There is compelling evidence that parental involvement positively influences children’s academic achievement. Its benefits occur across all socio-economic classes. In spite of its significance, parental involvement has received scant attention in Zimbabwe. This qualitative study sought to establish how parents in a materially poor rural district of Zimbabwe were involved in their children’s education. Barriers to their involvement were investigated with the view to overcoming or mitigating them for the benefit of the affected primary school pupils. The attribution theory was used not only to substantially explain the status of parental involvement in Zaka District, but also to generate strategies to promote parents’ participation in their children’s school education. Observation, semi-structured interviews (for school heads), focus group interviews (for parents) and the open-ended questionnaire (for teachers) were used in this qualitative study covering ten primary schools. Respondents were selected through the use of chain reference sampling and sampling by case. A total of one hundred and forty (140) participants were selected. It emerged from the research that parents, teachers and school heads/principals had very limited understanding of parental involvement. They generally thought that it was confined to activities done at school such as payment of school fees and levies, providing labour for the construction or renovation of school buildings and providing teaching/learning resources. Most teachers, school heads/principals and parents believed that parents were too poor and too lowly educated to meaningfully be involved in their children’s education. However, there were a few parents who believed that their socio-economic status did not prevent them from participating in their children’s education. They actually indicated useful ways in which they could be involved. The research also revealed that parents, school teachers and school heads/principals made wrong attributions about themselves and each other in connection with limited parental involvement in their schools. Both school staff and parents, after identifying barriers to involvement, were willing to learn about how they could overcome or mitigate the barriers. They believed that the challenges they were facing regarding parental involvement were capable of resolution. / Teacher Education / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The concept of parental involvement has been viewed as an ideal style of leadership and management for school development purposes. In South Africa’s case, it is an educational policy which is expected to reign in all school management bodies. Many theorists envisaged parental involvement as enhancing active involvement of parents and it has been advocated by many scholars who believe it is the best leadership style in implementing democratic values to education, particularly South African rural education, which is still in a transitional stage. The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which parents contribute towards education of their children. This study involved transformative case study as a research design at one rural school in Waterberg district in South Africa. This research employed three data collection techniques, namely semi-structured interviews, focus groups and document analysis. When formal education was introduced in South Africa schools it was regarded as exceptional environment for teachers, school administrators and learners. To a large extent, parents and the communities regarded themselves as something outside of the education system. The main findings of this study revealed that there is a lack of joint understanding and shared vision between educators and parents in the School Governing Body. This problem underpins other more symptomatic problems, such as lack of accountability in the matter of school finances, differences in understanding the roles of School Board members and lack of parents’ motivation from the school management. It highlighted some of the challenges that hinder the effective involvement of parents in rural school governance, such as poor educational background among parents. The study has also revealed challenges and consequences of non-parental involvement in school governance. The conclusion that could be drawn from the study is that in schools where parent-community involvement is highly visible, teacher effectiveness is apparent and this contributed significantly to the improvement of learner performance while in schools where parent-community involvement is non-existent or minimal, the result is the opposite. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

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There is compelling evidence that parental involvement positively influences children’s academic achievement. Its benefits occur across all socio-economic classes. In spite of its significance, parental involvement has received scant attention in Zimbabwe. This qualitative study sought to establish how parents in a materially poor rural district of Zimbabwe were involved in their children’s education. Barriers to their involvement were investigated with the view to overcoming or mitigating them for the benefit of the affected primary school pupils. The attribution theory was used not only to substantially explain the status of parental involvement in Zaka District, but also to generate strategies to promote parents’ participation in their children’s school education. Observation, semi-structured interviews (for school heads), focus group interviews (for parents) and the open-ended questionnaire (for teachers) were used in this qualitative study covering ten primary schools. Respondents were selected through the use of chain reference sampling and sampling by case. A total of one hundred and forty (140) participants were selected. It emerged from the research that parents, teachers and school heads/principals had very limited understanding of parental involvement. They generally thought that it was confined to activities done at school such as payment of school fees and levies, providing labour for the construction or renovation of school buildings and providing