Parent Involvement

The results indicated that the SMT’s perceptions of parent involvement are that parent involvement is lacking. However, in the same breath, they commented that parent functions are well attended. SMT 5 noted that they “have parents’ meetings once a term”

(L325-326) and also mentioned they have “a speaker twice a year” (L331). The same sentiment was echoed by SMT 4 who stated that “if we had the parents’ forum and we said we are going to do a talk about ‘nutrition’ they here and listen” (L200-201).

SMT 5 stated that the “district to come and talk to parents on how to be good parents and how to monitor homework, how to make sure your child is safe, how to deal with bullying, how to deal with phones and tablets” (L327-329).

However, SMT 5 asserted that the “involvement from the parents’ side can be better”

(L337) and said: “I don’t believe in fighting with parents” (L336) and “we don’t deal with them in a confrontational manner” (L334). SMT 3 also felt that they “involve parents in everything” (L103-104).

Forms of involvement were noted by SMT 3: “We send out 2 weekly newsletters. And some of the lower grades has WhatsApp groups that we send messages to when necessary, we've got message books” (L102-103). SMT 2 indicated that “if we could get support from home, then that is good” (L216). SMT 2 also agreed that “parents should be involved” (L339) and “they should understand where you are going” (L187-188). “Parents are aware of it, most of the time, they are aware of what is happening” (SMT 2, L191).

SMT 1 explained that the “biggest problem, parental involvement, we don’t have as much”

(L247) and that “there are some parents that are fully involved, majority are not” (L243).

“The only time we do get to see parents is if we call them in” (SMT 1, L245).

It is apparent from the above, that there are varying understandings of what involvement is, with regards to the parents. Some SMT members stated that parents attend the parent mornings and functions, yet other SMT members stated that there are some parents who attend but that the majority do not. There was, however, a consensus among the SMT members on the lack of involvement from the parents. The above comments indicate that the SMT does note positive parental involvement concerning the attendance of school functions. Nevertheless, I believe what they are really seeking is more than just parental involvement. The SMT members stated that the only time that they see parents is when they call them in. Moreover, they noted that parents should know their child has a problem. This, in my opinion, indicates that there is an underlying concern from the SMT that the parents do not always acknowledge that their child has challenges.

SMT 1 stated that one challenge is that “a lot of them come from the working-class environment” (L243). SMT 3 also noted some challenges as being that “they leave at five o’clock in the morning and the child gets on to the taxi … mommy comes home tonight seven eight o’clock so there not really much time for the parents to be involved” (L113-115). It is “not that they don’t want to it’s just the circumstances” (SMT 3, L(L113-115).

SMT 2 explained that “the only time they will see … the child will be on the weekend”

(L214); in addition, parents tell their children, “they’ve got commitments, they’ve got things to do that they will tell the child straight. This is your schoolwork do your schoolwork. So that is a challenge at home” (L215-216).

SMT 3 noted that some “limitations is that some parents do not really understand fully, some do not read with understanding” and that some “parent does not really understand the language fully” (L108-110). SMT 2 described the situation many children find themselves in: “You find that child stays with granny, granny cannot read, granny cannot write. How do parents help at home? There’s no support at home. Also, child stays with mother and father … mother and father not educated. How are they going to support the child in that. You have a fairly serious challenge on that one” (L211-214).

Another challenge raised by SMT 5, is that there “a large number of single parents, moms” and “dads are not involved at all. We have a large number of grandparents raising our children … I don’t know how they do it – parents where mom and dad and granny and granddad are all unemployed” (L342-344). For SMT 2, “sometimes you find the teachers are becoming parents” (L218).

SMT 5 explained further: “In the sense of, we have lots of children they have problems academically, but the problems are not as a result of intelligence, lack of intelligence. It’s how they were raised. Uninvolved parents. It’s a system … systemic of our country, of the world” (L242-244).

Parents are so busy making a living and put bread on the table they do not have … they don’t have the skills either. Because they didn’t have … that example. So what

example do they follow … it’s a result of our country’s history, unfortunately, but we are trying to, to just sort of negate those problems. But it’s an ongoing battle (SMT 5, L245-248).

SMT 5 highlighted the fact that there is a systemic problem within this particular school related to the socio-economic status of the families in the system. Some of the aspects that are noted by the SMT as challenges are that many of the children come from working-class families. This has a significant impact on the involvement of the parents, as the school finds that many parents leave their homes early and come back late from work.

There is also limited support at home when it comes to homework. What was highlighted is that the education level of the members of the family is limited, which also affects their involvement in homework. Parents also seem to be misinformed with regards to their responsibility with regards to homework and school involvement in general. The school is in a position where it is taking on more responsibility for learners than it is meant to.

From the above, the school and the teachers seem to have become substitute parents for the learners. I believe the school may benefit from more engaging communication between itself and the parents to clarify the boundaries and to resolve them in a joint effort.

What is highlighted in theory by Ferlazzo (2011) is that there is a difference between parent involvement and parent engagement. Parent engagement is defined as parents and the school working together to improve and support the education, growth, and health of the learner (APA, 2020). It is seen as a shared responsibility where the school is committed to connecting and engaging with parents in a meaningful way (APA, 2020).

Parent involvement is noted as being the first step to parent engagement and revolves around the parents’ responsibilities, attending school functions, helping with homework and being a parent to their child (“How parental involvement”, 2014).

There are practical steps that can be taken to improve parent engagement, namely giving parents contact details early in the year where they are free to ask questions; provision of opportunities to engage with teachers; guiding parents with shared goals and vision, and trying to address scheduling conflicts that make it hard for parents to participate (“How parental involvement”, 2018). Poor parent engagement is related to poor

communication which was also highlighted by the SMT members.

Gümüş et al. (2013) state that parental engagement contributes positively to effective schools, effective teaching, and effective learner education. They present the argument that the socio-economic status of parents is ultimately the most significant determining factor of parental engagement (Gümüş et al., 2013). Socio-economic factors such as parents’ level of education and family income impacts on parent engagement (Gümüş et al., 2013), which is what the SMT is experiencing in this particular school. Gümüş et al.

(2013) indicate that it is important for schools that have low income or uneducated parents to take this into consideration and to pay careful attention in the development of approaches to improve parent and school collaboration. This is also echoed on Waterford.org (“How parental involvement, 2018), which states that schools need to come up with ways of combatting challenges to decrease the impact of conflicting issues.

For example, parents are receiving communication through newsletters, however, it was noted that their language levels cause misunderstandings. The question then arises:

What is the school doing to assist in this area?

The SMT members also noted that there are socio-economic factors that influence parent engagement and involvement. Parents are not meaningfully engaged in discussions relating to the sharing of the responsibility of their child when the only time the parents are engaged with is when they are called in for a meeting and informed that the child has a problem, needs to be tested, or has to get an LSEN number and now needs to change schools or classes as a result.

Ferlazzo (2011) notes that schools that have developed strong relationships with parents have identified the importance of the family unit as an asset which impacts on the learner’s success or failure. Understanding that when communication fails or misunderstandings occur, it is often related to differing opinions with regards to what is in the best interest of the learner (Ferlazzo, 2011). There is an important shift noted by Ferlazzo (2011), in that schools need to know the difference between parent involvement and parent engagement, which ultimately comes down to efficient communication.