M.Ed. / Surprisingly little debate about the role and responsibilities of parents has surfaced in the current wave of concern over the plight of public education. Has there been a decline in parent involvement in the schools and if so, is that decline part of the schools' problem? Should parents step in when schools are faltering? Should schools that seek to improve themselves reach out to parents to help? What can parents contribute to the education of their children, at home and in schools? However illuminating the answers might be, these questions are hardly being addressed. Even with adequate support from policy makers, should we expect educators to turn ailing schools around all by themselves, with no direct assistance from parents or other members of the community? The changing circumstances in South Africa up to date can be seen as the inspiration for the investigation of how school governance is affected by this. Dramatic reform is taking place in South Africa regarding changing political and constitutional views on education, with a rapidly increasing trend towards multicultural education. Multicultural education is a trend that has manifested itself world-wide. The primary goal is to accommodate pupils of diverse and different cultures in one education system. This study dealt with parents views on participative management in school that need to survive in the above context. The important role of school governance is to bridge the gap between what happens at home and what is happening in schools. It aims at fostering and promoting this relationship in a mutual way, in other words the school should benefit the parent community and the parent community should benefit from the school as well. The study was conducted by means of interviewing parents about the need for more information regarding participative management. The findings suggest that there is such a need in the parent community, and that they need education and training to learn skills needed for participatory management.

Female students continue to lag behind their male counterparts in STEM degree attainment despite performing as well as boys in mathematics and science in high school. Female students who expressed interest in mathematics and science may opt out of majoring in STEM once in college. Given that women may not be perceived as mathematics doers, this perception may affect their decision to pursue STEM careers. In many instances, it is the parents’ encouragement that helps their children to be persistent in mathematics and science. It is important to understand how parents’ involvement in the lives of high-achieving female college students contribute to them persisting and belonging in the STEM domain. In this narrative study, I explored parental influence on mathematics performance, self-efficacy and the factors that may contribute to high-achieving female college students’ interest and persistence in the STEM domain. The participants are eight high-achieving female students from an urban community college who are matriculated STEM majors. This study used Eccles et al.’s (1994) Expectancy-Value Theoretical Model of Achievement Choices and Phelan, Davidson & Yu’s (1998) Multiple Worlds Model to explore parent involvement and the factors that contribute to high-achieving college female’ persistence in STEM. Narratives of the female students’ mathematics experiences were constructed from data collected through multiple sources: student interviews, a parent interview, mathematics autobiographies, and questionnaires. Findings indicate that parents and other family members played an integral role in the students’ mathematics performance, mathematics self-efficacy and persistence in STEM. Furthermore, the depth of parental involvement of several of the participants was consistent throughout their college years.

The study aimed to explore the role of the school in promoting parental participation in education. Parents’ perceptions of their role in education and the benefits of their participation were also explored. Lastly, the study aimed to identify support structures designed and implemented by schools to assist parents overcome barriers to their participation. The study employed qualitative methods. Data was collected in two stages. Firstly, questionnaires were administered to parents and school staff. Returned questionnaires were analysed. The data collected using the questionnaires was used as a springboard for the second stage of data collection. This second stage included semi-structured interviews conducted with educators and school managers. These interviews provided the researcher with in – depth information which built on the information gathered through the questionnaires. The study aimed to explore the role of the school in promoting parental participation in education by exploring various aspects that impact parental involvement within the school. Attitude of school staff, school climate, school policy, communication and management of parental participation were identified as aspects within a school that impact parental participation in education. The research revealed that while parents and school staff agreed that parental participation in education is beneficial, parents’ perception of their participation was limited to assisting their children with homework tasks. In addition, school staff were unclear of their expectations of parents. Findings revealed that the school plays an imperative role in promoting parental participation in education since they have control over factors such as school climate, school policy, home-school communication and management of parental participation which all impact levels of parental participation within a school. The study also found that the school in the study lacked support structures to assist parents overcome barriers to their participation. The study concludes by making recommendations for improved levels of parental participation in education based on the findings of the study. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

