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 Leadership and Management / 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)

In this research, I endeavoured to ascertain how the literacy levels of parents relate to parental involvement in the education of their children in Libode district in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The methodology was qualitative and it included focus group and individual interviews. Specifically, there were four focus groups where each comprised of four parents. A total of thirteen individual interviews were conducted with eight learners and four Heads of Departments (HoD). The results indicated that the literacy level of parents can have a negative or positive impact in their children’s education. Recommendations were made and directions were given regarding the implementation of the programmes that would improve parents’ literacy and result in effective parental involvement, ensuring an improved learner performance. According literature, parental participation plays a role in the performance of children at school. Research shows that effective parental involvement programmes use personal contact, cultural sensitivity, accommodation and communication to reach parents and learners. The study revealed that parents with a higher level of literacy tend to participate in the school activities and support their children more than those parents with a low literacy level. The programmes that were put in place by the schools and other stakeholders improved the literacy levels of most parents that took part and enabled them to assist their children with homework. Parents’ level of literacy, according to the study,has an impact in the manner in which they get involved in their children’s education. Parents with low literacy levels seem to be willing to be involved in the education of their children but find it very difficult to do so. Parents with low literacy levels find it difficult to assist their children at home as they rely on siblings and neighbours for assistance. According to the study, parents only visit the school when they are invited. However, parents and schools seem to have a good relationship showing positive attitude towards their children’s education.Parents of low literacy levels attach a value to the education of their children even though they cannot assist them with homework. Recommendations were made and guidelines were given regarding the implementation of programmes that would improve the literacy in parents and result in effective parental involvement. Effective parental involvement would ensure an improved learner performance. Volunteer teachers should be used to assist schools in helping parents improve their literacy levels. Reluctant parents should be identified and provided with guidance and direction as to how they can be involved to assist their children. Teachers, through the schools, must make special efforts to keep regular contact with parents. Schools should be familiar with the learners’ backgrounds in order to respond effectively to any particular needs in assisting the learners and parents where necessary. Working parents should be accommodated in the school by holding school meetings during the weekends so that they can be in a better position to attend these meetings. Schools should ensure the maximization of parents’ participation in school activities. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:44:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3206.pdf: 4866995 bytes, checksum: ed007ae3e8fdfce0d7dd9ac6cb05a012 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-30 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / Literature highlights family and school as important agents to the infant development, having special influence on child‟s learning. In this perspective, partnership between scholar and familiar systems has been seen as one of the alternatives to prevent and/or to attenuate difficulties in learning and behavioral problems presented by children at the school. Based on these assumptions and on the theoretical framework of the Bioecological Perspective on Human Development, the present study shows the need to train teachers to work with children with learning difficulties. The goal of this study was to elaborate, implement and assess an intervention program for high school teachers working with students with learning difficulties. This program enables the teachers to work with families and to increase the parental involvement in the academic activities, creating better conditions for the children to learn. In order to control the variables investigated, it was used a quasiexperimental design composed by two groups (Experimental Group GE and Control Group GC). We provided measurement of pre-test, post-test and follow-up. Overall, the study involved 180 participants. The 60 teachers, 60 parents and 60 children were divided in GE and GC groups. The program entitled Intervention Program for Teachers as Agents of Promoting Parental Involvement (PROAPEP) was consisted of 1 lecture per week during 10 weeks. The goal of PROAPEP was to provide information to teachers about the strategies to involve parental in the learning process of their children, mainly through their homework. Teachers developed practical and theoretical activities focused on the involvement of the families with their students. The instruments used to collect data from teachers, children and families were: Questionnaire (pre-test, post-test and follow-up situations, Criterion of Brazil Economic Classification, Protocol of Session Evaluation of the Intervention Program, Protocol of Final Evaluation of the Intervention Program, Parental Involvement Scale Teacher´s Perception, Parental Involvement Scale Teacher´s Practice, Home Environment Resources Scale, Rutter A2 Parent Scale, Parental Involvement Scale Practices of Families and Test of School Performance. The results were analyzed through qualitative criteria, descriptive statistics