Why Family Engagement in Education is Important?

The formative years of a child’s education have been marked as important for erecting a bond of trust and connection between family and school. Children, whose guardians/parents are actively involved and envision high expectations from their educational make-up, tend to secure better grades, have a higher number of children graduating and more likely to opt higher secondary education higher.

“Dr. Joyce Epstein has developed six sub-components within the family-school connection: parenting and basic obligations, communication between home and school, in-school activities such as volunteering, helping the child learn at home, decision-making (i.e. serving on the parent-teacher association) and community collaboration.”

The family is one of the most important aspects of society. Children are a collective responsibility and in order to make a child its full potential, shoulder the vision of streamlining. Also, family helps in contributing towards educating children, who help in running society. It helps in training human resource and adding value to society.

In addition to that, there are a few aspects which direct us towards the prevalence of family engagement. Additionally, there could be many subjects indicating the prevalence of family participation:

• Psychosocial development (social-emotional development) of children should be checked and conscious efforts require to be made. According to Erickson's theory of psychosocial development, there are “developmental goals” and “developmental conflicts” of all ages. Erickson categorizes human life into 8 phases in terms of psychosocial development and claims that the conflict arising at every single stage must be resolved successfully. Emotional unrest can be a huge issue later and can cause personality problems. Unsolved emotional conflicts of any stage will be reflected in the next one and until finding a solution it will become personality problems. In this regard, the place of the family becomes more important and obvious.

• It is paramount to make the kid feels that he or she is a kid. Few approaches can be used here, such as "You are a man, you are grown now, are you a child!" are rubbing and not educationally sound. Children must be playful, move around freely, make mischiefs’, play pranks, make little clumsiness, touch to stones and soil, dirty their clothes and live their childhood well. Gaming for that matter is another useful tool for enhancing and develop their intellectual skills.

Let’s discuss the requisite parameter for successful engagement and its result:

Parent Involvement:

The term "parent involvement" is used repeatedly used in this report. It includes parental participation at many levels at the schools- attending PTMs, school functions, responding to school-related obligations. (Parent-teacher conference, etc.). They can become more involved in helping their children on are where they lack- motivation to complete homework, organizing their school activities along with their personal life, study spaces. Parents can serve as advocates for the school outside the home, The can be actively involved in volunteering activities- both inside and outside the school. The can contribute to community development and educating the needy.

Effects of parent involvement on student achievement

Researchers overwhelmingly demonstrate that parental involvement is essential to a child’s cognitive skills. Learning skills are appropriately related to the achievement of full academic potential. Furthermore, the research shows that the more the degree of involvement of parents in the development affairs of kids the more beneficial it counts. This stands true for all ages and types. Glaring closely, there are strong projections that the most effective form of looking more closely at the research, there are strong indications that the most effective forms of parenting involve effective give organization of children to play and study by the parent. Programs which encourage reading with parents, assisting them in their homework assignments, or even tutoring them require a pro-active approach towards kids.

Considerably greater achievement benefits have surfaced under ways- when parents pay attention to their work at home, certainly, but also when they attend, be a part and actively support their school activities, land up with them on excursions, webinars and so on. Learning is a thorough emotional development. Parent is the first contact and the most trusted one, so in order to recap the concept learnt in school require to be revised with the parent at home.

It requires a simple training for parents to understand the dynamics of involvement. Training needs to be governed by a pro-active trainer. Most importantly- Parents must not go too deep or get ambitious about training. Basic and simple training will do and this will keep the parent aligned with the actual progress of the child in terms of cognitive development.

We also need to recognize that parents differ greatly in their attitude, willingness, ability, and availability for involvement in school activities. Also, these schools provide many ways for parental participation.

Effects of parent involvement on student attitude

As surveyed, student involvement shows many positive effects and ensures to derive student’s academic potential and a lot of other positive effects. It definitely caters to a lot of involvement on student attitude.

Even the school authorities need to find ways in which effective involvement from the parent side could be gathered. This is quite evident from a parents’ increased willingness to support schools in their fundraising activities and special projects.  This will boost the community of teachers and other staff at school and reflect upon its long term benefits. Parents, usually feel that their participation will hardly make any difference, so this thinking needs to be changed.

Role of parent involvement with the disadvantaged students

The world is truly full of special and gifted people. A special child can only understand the sacrifice and determination which they need to build in with the school authorities. We understand the limitation and special problems associated with minority and disadvantaged parent involvement. Parents can bring about a lot of change and attitude towards society can be created.

“Too often, because of the discontinuities between teachers/administrators and the communities in which their schools are located, school personnel tend to view the parents and surrounding community as needing to change and having little to offer.”

Effective parental involvement can bring about impactful and positive changes by showing empathy; raising funds and making them feel a special part of the society. It adds to value addition and making a difference to the ones in need.

Below are few ideas and ways shared by the most renowned parenting support experts to involve parents in the process:

1. Communication is the key. “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.”-(School Improvement Research series by Kathleen Cotton and K.R. Wikelund)
2. “Encourage parent involvement from the time children first enter school (or preschool, if they attend). Teach parents that activities such as modelling reading behaviour and reading to their children increase children's interest in learning.”
3. “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.”
4. “Provide orientation and training for parents, but remember that intensive, long-lasting training is neither necessary nor feasible.”
5. “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.”
6. “Continue to emphasize that parents are partners of the school and that their involvement is needed and valued.”