The Involvement of Parents in the Education of their Children in Zimbabwe’s Rural Primary Schools: The Case of Matabeleland North Province.

Abstract

The study sought to explore the schools' involvement of parents in their children's education. It adopted a qualitative case study design. Data were generated from 15 primary school teachers, who were purposively sampled from three primary schools (five teachers per school). The five teachers from each school formed three focus groups. The data were triangulated by interviewing each of the three school heads from schools where teachers were sampled. Major findings were that: participants understood the meaning of parental involvement; they were aware of the benefits accruing from such an involvement; in their respective schools they were making attempts to involve parents; a number of barriers limited the effective involvement of parents. The study concluded that while teachers were aware of the benefits of parental involvement, levels of parental involvement were low. Recommendations to enhance involvement include strengthening home-school ties; equipping schools with the necessary resources to enable them to involve parents in more meaningful ways; exploring other avenues of communicating with parents and sensitising parents on the need to be actively involved in the education of their children.

Addressing Poor Performance in the Advanced Level Agriculture Syllabus (9159) in the Midlands Province, Zimbabwe

“…The same was also suggested by student respondents in this research. The view by one of the respondents that parents should be conscientised on the importance of Agriculture is in line with recommendations by Mafa and Makuba (2013) and Mufanechiya et al (2012) who highlighted that parents need to be conscientised on the importance of their children"s education. According to Killian and Baker (2006) there is need for increased support from the school administration in order for student performance to improve as has been highlighted by some of the students.…”

Envolvimento dos encarregados de educação na escola: perspectiva dos professores

“…O envolvimento parental nas escolas é um aspecto importante no percurso educativo dos alunos, considerado por investigadores, professores e diretores um dos pilares fundamentais para o sucesso acadêmico (Mafa & Makuba, 2013;Rodrigues, Alçada, Calçada & Mata, 2017). É ainda um tema da agenda política visível, por exemplo, na Recomendação nº 2/2015, de 25 de março do Conselho Nacional da Educação (CNE, 2015), em que se destaca o envolvimento das famílias como uma variável fundamental para combater a retenção escolar.…”

“…Como sugestões para melhorar o envolvimento parental, foi sugerido pelos professores o uso de tecnologias de informação, a sensibilização dos pais sobre a necessidade de participar no processo educativo dos seus educandos, a criação de um clima aberto, a implementação de uma comunicação efetiva e a implementação de políticas que responsabilizassem os pais a se envolverem (Mafa & Makuba, 2013).…”

“…Salienta-se que a grande maioria também é referenciada na literatura (e.g. Mafa & Makuba, 2013;Md. Nor & Neo, 2001;Rodrigues et al, 2017).…”

Saudi Parents' Perceptions of the Kind of Help they Offer to their Primary School Kids

“…To do this he analyses different kinds of contacts including face-to-face contacts, telephone calls, written materials that schools send home. Mafa and Makuba (2013) explored the schools involvement of parents in their children's education. Awareness of the importance of involving parents was clear in the results despite the barriers that limited this involvement.…”