and ANOVA and MANOVA tests. The scope was to verify differences between the participants of GE and GC. We also used the pair-t test to investigate differences in the teachers‟ repertoire of the GE group between the post-test and follow-up phases. The results indicated: a) the teachers of GE group gave more importance to the parental involvement and implemented more activities than the teachers of GC group; b) the families of GE group practiced more activities related to the learning process of the children than those in GC group; c) the children of GE group had better academic performance and fewer behavioral problems compared to children of GC group; d) there was a major difference between pre-test grades and post-test grades for both groups, which indicated the improvement of the GE teachers‟ repertoire at the end of PROAPEP; and e) there was a significant differences between two of the three questions that were answered by GE teachers in the post-test and follow-up, which pointed to an increase in the repertoire of teachers even after six months elapsed from the end of PROAPEP. This way, it is possible to conclude that PROAPEP program was effective to train teachers as agents of the parental involvement in the learning process of children with difficulties. For future research, we suggest the development of studies with the randomization of participants, the monitoring the effects of long-term program and the selection of stratified samples for possible comparisons. / A literatura destaca a família e a escola como importantes contextos de desenvolvimento infantil, que exercem especial influência sobre a aprendizagem da criança. Nessa perspectiva a parceria entre os sistemas escolar e familiar tem sido vista como uma das alternativas para a prevenção e/ou atenuação das dificuldades de aprendizagem e problemas comportamentais apresentados pelas crianças no âmbito escolar. Embasado nesses pressupostos e ancorado no arcabouço teórico oriundo da Perspectiva Bioecológica do Desenvolvimento Humano, o presente estudo visou investir na formação de professores que atuam com crianças que apresentam dificuldades de aprendizagem. O objetivo do estudo foi elaborar, implementar e avaliar um programa de intervenção dirigido aos professores do ensino regular que lecionassem para alunos com dificuldade de aprendizagem. A meta foi instrumentalizá-los a trabalhar junto às famílias de seus alunos para aumentar as possibilidades de envolvimento parental nas atividades acadêmicas e conseqüentemente favorecer a aprendizagem das crianças. Para um maior controle das variáveis investigadas optou-se pelo emprego de um delineamento quase-experimental composto por dois grupos (Grupo Experimental - GE e Grupo Controle - GC), prevendo medidas de pré, pós-teste e follow-up. Participaram do estudo 180 participantes, sendo 60 professores, 60 familiares e 60 crianças distribuídos entre GE e GC. O programa intitulado Programa de Intervenção para Professores como Agentes de Promoção do Envolvimento Parental - PROAPEP foi ofertado em situação presencial por meio de 10 sessões semanais. O PROAPEP teve como meta fornecer suporte informativo aos professores sobre as estratégias para favorecer o envolvimento parental na aprendizagem de seus filhos por meio principalmente de atividades desenvolvidas em seus lares. Os professores desenvolveram atividades teóricas e práticas voltadas ao envolvimento das famílias de seus alunos. Para a coleta de dados com os professores, crianças e famílias foram utilizados os seguintes instrumentos: Questionário (situação de pré, pós-teste e follow-up, Critério de Classificação Econômica Brasil, Protocolo de avaliação das sessões do programa de intervenção, Protocolo de avaliação final do programa de intervenção, Escala de Envolvimento Parental Percepção do Professor, Escala do Envolvimento Parental Prática do Professor, Inventário de Recursos do Ambiente Familiar, Escala Comportamental A2 de Rutter, Escala de Envolvimento Parental Prática das Famílias e Teste de Desempenho Escolar. A análise dos resultados envolveu o uso da análise qualitativa, estatística descritiva e dos testes estatísticos ANOVA e MANOVA para verificar diferenças entre os escores dos participantes do GE e do GC e do TESTE T PAREADO para verificar diferenças no repertório dos professores de GE entre os momentos de pós-teste e follow-up. Os resultados indicam: a) os professores do GE atribuíram maior importância e implementaram atividades de envolvimento parental com freqüência maior do que os professores do GC; b) as famílias do GE praticaram atividades relacionadas a escolarização das crianças em maior proporção do que as famílias do GC; c) que as crianças do GE apresentam melhor desempenho acadêmico e menos problemas comportamentais quando comparadas as crianças do GC; d) a existência de diferença significativa entre as médias do pré e do pós-teste implementados junto aos professores do GE e do GC, o que indica o aumento do repertório dos professores do GE após a participação no PROAPEP; e e) a existência de diferença significativa entre duas das três questões que foram respondidas pelos professores do GE no pós-teste e no follow-up, o que apontou para um aumento no repertório dos professores mesmo após transcorrido seis meses do término do PROAPEP. Desta forma é possível concluir que o PROAPEP se mostrou eficaz na capacitação dos professores como agentes de promoção do envolvimento parental na escolarização das crianças com dificuldades de aprendizagem. Para futuras pesquisas sugere-se o desenvolvimento de estudos com distribuição randômica de participantes, a monitoração dos efeitos do programa a longo prazo e a seleção de amostras estratificadas para possíveis comparações dos resultados.