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Parent involvement in a child's education can take many forms and provides benefits to students, parents, and teachers. It is defined as educators and parents working together for the benefit of students and can include assisting in the classroom, volunteering for extracurricular activities, and participating in decision making. Successful parent involvement programs require open communication between home and school, training and support for parent volunteers, and addressing potential obstacles like cultural or socioeconomic barriers.

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84 views4 pages

Chapter+9+Summary 9

Parent involvement in a child's education can take many forms and provides benefits to students, parents, and teachers. It is defined as educators and parents working together for the benefit of students and can include assisting in the classroom, volunteering for extracurricular activities, and participating in decision making. Successful parent involvement programs require open communication between home and school, training and support for parent volunteers, and addressing potential obstacles like cultural or socioeconomic barriers.

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CrizanneTruter
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MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

CHAPTER 9
PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

Educators and parents have frequently been described as natural allies who
share the common goal of wanting to assist learners to develop their full
potential. To create or strengthen the harmonious relationship between the
school and the home, educators need to understand their learners’ community
and home life.

WHAT IS PARENT INVOLVEMENT?

Parent involvement can be defined as a dynamic process whereby educators


and parents work together for the ultimate benefit of the learner.

BENEFITS OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT:

 Benefits for learners:


- It has a positive effect on learners’ academic achievement.
- Decreased truancy.
- Improved attitudes of learners to their studies.
- Improved behaviour.
- Decrease in the drop-out rate.

 Benefits for parents:


- Parents increase their interaction with children at home.
- They feel more positive about their abilities to help their children.
- Parents have a better understanding of what is happening in
school.
- It gives parents a feeling of empowerment.

 Benefits for educators:


- Parents can help educators improve and develop their knowledge
and understanding of learners who come from diverse
backgrounds.
- Educators experience support, appreciation and a rekindling of their
enthusiasm for problem-solving.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Relations between the family and schools in South Africa have been
fundamentally affected over the last few years by numerous changes in
legislation and government initiatives.
Parents are also defined as:
 Any person who is the learner’s guardian.
 Or who is legally entitled to custody of the learner.
 Or who has undertaken to fulfill the obligations of a parent or guardian
towards the learner’s education.

This broader definition encourages schools to acknowledge a variety of family


types and household structures and assists them in developing a versatile range
of practices of family-school linkages.

The South African Schools Act (RSA 1996) also acknowledges the rights of
parents to be involved in school governance and sets out a wide range of tasks
for school governors.

INSTITUTING SUCCESSFUL PARENT INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMMES IN


MULTICULTURAL SCHOOLS

Strategies for involving parents:

 Get to know the school’s parents and community.


 Create an inviting atmosphere.
 Establish two-way communication.
- Written communication
- Open days
- Informal contact
- Parent-educator meetings
- Home visits
 Assist parents in their parenting tasks.
 Institute a parent volunteer programme.
 Assist parents in supporting learning at home.
 Include parents in decision-making.
 Adopt a policy on parent involvement.
 Manage parent involvement.

How to start a volunteer programme:

 Create an atmosphere conducive to using volunteers.


 Determine the needs of the school.
 Determine parent and community resources.
 Recruit parent volunteers for the right reasons.
 Build parents’ self-esteem.
 Train parents for the task they are expected to do.
 Thank all volunteers.
Ways of using volunteers:

 Classroom assistance.
- Reading to groups of children or listening to reading.
- Giving talks to learners.
- Supervising classes when educators are absent.
- Assisting with art work and teaching displays.
- Library assistance.
- Preparing material and equipment.
- Listening to spelling.
- Serving as an interpreter for non-English speaking learners.
 Extra-curricular activities.
- Running societies.
- Coaching sport.
- Organizing sport and cultural events.
- Transporting learners.
- Catering.
- Fundraising.
 Help with the day-to-day running of the school.
- Administering financial affairs.
- Maintenance and repair of school facilities.
- Protection of school facilities.
- Gardening.
- Assisting with school newsletters and the school magazine.
- Helping with playground duty.
- Telephoning or helping to notify other parents of important events.
- Accompanying learners on field trips.
- Attending school assemblies, sport and cultural events.
- Typing and editing newsletters.
- Serving as an interpreter for non-English speaking parents.

OBSTACLES TO PARENT INVOLVEMENT:

 Educator obstacles:
- Negative expectations about working with parents.
- Lack of training in working with parents.
- Feeling threatened by parents.
- Interpreting parent involvement as parent interference.
 Parent obstacles:
- Feelings of intimidation.
- Parents want to assist but don’t know how.
- Parents’ negative feelings about school.
- Parents’ negative view of educator competence.
- Difficult work schedules.
- Cultural barriers.
- Socioeconomic barriers.
- Single-parent families.

Information found in:

Lemmer, EM. Meier, C & Van Wyk, NJ. 2012. Multicultural education: a manual
for the South African teacher. 2nd edition. Pretoria: Van Schaik.

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