The purpose of the study is to determine the perception or views of mathematics and science educators on performance of grade 12 learners in Mafikeng district. Little has been written about secondary school educators' views with regard to performance of learners in Mathematics and Science in developing countries like South Africa. The survey method was used to gather data. A 31 item questionnaire was used to evaluate perception of educators in the areas of: Support for educators, Educator involvement, Conditions for teaching and Educators' perception on how educational change affects performance of learners in Mathematics and Science. The subjects of the study were 89 Mathematics and Science educators in the Mafikeng district. The sample was selected from the 31 high schools including senior secondary schools in the district. The empirical investigation conducted revealed that parental involvement in their children's studies is a serious problem that needs immediate attention, in addition to educator qualifications and lack of learning support materials. The study also revealed that improving performance of learners, responsibility and involvement of educators, learners, parents, government and community is essential. The conclusions drawn from the study show that educators' perceptions on performance of learners in Mathematics and Science entail cooperative and supportive structure, regular communication among staff and monitoring of school work for both educators and learners is very important. It is also important that the findings of the research be implemented to improve learner performance. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2003

M.Ed. / This study looks at parental involvement in selected schools in Atteridgeville. A sample of parents and teachers were the source of data pertaining to the issue. The research findings revealed that parents were interested in their children's learning and in the school, but that they lacked confidence in many instances. The theory supporting these findings comes mostly from Townsend (1984) and Sergiovanni (1994). The study was conducted by means of interviews with parents selected from schools in Atteridgeville. The suggestion made from this study is that a parent training programme, based on the programme mentioned by Townsend and Elder (1998) on Pacific Islands, should be introduced in township schools.

The law relating to, and having an impact on, parental involvement has increased in quantity and complexity in the last couple of decades. It is therefore overwhelming to find out that parents are still taking a back seat as far as parental involvement is concerned in schools. Parents and educators have to work together towards one common goal, to assist learners in their journey through adulthood. The focus of the research was the role of the school management team in promoting parental involvement in the education of their children; how the school’s climate can be changed and be made accessible to parents. Educators must be taught how to invite and involve parents in the school’s activities. Parents have to be empowered as effective participants in school activities. Parents and educators should work together in solving their own problems and to overcome numerous challenges in their schools. Parents and educators have to develop trust and be able to remove the obstacles, various elements and factors that prevent them from working together to develop the schools as powerful working organisations. Parents and educators have to collaborate in building their educational objectives. The research attempted to determine all the possible causes of the non-involvement of parents in the education of their children. The researcher also believed that if the problem of non-involvement of parents can be solved, the learner’s academic achievements can improve drastically. The findings and recommendations indicate that parental involvement remains a crucial point in all the efforts to enhance school effectiveness. The researcher in the study also investigated the assumption that parents from the townships do not take part in their children’s activities because they don’t care.

This study explores the perceptions that parents have about their non-involvement in the governance of a Duncan Village High School, and considers the implications of such perceptions for the management of the school. Recent discussions on Radio Talk Shows and articles written in local newspapers indicate that Black parents have generally not been involved in the education of their children at the traditionally Black schools. Parental non-involvement also emerges as a strong theme in recent research. However, most of the research and media coverage focuses on school management's perceptions of the reasons and consequences of such non-involvement. The parents' voices have rarely been heard. Against this background, as well as the fact that the South African Schools Act presents a strong case for the involvement of parents in school governance and management, a phenomenological investigation was conducted at a traditionally Black Duncan Village High School. I chose phenomenology because I believed this approach has the potential for revealing my respondents' attitudes and perceptions. The sample consisted of four parent members of the school governing body who were key informants. The respondents were subjected to unstructured interviews which were held at their homes. The interviews probed the background and reasons for their lack of involvement, and the possible implications ofthis non-involvement for school management. The most significant of the wealth of findings is that parental non-involvement is linked to the historical background of the culture of non-participation of Black people which was created and encouraged by the successive White Governments in South Africa.

Involving parents and community in education is vital to the success of academic excellence. It is essential that adults be involved in the education and socialization of their children for the next generation.

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