Teachers` perceptions of their roles in promoting parental involvement in children`s learning : a case at the Setiabudi Primary School

Abstract

One of the future aims stated in the Malaysian Ministry of Education Blueprint 2013 is to equip every parent to support their child’s learning through a ‘parent engagement toolkit’, which emphasizes the importance of parental involvement in their children’s schooling. The issue of parental involvement has been one of the key issues in children’s achievements in schools. Research results indicate that parental involvement in children’s education matters- for children’s achievement, motivation and well being at school. Teachers play an important role in promoting the involvement of parents in their children’s learning. This study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions of their roles in promoting parental involvement in children’s learning, with the focus on three (3) frameworks based on Epstein’s Parental Involvement framework namely; Parenting, Communicating and Learning at Home, with the setting at a private primary school, Setiabudi Primary School otherwise known as Sekolah Setiabudi Rendah (SSBR) in Gombak Selangor. The school has achieved recognitions for its many excellent academic achievements especially in UPSR for four consecutive years from 2012 to 2015. The central goals of this study is to investigate what are the teachers’ perceptions towards their roles in promoting parental involvement in children’s learning, obstacles faced by the teachers and how to further improve their roles in promoting parental involvement in children’s learning. For this study, a quantitative research methodology with descriptive analysis is employed. 52 teachers from the school, with different education qualification background, responded to a questionnaire adapted from Epstein’s instruments which consists of 27 items. Findings show that majority of the teachers agreed with their roles in promoting parental involvement where they positively perceived their capacities in reaching out to parents, even such, this agreement does not guarantee that they have implemented all roles in promoting the stated elements: Parenting, Communicating and Learning at Home, due to various constraints. Findings in the obstacles show contradictions in their perception as majority of the teachers realize time constraint as the biggest issue amongst them, followed by the perception that parents believe in the extra tutoring more.