Essay Sample on Parental Involvement in Education: Bridging the Gap Between Parents and Schools

Introduction

Successful parental engagement and involvement in education is the active participation of parents in the education of children. Despite teachers perceiving parents as people who lack interest in participating in the education of their children, parents often long to involve in education, but they do not understand how to participate. Similarly, in some schools, parents seem not to participate because they have enough time neither can they speak the formal languages spoken at school (Park & Holloway, 2013). More significantly, parental participation perpetually becomes a challenge to the teachers despite being a key factor in determining the student's performance. Even though several schools persistently struggle to determine a meaningful parental participation, a research by the American Teachers indicates that about twenty percent of the newly employed teachers and a quarter of the school principals confirm that their relationship with parents is the main hurdle they face in their duty (Froiland, Peterson & Davison, 2013). The paper seeks to focus on the interventions and solutions that enhance effective parent participation in the education of children.

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Parents as Partners

Perceiving parents as partners to the teachers is a key component in parental participation gives both parents and their children a positive attitude towards education. The significance of the concept can be shown in numerous interventions, for example, in a collaborative decision making for parent participation in the education of children (Benner, Boyle & Sadler, 2016). In support of the concept, a study by Jago on parenting matters has shown that viewing parents as equal partners to the teachers improves the relationship between teachers and parents and can also build more trust on teachers, thereby triggering good attitude and immense improvement on the student's performance (Park & Holloway, 2013). The concept got support from the comments made by parents as part of the research study. In another study by Mytton, it was found that when people trusted by parents deliver an intervention is more significance in the decision of parents to participate in the school programs (Castro et al., 2015). More imperatively, parents often want to feel part of a program to gain competency and get involved in the education of their children, and that responsibility is with the teachers to ensure parents are part of the education programs.

Tailoring Intervention to Fit Parent and Child Need

There is great variation in the needs of different parents and children, and perhaps it depends on the context of every family; therefore, strong interventions such as the ones that employ the use of manual approaches can modify the services to suit both parents and students (Froiland et al., 2013). Such approaches have been recognized due to their significant impact on the parent participation, for example, many organizations under people with disability education Act focuses on the individual family desires and the character of children from such families for proper intervention design (Castro et al., 2015). For instance, parents suffering from depression may specifically benefit from some training that deals with the difficulty in a child's behavior and conflict, but parents with the borderline disorder can highly benefit from training which involves continues nurturing. Additionally, tailoring intervention should be that who understand gender differences in the receptivity and the need of parents (Benner et al., 2016). For instance, fathers and mothers can respond differently to different interventions base on their role difference in the family and their gender.

More imperatively, a good number of children are nurtured with couples of the same sex, while sexual minority adults have raised a few. Several studies reveal that lesbian parents faced difficulties while trying to adapt to parenting life compared to heterosexual parents (Wilder, 2014). Therefore, lesbian parents require more concern as new parents, and they could gain from interventions with structures such as the teachers' support structures or community support structures. The intervention should focus on people they serve, for example, serving the gay and lesbian parents, to fit the specific needs of special parents, thereby leading to immense improvement in the parent's participation. Most parents have risen not having transport to reach the intervention site and the fixed work schedule. Most successful interventions should provide transportation for poor parents, and there should be a higher level of participation to match the intervention schedule with the parent's work schedule.

Peer Support Intervention

Parent involvement in services and positive results can be enhanced through relating the peer support with the behavioral supports (Dunst, Bruder & Espe-Sherwindt, 2014). Promoting social support between parents can lead to significant benefits such as improved sense of connection, reduces isolation and stigma, for instance, studies have shown that programs have properly addressed the issues of stigma and isolation among parents through enabling peer support by the approach of classes, groups, as well as through the internet (Benner et al., 2016). More importantly, parenting interventions which are applying the use of multifamily group mechanism enable parent to share their parenting experiences with other people, and that provides the opportunity to get social support and enable peer learning among parents.

