Parental involvement in early childhood education

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyse the point of view of teachers and parents upon the validity of Parental Involvement in the early years of schooling and in particular in the first year of the child's Primary school. The study which is shown in this dissertation tries to identify the attitudes of both teachers who teach, and parents who send their children to the three different kinds of local Primary schools, namely State, Private and Church. This disseratation focuses around the need of the parents' presence in schools. The parents' ideas about this subject are also presented in addition to the teachers' opinions. The introduction of this research discusses the parents' participation in the education of their children, both at home and in schools. Different ideas on the importance of this participation are shown, keeping the welfare of the child as a foremost objective. Following, there is a study which was carried out throughout different schools in Malta, which mainly demanded the help of Year 1 teachers and parents of the children attending this particular year of school. The process of this study is explained and consequently the results are analysed and discussed. The conclusions and recommendations which result from this study are submitted at the end. It would certainly be of great help if these recommendations are taken into consideration and are applied tothe local educational sphere as they are mainly the suggestions of both parents and teachers, the two most important parties who make up the child's whole educational life.