teaching/learning resources. Most teachers, school heads/principals and parents believed that parents were too poor and too lowly educated to meaningfully be involved in their children’s education. However, there were a few parents who believed that their socio-economic status did not prevent them from participating in their children’s education. They actually indicated useful ways in which they could be involved. The research also revealed that parents, school teachers and school heads/principals made wrong attributions about themselves and each other in connection with limited parental involvement in their schools. Both school staff and parents, after identifying barriers to involvement, were willing to learn about how they could overcome or mitigate the barriers. They believed that the challenges they were facing regarding parental involvement were capable of resolution. / Teacher Education / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The concept of parental involvement has been viewed as an ideal style of leadership and management for school development purposes. In South Africa’s case, it is an educational policy which is expected to reign in all school management bodies. Many theorists envisaged parental involvement as enhancing active involvement of parents and it has been advocated by many scholars who believe it is the best leadership style in implementing democratic values to education, particularly South African rural education, which is still in a transitional stage. The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which parents contribute towards education of their children. This study involved transformative case study as a research design at one rural school in Waterberg district in South Africa. This research employed three data collection techniques, namely semi-structured interviews, focus groups and document analysis. When formal education was introduced in South Africa schools it was regarded as exceptional environment for teachers, school administrators and learners. To a large extent, parents and the communities regarded themselves as something outside of the education system. The main findings of this study revealed that there is a lack of joint understanding and shared vision between educators and parents in the School Governing Body. This problem underpins other more symptomatic problems, such as lack of accountability in the matter of school finances, differences in understanding the roles of School Board members and lack of parents’ motivation from the school management. It highlighted some of the challenges that hinder the effective involvement of parents in rural school governance, such as poor educational background among parents. The study has also revealed challenges and consequences of non-parental involvement in school governance. The conclusion that could be drawn from the study is that in schools where parent-community involvement is highly visible, teacher effectiveness is apparent and this contributed significantly to the improvement of learner performance while in schools where parent-community involvement is non-existent or minimal, the result is the opposite. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Parental involvement (PI) in school governance is an international acclaimed worldwide practice and is viewed as a major topic in current educational reforms. This study investigated the management of PI programmes in public schools within the jurisdiction of Bulawayo Metropolitan Province in Zimbabwe. The Total Quality Management (TQM) framework was employed as attempts were made to bring all stakeholders on board in the pursuit of quality education. To achieve this thrust, literature on the historical developments which obtained in the United States of America, China and South Africa on the phenomenon was reviewed. Further to that, the models of PI which influenced the adoption of what has obtained in Zimbabwean public schools were cited too. In the process the legal statutes which mandated PI programmes in operation were explored in detail. Data for this study was obtained by means of a quantitative approach involving questionnaires with precoded responses from a sample of 51 education managers and 47 school governors. The major findings of the empirical investigation was that PI is juridical and the bulk of the parents want to be engaged in both formal and informal academic issues of the school business as long as such engagement is well planned and organised. This collaboration of the minds and efforts does not only enhance the management style of the education manager but also the realisation of academic excellence in schools as both parties collectively embark on a quality conscious crusade. Generally, parents in this province were found to be less meddlesome when it comes to the professional governance of the school system, thus making the bulk of schools in this region “conflict free zones”. Disturbing though was the failure by parents to be engaged in the conception of the school vision and mission statement. Finally, the engagement of parents in the management of PI programmes has been recommended in this thesis as it has been found to be genuine, transparent, human resource oriented, dialogical and accountable if citizen participation in school governance is to be envisaged within a democratic framework. Orientation workshops and seminars can be manned for this purpose if home-brewed PI models meant to enhance ownership, commitment and motivation are to be realised. In that way, a customised educational menu may be approximated. / Teacher Education / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Parental involvement in education is not a new concept; parents have always been involved in education in various ways and to various degrees. Perhaps nowr parents are more sensitive to the important role it plays in ensuring the full potential of the child is realised. Departing from the premise, that it is important, useful and necessary, the researcher has embarked upon an in depth literature study of parental involvement in education in various communities and has undertaken an empirical investigation of the involvement of parents of pupils in secondary schools in the Phoenix North area. The main thrust of this research was to explore the obstacles to parents being involved fully in the education of their children and to make appropriate recommendations to the principals, as the school managers. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

