Parental Involvement in Children's Education : A Gendered Perspective

• Main Author: Stanikzai, Razia
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för pedagogiska studier 2013
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-31808

The importance of parental involvement as an enabling factor in children’s education is well evidenced. Teachers have a critical role in facilitating or hindering parents’ involvement in their children’s learning. The research project provides an analysis of what teachers view as parents’ role in their children’s education with an emphasis on gender-differentiated involvement. It also discusses the barriers to parents’ involvement as well as explores whether teachers understand the importance of two-way communication between teachers and parents and the possibility of instituting such communication. The findings illustrate that teachers are well aware of the importance of parental involvement in their students’ learning. Teachers locate at-home support for children within the sphere of mothers’ role and consider support for children’s learning at other settings such as school and community as part of fathers’ role. In terms of who should participate in mechanism such as School Management Shuras(SMS) or who the teachers should contact for communication about children’s learning experience at school, findings clearly indicate that teachers attribute this role to fathers. However, there are positive variations in the views of teachers in urban setting as well as those of female teachers who consider parent-teacher communication as the role of both fathers and mothers. Furthermore, the reasons for which teachers contact parents are largely with regards to issues such as child’s absence and problem with behaviors and performance. Inviting parents through SMS or calling them through phone were the ways selected by teachers to contact parents. The research identifies the need for schools to proactively encourage parental involvement through making the existing structures such as SMS more active and equally accessible to both mothers and fathers.