Primary school management vis-a-vis parental involvement

Abstract

Why is it important that schools involve parents in the education of their children? Research carried out in different countries point out to the fact that one of the correlates which are indicative of effective schools, is the level of parental involvement in the education of their children. The National Minimum Curriculum "Creating the Future Together" has recognized the importance of parental involvement. It stipulates that: "An effective educational system recognizes the link between the home environment and differences between children. When possible, the education of children should be linked to educational and participatory programmes for their parents or guardians." (NMC: p31) It has also come to the conclusion that successful outcomes of the National Minimum Curriculum depend, amongst other things, on the: "willingness of the Heads of school to join parents and local community members in working together and in a creative manner"; and that "at the community level, the parents are amongst the most important partners in the educational process. " (NMC: p91) Furthermore, the issue of parental involvement is still one which educators and parents alike do not seem so familiar with. Hence the insistence of the NMC that the educational system devises measures that will ensure the transformation of our schools into a hub of parental participation. In fact, the NMC puts parental participation as one of the main principles. (Principle 14). The NMC also considers parental participation to be: "indispensable for the implementation of this socio-educational project" (NMC:29) Moreover, as full members of the European Union, we cannot ignore the new responsibility. As educators, we have to work closely with the parents to provide quality education to all children and help them become active European citizens. Parental involvement in education is by no means some new concept. Parent-teacher Associations (PTAs) began in the late 1960s and early 1970s in a small number of primary schools. The political turmoil of the early 80's saw the abolishment of the PTAs until the Education Act in 1988, brought parents and teachers together again. The establishment of School Councils as we know them now, with parents being formally recognized as partners in Education has been established within the framework of Legal Notice 135/1993. Although ideally, parental involvement implies that there should be a partnership between the school, (administration, teachers and other staff) and the home, this partnership is by no means evident in all areas. Parents do not always interact with educational staff on equal basis. This may be due to the teachers feeling threatened or under scrutiny by this participation. Sometimes, the parents' possible contributions to the school are not thoroughly explored by the school staff. Recently, as a direct result of the National Minimum Curriculum document the education of children in collaboration with their parents, is also being targeted by pilot projects organized by FES (Foundation for Educational Services), which was established in April 2001. Its mission is to be at the forefront of innovation in educational services and educational change by complementing, incorporating, facilitating and strengthening specialized quality initiatives and approaches with parental involvement at the core of its key programmes. The Hilti Programme and Hilti Clubs, the Nwar Programme and the Young Writers Club are among the initiatives aimed at improving the level of literacy among children making use of the full collaboration of their parents. FES also coordinate the project PEFaL, which is a parent Empowerment Literacy project, co-funded by the European Commission through the Grundtvig action of the Socrates Programme. These projects conducted after normal school hours are gradually gaining popularity and helping to involve parents in their children's education. So the school has to do its utmost to encourage as many parents as possible to take part in these projects. By doing so, the parents will gain more confidence in their ability to secure their children's achievement by involving themselves in their education. This study will be focusing on the parents' involvement in the education of children in the pre-school and the early primary years. (Years 1-3) I believe that this is where good practices in parental involvement have to start in order to have the desired long lasting effect on the education of the children. What this study attempts to do is to get a clear picture of the present situation in order that planning for the future will be built on sound foundations. So, the major research questions are: What is the level of parental involvement in the preschool and first three years of the primary school? and How can this parental involvement be improved?