This study investigated the involvement of parents in their children’s homework in the Umlazi District, Mayville Circuit, KwaZulu-Natal. A literature review investigated the nature of parental involvement in learner schoolwork, the role and function of homework in education, models of effective teacher practices to ensure parental involvement in homework and an empirical study that investigated perceptions of teachers, managers and parents regarding effective parental involvement in homework in education. The findings indicate that most teachers agreed that parental involvement in homework is important for learner achievement. The literature review and empirical investigation showed that lack of parental involvement was due to socio-economic factors. From the findings of the investigation, recommendations were made for parents, teachers, school managers and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education to encourage effective parental involvement in their children’s homework and other aspects of their child’s education. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Education Management)

This study explored the influence of irrational beliefs on adolescent secondary school learners’ Mathematics achievement in Zimbabwe. Learner, home and school factors which influence secondary school learners’ Mathematics achievement were discussed and relevant studies were scrutinised. The theoretical views of Albert Ellis regarding the characteristics, effects, acquisition and maintenance of irrational beliefs were discussed together with the major irrational beliefs and their possible relationship with learners’ Mathematics achievement. A sample of 306 randomly selected adolescent Mathematics learners comprising 182 girls and 124 boys in the 14 to 18 year age range participated in the study. A composite questionnaire with subscales on learners’ irrational beliefs, socio-affective variables and perceptions was used during the empirical investigation. Six major hypotheses were tested. The study established that learners’ irrational thoughts about Mathematics correlate negatively with their Mathematics achievement. Learners’ irrational thoughts about Mathematics correlated negatively with motivation, self-concept, parental involvement, and teacher-learner relationships and positively with stress, anxiety and faulty perceptions. Regression analysis proved that learners’ irrational beliefs, socio-affective variables and perceptions jointly explain a greater proportion of the variance in Mathematics achievement than any one of these factors on its own. Therefore, learners’ Mathematics achievement is affected by irrational beliefs together with their socio-affective variables and perceptions. Practical recommendations were given to Mathematics education stakeholders such as teachers, school counsellors, parents and learners to minimise poor Mathematics achievement attributable to irrational beliefs and the allied variables explored in this study. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

The importance of a collaborative engagement between parents and teachers in order to enhance learning in the classroom is so great that the two parties seem inseparable. In this study the teachers indicated that they need the assistance of the parents of the learners whom they teach for them to do well. On the other hand, the parents are also keen to lend a helping hand, since it is the future of their children which is at stake. The challenge that emerges from this situation is that, more often, there is a breakdown in communication. The teachers and parents blame each other, especially when the learners do not perform well at the end of a year. The teachers will say the parents did not do anything to help their children with their schoolwork, while the parents will insist that the teachers failed to do their work. It is of utmost importance to stop the blame-game, but rather to seek ways in which both groups can help the learners to do well in the classroom. The teachers need to inform the parents how they (the teachers) expect them to play their part in helping their learners with their schoolwork. Informing parents about their roles and how they may play them is very important, because then the parents will be able to meet the teachers’ expectations, whereby teaching and learning will be facilitated. The ultimate beneficiaries will be the learners, because they will receive education which is well-coordinated by both the teachers and the parents. The collaboration between teachers and the parents will be guided because the kind of parental involvement will be an informed one. The engagement between teachers and parents will yield good results, because in the process they will help each other to find strategies that will assist the learners in the classroom. This study intends to ascertain from the teachers how they expect the parents to help their children with their schoolwork. It seeks to establish what the teachers’ perceptions are regarding parental involvement, that is, what they think it is, and how they think it should be. Two teachers from two primary schools in the Mogalakwena District of Limpopo Province were used in order to collect the data. These teachers clearly indicated that, indeed, the parents can be of great help, because they can touch some aspects that the teachers cannot reach in the lives of the learners. x They, however, also suggested ways in which the parents are supposed to help their children with schoolwork. The study also explored ways how the roles that the parents must play are communicated to the parents. The researcher’s aim was to explore the teachers’ expectations of parental involvement, and also possible ways in which it can be communicated to the parents.Recommendations were made to the policymakers to refer to when they draw up policies for the governance of schools. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)