Parents, Family and Community involvement

Question 1

What are the behaviours of children whose parents are actively involved in their education?

Answer 1

• More cooperative
• More self-controlled
• Prosocially engaged in home and school environments
• Have higher levels of social skills
• Better academic performance

Question 2

According to Stewart (2008), what are the results of children’s parents being more actively involved in schools?

Answer 2

• Fewer behavioural problems
• Increased regards of themselves as learners
• A higher self esteem

Question 3

How does parental involvement in their child’s education benefit parents and the community?

Answer 3

• Allows parents to closely monitor school activities
• Receives ideas and support from schools on how to help children in their school work
• Becomes more confident about ways to help children learn

Question 4

How does parental involvement benefit teachers and schools?

Answer 4

• Teacher’s morale, work satisfaction and motivation improves
• Parents rate teachers higher as they get to interact more
• Student achievement improves
• Parents support schools and easily solve bonding issues

Question 5

How does parental involvement in their child’s education benefit children?

Answer 5

• Enhances a child’s self-esteem
• Improves the child’s academic achievements
• Improves parent-child relationships
• Equips parents with a better understanding of the school philosophy and​ procedures, creating a more positive attitude towards schools

Question 6

How can schools assist single parents?

Answer 6

• Accommodate to family schedules (Eg: early mornings, late afternoon or early evenings)
• Schools need to be aware that single parents have limited time to get involved or spend time with their children at home
• Suggest creative ways for single parents to make time with their children meaningful
• Get to know the family lifestyle and living conditions to be able to give advice based on their situation and circumstances
• Help develop support groups for single parents by considering them when organising activities and programmes
• Offer non-traditional activities so single parents can have opportunities to volunteer time or services (Eg: teaching children about gardening and vegetables)

Question 7

What are ways to involve parents electronically?

Answer 7

• Email. For schools, email may be used to share information to parents (Eg: meeting dates)
• Websites that provide general information to parents and community members to let them virtually experience school and classroom events
• Twitter as a social-networking website to deliver short messages
• Video chat to hold convenient conferences with parents
• Blogs to feature lesson summaries, concept introduction and classroom notes
• Facebook to invite parents and community members to be friends on the website. This instant online communication also allows for the upload of photos and videos

Question 8

What are the types of parental involvement and their purpose?

Answer 8

• The child’s first educator at home
• Partners working in collaboration with schools
• Advocates for all children and youth in the community
• Parents join in decision-making team on what kind of school programmes to have and how it will operate

Question 9

Why is it important to involve the community?

Answer 9

The community can be a rich resource for schools to help them meet the diverse need of parents and children

Question 10

How can teachers use the resources of communities to assist their teaching in schools?

Answer 10

• Hold conferences and discussions with parents and community members on how to overcome barriers in children’s learning
• Get to know the community to help familiarise with the different agencies available
• Compile a list of people from the community who are willing to work or spend their free time in the school
• Get involved in community-based agencies