Research has also revealed that most parents with the stigma of mental problems demonstrate that the peer groups make them feel comfortable, understood and safe while participating in the education programs and that feeling encourages them to attend such groups frequently. Peer support allows the parent to learn how other parents direct and set the limit for their children (Castro et al., 2015). However, peer support cannot be replaced with professional staff working with parents encountering particular adversities, but it is an incredible engagement and sustaining parent involvement. More imperatively, fatherhood interventions with the incorporation of peer support lead to successful parent participation in the education of their children (Goodall & Montgomery, 2014). The evidence-based tactics which are currently executed in fatherhood interventions are probably yielding effectiveness of the peer support.

Trauma-Informed Services

Many types of research have shown a significant effect of trauma in the process of transforming students from childhood to adulthood. For instance, the Adverse Childhood research in California reported that a bigger percentage of children had experienced trauma; therefore, trauma can cause adverse effects on parenting ability (Gaviria, 2015). According to Banyard, trauma is associated with issues such as little parenting satisfaction, child well-being participation, and the use of punishment (Benner et al., 2016). Trauma causes damage to the development of children. Based on such outcomes, the current parenting programs adopt a trauma-informed tactic. Concerning parent participation in education, trauma can negatively affect the relationship between parents and teachers. Therefore, it is the responsibility of teachers to recognize symptoms of trauma and the stress it comes with, and teachers should have proper training on trauma-informed services (Castro et al., 2015). Significantly, trauma may occur within the interaction of parents with their children. Therefore, it is the mandate of parents to navigate for a proper solution for trauma and ensure safety for their children because trauma can lead to poor performance at school.

Fathers Inclusion

Notably, fathers have been given less focus, especially for studies concerning parenting interventions. For instance, many studies have demonstrated that parenting interventions can be successful if they explore the approach of father's participation, for example, beginning with anticipation of their participation then exploring activities that they can be pertinent (Gaviria, 2015). Again the best approach is providing financial incentives and having a schedule that is convenient for the fathers to give them time for participation in school programs (Froiland et al., 2013). It is important to note that, attention to interventions for fathers and studies should finally result in significant understanding ways in which fathers get affected during their participation. Ultimately, the father's participation in the child's education also has a significant outcome on the performance of the child.

Conclusion

Successful parent participation interventions can be experienced when particular needs are addressed both in school and within the community, and the intervention should focus on parent participation. The interventions to be executed should focus on how the parents get involved in the school programs for the betterment of their children. Seeing parents as equal partners makes them feel part of the program and develop a positive attitude toward the intervention. Tailoring a program to fit particular family needs is a good approach to promote parent participation. Peer support also helps parents in sharing new ideas and learning from their fellow parents on how directions can be given to children and how limits can be set for children, thereby leading to a greater impact on their school performance. Fathers play a key role in the education of their children; therefore, the interventions should focus on the father's involvement.

References

Benner, A. D., Boyle, A. E., & Sadler, S. (2016). Parental involvement and adolescents' educational success: The roles of prior achievement and socioeconomic status. Journal of youth and adolescence, 45(6), 1053-1064.

Castro, M., Exposito-Casas, E., Lopez-Martin, E., Lizasoain, L., Navarro-Asencio, E., & Gaviria, J. L. (2015). Parental involvement on student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational research review, 14, 33-46.

Dunst, C. J., Bruder, M. B., & Espe-Sherwindt, M. (2014). Family Capacity-Building in Early Childhood Intervention: Do Context and Setting Matter?. School Community Journal, 24(1), 37-48.

Froiland, J. M., Peterson, A., & Davison, M. L. (2013). The long-term effects of early parent involvement and parent expectation in the USA. School Psychology International, 34(1), 33-50.

Goodall, J., & Montgomery, C. (2014). Parental involvement to parental engagement: a continuum. Educational Review, 66(4), 399-410.

Park, S., & Holloway, S. D. (2013). No parent left behind: Predicting parental involvement in adolescents' education within a sociodemographically diverse population. The Journal of Educational Research, 106(2), 105-119.

Wilder, S. (2014). Effects of parental involvement on academic achievement: A meta-synthesis. Educational Review, 66(3), 377-397.