunteering has the dual benefit that not only do learners develop knowledge when communicating with their parents but also parents gain confidence when they are included in school activities, and when the value of this is recognised by the school.
2.2.5 Decision-making
Decision-making refers to including parents in school decisions and establishing parents’ representatives (Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017). Therefore, it would benefit the school if they would utilise the parent’s decisions and suggestions in enhancing the learner’s performance.
2.2.6 Collaboration with the community
Epstein (2016), views collaboration with the community as the provision of resources to support and strengthen parents, learners, and school activities. Furthermore, collaborating with the community entails integrating the community resources and other stakeholders such as businesses (Epstein & Sheldon, 2016). Epstein (2001) considers it important for every school to select which factors are more likely to help the school in involving parents effectively to reach high-quality achievement.
According to Mahlangu et al. (2014), the inclusion of the community has a positive impact on the development of a child within the community. Hence, a collaboration between the school and the community at large builds the learner’s cognitive development.
Epstein’s framework on six types of parental involvement is relevant to this study in that it outlines the involvement of parents in co-operating with schools and addresses what is anticipated from both the school and the families in working together as a partnership to support the learner in achieving academically. Schools and parents should work jointly in supporting the learners to perform optimally.
However, the above-mentioned model has limitations. Epstein’s (1987) model aims to empower parents to have a voice within the school and recognises the work of parents in the home environment, however the limitation of this model is that the school is expected to inform parents of strategies to employ with regard to facilitating learning within the home.
2.3 Discussion on parental involvement
Parental involvement is defined as the activities that are engaged in by parents and children at home, and between the teacher and the parent, with both activities aimed at improving the educational outcome of the child (Madzinga, 2021). The researcher has divided parental involvement into two components namely, school-based parental involvement; and home-based parental involvement.
2.3.1 School-based parental involvement
School-based parental involvement is paramount to enhancing learners’ academic performance, and also aids in achieving the goals of the school (Selolo, 2018). According to Vellymalay (2012), if the school renders support and works together with the parents, the parents could ultimately become involved in their children’s education. School-based involvement includes participation by parents in terms of volunteering to clean the school, or assisting with tutoring and sports activities (Selolo, 2018). When children see that their parents are active at their school, they may strive to perform better at school to make them proud of them.
2.3.2 Home-based parental involvement
Family involvement includes parenting, home learning activities, supervision, and monitoring of children at home (Epstein & Sheldon, 2016). Therefore, by doing that the parents inculcate the culture of reading at home which can assist the learner at school. School involvement includes parents participating in school activities such as parents’ meetings and school activities which involve volunteering, teacher assistance, and family communication. According to Lemmer et al. (2013) parental involvement is an act that brings home and the school together to benefit the child’s academic progress
2.4 Parental involvement in low socio-economic communities in South Africa
According to Mekonnen (2017), most countries all over the world have become more diverse due to different factors such as social, economic, and political developments. This is evident in school communities where learners from different backgrounds, particularly those from low socio-economic communities have increasingly been affected by these factors. The circumstances surrounding schools and communities determine the level of effective parental involvement. Parents from disadvantaged backgrounds experience challenges ranging from low-income jobs, and illiteracy, to inequality in the social space. While these parents desire to be involved in their children’s education, however, due to different circumstances, such as lack of time, the need to be working long hours, or even their lack of education they are generally ineffective.
In South Africa much has been done with regard to ideologies about education by the current democratic government since the ending of apartheid. Most of the policies by the government have been directed towards creating an equal education system and alleviating poverty. However, Adele (2017), argues that despite the introduction of these policies, the implementation has been poor. These policies have been introduced to address the existing inequalities in societies. Yet, despite the imperative of the policy, low-income school communities that lack adequate resources are still challenged by illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty (Maluleke, 2014). South African Blacks, who comprise many of the low-income communities, today face various poverty challenges that are a direct result of the controversial apartheid history. Parents generally not pay attention to their children’s schooling because they might go to work during school days and may even return home only over the weekend (Maluleke, 2014). Furthermore, some parents work on farms, while others may work in town as domestic workers.
2.5 Strategies for enhancing active parental involvement
In a study by Okeke (2014), participants suggest that various strategies would help strengthen effective parental involvement in their children’s schooling. The researcher has discussed various strategies from different literature that can be employed by schools to optimally involve parents in their children’s education optimally. In addition, Baker et al., (2016) assert that positive communication promotes a stronger relationship between teachers and parents, and results in more effective parental involvement.
Martinez (2017) posits, that once parents realise, they can make an impact on their children’s academic learning and performance, they may be motivated to be actively involved. Therefore, schools can encourage parental involvement by inviting them to take part in various school activities such as parents’ evenings, parent-teacher associations, parent-teacher games, and school debates. When parents feel that the school values and encourage parental involvement, they are more likely to become involved with the school (Baker, 2018).
2.5.1 Sharing information
According to Gerzel-Short (2018), parents’ frustration over not understanding their children’s academic work diminishes parental involvement. In addition, when teachers send work home, they need to ensure that parents have the emotional and educational resources necessary to assist their children to complete the given work (Gerzel-short, 2018). In a survey conducted by Bofferding et al. (2016) 40 % of participants showed that they supported the new maths strategies that teachers were using and wanted to be able to reinforce the learning at home, but they needed more information to help the learners. It can therefore be argued that, teachers can provide this information to parents via a medium of communication such as WhatsApp, SMSs or through written communication as letters.
2.6 Benefits of active parental involvement
Parental involvement has been shown to have positive effects on the learners’ academic performance and behaviour (Bower & Griffin, 2011). According to Jeyness (2012), effective parental involvement encourages learners to have a positive attitude toward education, which as a result improves the learner’s academic performance. Furthermore, Lemmer (2013), postulates that teachers who involve parents experience higher job satisfaction and commitment to teaching. Therefore, interaction and communication between teachers and parents will lead to the learners performing better and attaining successful academic results.
Boonk et al. (2018) indicated that greater communication and positive parental involvement both help to reduce truancy and dropout rate in schools. Similarly, Durisic and Bunijevac (2017) also highlighted that parental involvement decreases delinquency. If both teachers and parents work together in harmony, it is more likely that learners will not miss school, or bunk lessons, and are less likely to drop out.
2.7 Policy on parental involvement
The National Strategy on Screening, Identification, Assessment, and Support (SIAS) policy document was established by the South African National Department of Education in 2008 (DBE, 2008a). The SIAS policy assists education professionals (teachers, educational psychologists, and support staff) to determine if a learner requires additional academic, psychosocial, or medical support. The SIAS policy involves parents throughout the process of early identification of learning difficulties and in the process of minimising the barriers (Adele, 2017). SIAS, Section 12 stipulates the functionality of parents in children’s education and support plays a crucial role in learner achievement (DBE,2020). One of the roles of parents is to collaborate with teachers and the community to identify the problems that learners experience at school and support learners holistically (Adele, 2017). Similarly, Haines et al. (2015) maintain that parents are equal partners in the process of supporting learners to improve academically and socially. The SIAS policy encourages parental involvement in identifying learners’ needs and supporting learners to perform well at school. However, the SIAS policy does not inform parents about what kind of support to render to learners (Selolo, 2018). Therefore, because of this limitation, it can be argued that it is important for schools to establish support structures together with parents so that they can provide mutual support for children to thrive at school.