Teachers' Perceptions On Parental Involvement In Children’s Schooling In Two Selected Primary Schools
by Dr Che Noraini [View Writer's Profile] and Naima (IIUM)

Abstract
Many parents today are unsure of how to help their children learn. Being the first and most influential teachers, they should show their interest in their child's education. In addition, schools are working hard to provide higher quality of education for every child. However, they could not do this alone. Teachers must help parents understand why they are very important to their children's school success. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate teachers' perceptions regarding parental involvement in school. Seventy four teachers from two selected primary schools were asked to complete a survey questionnaire and six administrators were interviewed. The findings of this study suggest teachers are in favor for parents to be involved in the education process and everyone seems to agree about the importance of parental involvement in children's schooling. Among the major barriers to parental involvement are the lack of time and parents’ attitude towards the school. For a variety of reasons, many teachers find themselves unable to call parents or send notes to inform their children's performance. Some suggestions are made to overcome these problems, such as the need to be improved relationship between parents and teachers. In addition, schools should organize workshops for parents on how to understand their roles and to play their part effectively.

Introduction

Basically home is where most learning begins and parents are the first and the ongoing educators of their children. These days parents are so concerned about their children’s academic performance therefore, strong parental involvement in children's education is essential to the success of the children and the school. At the primary level, parental involvement is highly needed because at this age, children need more guidance, supervision, and motivation from their parents. Parents must supervise and help their children, they should contribute to the growth of their children's education and participate in school activities in order to enhance their children's achievement. According to Kelly (1997) parental involvement in children's schooling can mean; reading to child, schedule daily homework time and checking homework every night, discussing children's progress with teachers, limiting TV viewing on school nights or, it can be as simple as asking the children, "How was school today?" but asking it every day. That will send the children the clear message that their school work is important to parents and parents expect them to learn.

Generally, teachers are seen to be having more responsibility on children than their parents. The job of a teacher is much more complicated today than it was in the past. Not only must teachers teach the students, but they also have to take care of their student's life. Therefore, they need support from parents. Teachers often complain about inadequate level of parental support (Crozier, 1999). Teachers expect parents to help the school. Teachers really wanted parents to be involved in children's schooling. However, it is not always easy to get parents to contact the school asking about their child's education and performance.

Bemphechat and Omori (1990) found that many of the Southeast Asian parents do not care about their children's education. From the researchers' own observation and experiences generally, it can be inferred that there is a lack of parental involvement in Malaysian schools. Some parents say that they do not know what to do and do not have the time. While some parents suggest that schools should provide specific guidelines on how they can help their children. Successful schools placed great emphasis on parent-teacher communication, sought and valued parents' opinions, and supported parental priorities relative to children's' intellectual and moral development. However, it is commonly recognized that schools have difficulty in attracting parents to be members of Parents Teachers Association (PTA). Therefore this study attempts to investigate teachers' perception regarding parental involvement in school. It is hoped that this study will provide helpful insight to both teachers and parents in improving students' achievements.

Purpose of the Study

The objectives of this study are as follows:
1. To find out teachers' perception regarding parental involvement in two selected primary schools.
2. To investigate the role of parents in schools
3. To determine barriers that are faced by parents that prevent them from getting involved in their children's education.
4. To make suggestions on how to involve parents in school activities.

Research Questions

The following research questions had been established in this study: 1. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding parental involvement in school?
2. What are the roles of parents in their children's schooling as perceived by teachers?
3. What are the problems faced by parents as they get involved in their children's schooling?
4. How to get parents be involved in school activities?

Roles and importance of parental involvement in schools

Being parents, one of their most fundamental roles is educating children. The role of parents in their children’s education has long been recognized as a significant factor in educational success and school improvement (Epstein, 1996, Safran, 1996). Parents are the first and the ongoing educators of their children. Effective schooling builds on home learning. Research clearly indicates that student performance is strongly influenced by parental attitudes and expectations; and achievement levels tend to rise when parents are perceived as being interested and involved in their children's schooling. Parental participation can increase goodwill and communication and help develop a sense of community within the school (Dwyer, 1994).

However, Ewe (1993) claimed that parental involvement is already an established phenomenon in developed countries like U.K, USA, and France (Beattie, 1998) as compared to developing countries like Malaysia. In Malaysia, many parents do not realize their roles in PTA/PIBG (Persatuan Ibu Bapa dan Guru). Similarly, Zaidi (1998) concluded in his study at Sekolah Menengah Tengku Temenggong Ahmad (STTA), Muar, only 57.3% of parents understand (average) their roles and from that percentage the mother's understanding is higher than that of the father's. He stated that means score obtained from the dimension of understanding about PIBG was 3.41. This indicated that parents’ understanding is moderate and they did not realize the roles and function of PIBG (1998). He also found out that parents’ participation in activities organized by school was very disappointing. Majority of the parents did not come to the activity organized by the school or PTA.

According to Soon (2000) parental involvement in education will give positive effect towards child's development, directly or indirectly. Parents play important roles in teaching-learning process by volunteering to help teachers and involving in decision making. According to him, as children grow up, they are parents' responsibility. When they go to school, they are teachers' responsibility. Therefore, responsibility tends to be fogged up as well. The question is can parents be involved and how can they be involved in their children's education? How can they go beyond the PIBG (Parent-Teacher Association), if they are ever involved in the PTA? The role of parents has to be empowered to handle this interaction.

Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Minister of Education, Malaysia had mentioned that every parent, community, government and non-government organization (NGO) should play her parts accordingly in order to overcome disciplinary problems among students at school. Parents must supervise their children at home and outside the school (2004). The researchers strongly support that when parents pay more attention to their children's schooling, they will become more motivated and students' achievement levels tend to increase. Parents' participation in education may take many forms, such as assisting children in homework, joining parent-teacher associations, or becoming representatives in PTA.

Another research conducted by Mazlan (2004), has established a link between parental involvement and student achievement in school. According to him parental involvement in PIBG can improve students' grades. Parent/teacher can educate children more effectively through parent-teacher meetings. Similarly, research done by Razak (1998) shows that parents did not understand the importance of parental involvement and seem less involved in their children’s schooling. The researchers strongly agreed that parents should be encouraged to contribute to their children’s education in the form of time, money, efforts, and attention so that their children can learn better and improve their performance. In this study, the researchers only focus on two types of parental involvement: learning at home and school-home communication with an emphasis on barriers to Parental Involvement in School as outlined below.

Barriers to Parental Involvement in School

In order to increase parental involvement, schools need to understand factors that might hinder parents from participating in their children's schooling. Research by Carey et.al (1998) and Christenson et.al (1992) suggested barriers to parental involvement can be classified as practical and personal barriers.