About Marilyn Robb Expertise I am an educational psychologist and counsellor, with more ten years of experience in teaching, parenting, running support groups and workshops, teacher training and counselling. I would like to share my knowledge and expertise in issues particularly related to helping children cope with learning and the school experience.
Expert: Marilyn Robb Date: 2/21/2006 Subject: Parents involvement at school
Question I heard that when parents are involved with children's learning, they do better in school. How can we get parents more involved? (volunteering at school)I am on the parent advisory committee at my son's preschool and the biggest problem is getting parents out to help with fundraising, organizing, etc. Do you have any suggestions?
Answer Dear Christina
Thank you for your question. I am very sorry for the delay in replying. The week has been very busy for me.
Parental involvement in schools is a topic of much debate and research. There are no easy answers to this question.
A lot depends on the situation, the schools, the environment, etc.
The general conclusion today is that the economic situation worldwide has had an effect even on this. Parents are now working so hard in most places (and I do not know where you are from, so I am speaking generally here)that they do not have time available as they used to when at least one parent was at home.
Many suggestions have been put forward to encourage more parental involvement in schools. With all of these suggestions it is important to consider certain issues:
Make allowances for parents' work schedules- some do not have much flexiblilty at their jobs and cannot get time off to be at the school. Therefore activities (or asking parents to come in to the school for meetings etc.) should be scheduled outside of their work time - later in the evenings etc.
I think that making parents welcome is crucial and useful. Some parents are intimidated by the school atmosphere, or by "educators" ; they feel inferior , especially if they themselves are not professionals or consider themselves well-educated.
Working to make the parents feel that it is a partnership is important. Also important to validate the parents' efforts and offers of help, small as they may seem.
here is an extract from an article :source http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/3/cu6.html
"Investigators have identified lack of planning and lack of mutual understanding as the two greatest barriers to effective parent involvement. School staff wishing to institute effective programs will need to be both openminded and well-organized in their approach to engaging parent participation.
Research has established that the most successful parent participation efforts are those which offer parents a variety of roles in the context of a wellorganized and long-lasting program. Parents will need to be able to choose from a range of activities which accommodate different schedules, preferences, and capabilities. As part of the planning process, teachers and administrators will need to assess their own readiness for involving parents and determine how they wish to engage and utilize them.
Other guidelines include:
Communicate to parents that their involvement and support makes a great deal of difference in their children's school performance, and that they need not be highly educated or have large amounts of free time for their involvement to be beneficial. Make this point repeatedly.
Encourage parent involvement from the time children first enter school (or preschool, if they attend).
Teach parents that activities such as modeling reading behavior and reading to their children increase children's interest in learning.
Develop parent involvement programs that include a focus on parent involvement in instruction--conducting learning activities with children in the home, assisting with homework, and monitoring and encouraging the learning activities of older students.
Provide orientation and training for parents, but remember that intensive, long-lasting training is neither necessary nor feasible.
Make a special effort to engage the involvement of parents of disadvantaged students, who stand to benefit the most from parent participation in their learning, but whose parents are often initially reluctant to become involved.
Continue to emphasize that parents are partners of the school and that their involvement is needed and valued."
There is lots to say about this topic, and lots written about it.
Here are some suggestions for websites that may help:
