Contribution to Knowledge

There is an extensive literature on parental involvement and consistent with this, the study approaches parental involvement as a social construction. This involves different stakeholders including individual parents, proxy parents, community networks, formal forums for parental involvement linked to governance, infrastructure and accountability structures and more informal forums that have individual as well as collective functions. Government/policy regulates much of this involvement through decentralisation policies. The study therefore highlights the value of research that explores multiple perspectives on parental involvement. There is a considerable premium placed on the collaborative efforts of the SMC, PTA, schools and their wider communities which fits well with the overlapping spheres of influence framework (Epstein, 1995; 2001). However, this framework needs to include greater consideration of contextual factors, including the availability of skills and knowledge, competencies and networks. A key contribution of this study is therefore increased awareness of the importance of interconnectedness within rural contexts and the way in which networks including parents are culturally constructed. These have been shown to be influential in determining not only the forms of parental involvement in school but also how these play out. This is so important because an appreciation of the influences of the wider Ghanaian socio-economic and cultural dynamics help in designing the development of pragmatic steps towards improving parental involvement in rural contexts.

This study has also shown that in rural contexts parental involvement has to be understood as extending beyond the biological parent. This is because the extended family plays a vital role in the education of the child either as long-term caretakers of - pupils or momentarily when the seasonal rhythms of parental occupations demand (Addae-Boahene and Arkorful, 1999; Care International, 20033; Chapman and Nkansah, 2006). The study has illustrated how these extended family relations

determine the pattern of parental involvement in formal and informal school functions. What this study has shown is that in rural contexts, building relationships with a pupil’s extended family is an important factor in parental involvement in school governance.

The current study also unearthed issues similar to those raised elsewhere in the literature pointing to a continuum of involvement beginning with the basic decisions as to whether to send children to school or not. In Ghana, a plethora of studies confirm this continuum (Canagarahaj and Coloumbe, 1997; Oduro, 2000; A CARE International, 2003; MOESS, 2006). In the present study, it emerged that in deprived communities, poor parents viewed their children as economic assets, expected to contribute to the meagre family or household incomes because in the short term sending them to a school brought no economic gains to the family. Nevertheless, this study suggests that rural families are beginning to exhibit a more sophisticated understanding of the value of schooling than is always recognised in the literature as some parents, often with the support of extended family or community members, were found to invest in their children’s education. Motivations were found to be varied and included the expectation that they will be catered for in their old age as well as being a basis for their children getting a good job or occupying top positions in society.

The study has also highlighted the importance of linking parental involvement in rural and resource constrained communities to school governance. A major issue in Ghana is the decentralisation agenda and the extent to which this takes account of the specific challenges in rural contexts. The study has shown how factors operating outside formal governance bodies assume an important role for formal fora. In focusing on policy outcomes without recognising the importance of other factors such as the role of the extended family and more informal fora, the Central government or Ministry of Education in Ghana appears to have focused on the mechanisms for forging how

schools and communities should work together, assuming this leads to increased parental involvement in schools. The study like others has illustrated how poverty compels children to work alongside their schooling sometimes at the request of mothers to support family sustenance and that parents are unlikely to be able to facilitate children’s schooling in the face of economic challenges. This study has extended literature by showing that parents face similar resource constraints and lack of requisite support within formal governance structures.

The research also supports previous research in arguing that parental involvement is essentially relational. For example, it was evident that the apparent power play between SMC members and teachers with regard to monitoring and supervision of the school did not go down well with some teachers to the extent that a teacher in School 2 community threatened leaving if what was perceived to be an intrusion continued. This is not an intrusion, however, but a mandated role (GES, 2001). It is therefore about policy and how it is sometimes received. Importantly, the suspicions teachers held about the SMC were a potential source of conflict and tension and they had potential negative ramifications for school governance. At the heart of effective collaboration are good parent-school relations that bring parents and teachers together in an atmosphere of care, trust and respect. The study shows that it is possible to foster collaboration between parents and teachers through positive welcoming attitudes, regular communication and the valuing of their involvement in schools. Consideration of these relational aspects needs therefore to extend to governance as well as the more usual parental roles.