Parent involvement in schools helps to increase the success ratios of all the school’s programs. Any learning program cannot succeed without active family participation in the child learning process.
A school will attain a high level of success by involving the parents in the academic and co-curriculum learning activities of the school.
Parental involvement in school is an area of importance in a child’s cognitive development. Studies have shown that parental involvement in education have produced positive effects on child academic achievement.
What is Parent Involvement?: Parental involvement is defined as “the participation of significant caregivers (including parents, grandparents, stepparents, foster parents, etc.) in activities promoting the educational process of their children to promote their academic and social well-being (Fishel & Ramirez, 2005)”.Parental involvement helps the children to solve learning and social problems at an early stage.
Read: Positive influence of parents on child development
How to Increase Parental Involvement in Schools
The school must initiate effective programs to involve the families in child learning activities. Create a responsible environment in school to build a strong relationship with parents. It is essential to understand that increasing parent involvement in child education is not an easy task. But it requires dedication and hard work.
1. Parents-Teacher Meeting
Create unique opportunities for managing a parent-teacher meeting. Guide the parents on creating a caring and learning environment at home. Authorities should meet every parent at least once a year and follow up as per requirements and needs. Organize the meeting with parents when children are dropped off or picked off from the school.
2. Respect the Parents
Make strategies to meet the difficulties of different families. Staff must respect other cultures and values. Train the teacher how they communicate with those who do not speak English. Respect the views of parents about children’s progress and programs.
3. Encourage Parental Involvement
Inform the parents about the importance of their involvement in child education. Provide the opportunities in which parents contribute their role in the child’s learning process. Welcome them to school when they visit.
4. Provide Assessment Report Regularly
Inform the parents about the child assessment report once a month at least. Schools should regularly provide proper notices, messages, and learning plans and inform the parents about the course, syllabus, schedules, and planning. Moreover, the school’s responsibility is to provide the school year planner at the beginning of each term.
5. Social Media Apps
Technology makes it easy to contact each other. Many social media apps help inform the parent about a child’s learning activities in school and at home. Parents and teachers both should use modern technology to interact with each other. It is not easy for busy parents to attend parent-teacher meetings regularly.
6. Blogging Websites
Schools should create a blogging website to increase parent-teacher communication. It helps keep parents involved in what a child is doing in the classroom and provides support for homework completion.
7. Training Workshops
Schools must organize workshops for parents to help the children do homework and handle the child’s behavior issues. Unfortunately, many parents don’t know about their role in child education and how they can help them. Because of this, the school should provide a training course for good parenting.
8. Allocate the Funds
The administration of a school should allocate special funds to arrange professional activities that strongly support family involvement.
9. Organize the Special Meetings
Arrange special events/meetings for families and discuss the children’s needs, strengths, and goals. Parents also visit the school when they see behavioral and learning problems in their children.
10. Build Strong Relationship
Invite the parents as a partner. Parents-teachers partnership is necessary to boost the child’s educational stander. It also helps increase the success ratios of all the school’s programs. Any learning program cannot achieve success without active family participation in the child learning process.
Benefits of Parental Involvement in Schools
Parental involvement in education helps to improve academic and social performance. Through parent involvement, families get a better understanding of what is being taught in school. Some important benefits you find below:
1. Increase child learning outcomes.
2.Decrease the disciplinary problems
3.Decreased substance abuse
4. better school attendance
5. High grade in school test
6. Improve Serf Esteem
7. Enhance Social Skills
In conclusion: schools must invite the parents and discuss the educational and learning process. The parents should also play an active role in increasing parent’s involvement in school. The school-parent relationship may lead to an exchange of important information between school and families that will help address the child’s learning and behavioral difficulties.