parents to their child’s learning information. Selwyn, Banaji, Hadjithoma-Garstka and Clark (2011) discuss how learning platforms are being used to support parental involvement - predominantly through making home-school communication easier, sharing class learning, and informing parents about homework, grades and behaviour. However their results revealed mixed feelings from parents, with some parents feeling positively involved, but others unsure how to fully utilise the technology and viewing the platform as one-sided. Although a diverse range, with case study sample sizes of only six primary and six secondary schools, further research would be beneficial to strengthen outcomes. It is likely that as technology progresses, learning platforms could become a valuable tool in parental
involvement, providing they promote equal partnership and relevant training is provided.
Hornby and Witte (2010) agree with supporting parental involvement and communicating expectations through parental involvement programs to teach parents the best way to be involved in their child’s learning. They strongly advocate for school-organised programs and policies after findings suggested a severe lack of written policies around parental involvement programs. These programs would focus around involvement at home such as supervision of homework and discussing subject choices, as opposed to school involvement. Jeynes (2007) also supports the use of parental involvement programs and highlights that the effectiveness of these is relevant across ethnicity, gender and age. Crozier and Davies (2007) suggest that ethnicity is often ignored within parental involvement strategies. Therefore, Jeynes’ (2007) findings could warrant further research within the New Zealand context to see if this applies to New Zealand ethnicities.
However, it could also be argued that written policies may not be beneficial to parental involvement. An instance where this held true, was when the United Kingdom implemented home-school agreements in 1998 as a way to bridge the gap between parent and school expectations around parental involvement. Literature by Gibson (2013) investigating the impact of the agreements, expresses the idea that parents signed out of moral and social obligation but saw it predominantly as the school ‘ticking the box’. His findings also suggest that while the content of the agreement would lead to positive outcomes, the fact that it is presented as a contract takes away from the genuine intentions, making it a contract with little impact.
A parental involvement program that could be seen as more successful is the Ministry of Education’s Home-School Partnership: Literacy Programme. This is a partnership of teachers and families implemented to share and promote learning practices occurring at home, and at school, with meetings taken in ethnic groups’ first languages and involving community leaders (Brooking & Roberts, 2007). When evaluated by Brooking and Roberts (2007), the model was found to form effective partnerships, increase opportunities for children’s learning, and positively influence attitudes and achievements. However, the findings also expressed the view that the ‘partnership’ was very one-sided and did not offer enough opportunity for parents to provide input. Therefore, further development in this aspect of the program would be beneficial.
On the contrary, parents may not have to be directly involved to help their child achieve. Literature supports this by suggesting that homework help centres can lead to an increase in children’s achievement (Cosden, Morrison, Albanese, & Macias, 2001). Cosden et al. (2001) discussed how after-school homework programs can provide a safe environment with homework support for learners who are at risk of failing, or if English is not spoken in the home. However, it could also be argued that in enrolling their child in homework help, parents are expressing high expectations surrounding education, which according to Clinton and Hattie (2013) is a form of positive parental involvement.
Conclusion
Within the contemporary issue surrounding parental involvement in homework, it is questionable as to how parents should be involved. Relevant literature gives the impression that
parental involvement in homework is beneficial. However, this involvement is better conducted though high expectations, support, encouragement, and stimulating learning conversations, than by actively assisting directly with the homework. Active assistance could be detrimental to learners’ achievement and cause conflict within the parent-child relationship. For teachers and schools supporting parental involvement, expectations between parents and teachers must be clear to avoid a gap in expectations. Although, to go so far as making these expectations written policy can detract from the genuine intentions. Learning platforms and school-implemented parental involvement programs offer opportunities to bridge the gap between home and school learning. However these strategies must be a partnership, with parents encouraged to contribute equally with teachers and sufficient training provided where necessary.
Due to limited New Zealand-based research, it would be beneficial to conduct further research into how parents can best be involved at home in their child’s learning within the New Zealand context. Furthermore, it would be of use to look at these results across ethnicities to identify opportunities to increase achievement through parent-teacher partnerships of Māori, Pasifika and other priority learner groups.
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