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:45:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissNCBS.pdf: 4023453 bytes, checksum: d6d6b3a62add66035a6ad18040ebe9b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-14 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Changes in society bring a new way of familiar organization and a new look at the participation of the man in this context. Although the father s importance has been recognized, on Brazil, there are few studies which aim at knowing the relation between the father and his child with special needs characteristics. Besides, the findings about the fathers involvement with their children are varied: sometimes mothers are more involved, others fathers spend a significant time with their special needs children. A better characterization would be obtained with observation measures as much father-child interaction, as mother-child interaction, searching in this manner a systematic vision of the family. In this way, the objective of the present study was to describe the interactions of father and mother with their children with Down Syndrome in play situation and compare these interactions, taking in account variables such as stress, empowerment, self-esteem, home environment and additionally the father s participation on the child s care and home activities, the influence of the grandparents and the paternal vision under aspects of fatherhood and the child s deficiency. Ten families having children with Down Syndrome aging between two and six years took part on this study; from diverse socioeconomic and educational status; residents in Ribeirão Preto and São Carlos cities. It had been used: Critério Brasil, Questionário de Caracterização do Sistema Familiar, Guia Geral de Transcrição dos Dados de Entrevista, Entrevista de Caracterização do Papel do Pai Brasileiro na Educação da Criança com Deficiência Mental, Inventário HOME, QRS-F, ISSL, FES, PSOC, Protocolo de Categorias de Análise das Filmagens de Interação and Sistema Definitivo de Categorias Observacionais. These tools were the base for the interviews, home observation and interaction of the family members filming analysis (in the total of one hour). The results indicate that: the mother was the main responsible for the home activities; the father shared the child s care in half of the sample; the social web of support was composed by the own family and relatives; great part of the grandparents participated of the familiar life; only a family offered a rich environment in stimulation and support for the child; the genitors showed low percentages of stress related to the presence of the deficient child; half of the parents presented indicative symptoms of stress; all considered theirselves empowered; and the majority exhibited elevated self-esteem. In relation to the fathers: half of them passed good part of the day with their children; the majority considered theirselves a good father; all considered theirselves an important figure on his children lives; and most of them believed that the child would have a life pretty close to the normal in the future. In relation to the observations, olhar na direção da criança (looking to the child s direction) was the positive behavior of greater frequency for the parents; none of the genitors corrected inappropriate behaviors; and the negative behavior of higher frequency was comentários negativos (negative commentaries). The most emmited positive behavior by children was prestar atenção (pay attention) and the negative behavior was desobediência (disobedience). Furthermore, the most frequent kind of activity was Brincadeiras com objetos (Play with objects) and the interactions occured mainly at Conjunta (Joint) way, with Direta (Direct) transition from one activity to another, with Sincronia (Synchrony), Supervisão (Supervision), Amistosidade (Friendly) and Liderança (Leadership). These fathers, on general, seems to be involved with their children, offering varied stimulation for them, and present low level of stress and show themselves empowered in relation to the presence of a deficient child. / Mudanças na sociedade trazem uma nova forma de organização da família e um novo olhar sobre a participação do homem neste contexto. Apesar da reconhecida importância do pai, no Brasil, são poucos os estudos que visam conhecer as características das relações entre o pai e seu filho com necessidades especiais. Além disso, as descobertas sobre o envolvimento dos pais com suas crianças são variadas: às vezes as mães são mais envolvidas, outras os pais gastam um tempo significativo com seus filhos com necessidades especiais. Uma melhor caracterização seria obtida com medidas de observação tanto das interações pai-criança, como das interações mãe-criança, buscando assim uma visão sistêmica da família. Deste modo, o objetivo deste estudo foi descrever as interações do pai e da mãe com seu filho com Síndrome de Down em situação de brincadeira e comparar essas interações, levando em consideração variáveis como stress, empoderamento, auto-estima e ambiente domiciliar, assim como a participação do pai no cuidado com a criança e nas atividades domésticas, a influência dos avós e a visão paterna sobre aspectos da paternidade e a deficiência da criança. Participaram deste dez famílias de crianças com Síndrome de Down com idade entre dois e seis anos; de diversos níveis sócio-econômico e educacional; residentes nas cidades de Ribeirão Preto e São Carlos. Foram utilizados: Critério Brasil, Questionário de Caracterização do Sistema Familiar, Guia Geral de Transcrição dos Dados de Entrevista, Entrevista de Caracterização do Papel do Pai Brasileiro na Educação da Criança com Deficiência Mental, Inventário HOME, QRS-F, ISSL, FES, PSOC, Protocolo de Categorias de Análise das Filmagens de Interação e Sistema Definitivo de Categorias Observacionais. Esses instrumentos serviram de base para a entrevista, observação domiciliar e análise das filmagens (no total de 1 hora) de interação entre os membros da família. Os resultados indicam que: a mãe era a responsável principal pelas tarefas domésticas; o pai dividia os cuidados com a criança em metade da amostra; a rede social de apoio era composta pela própria família e parentes; a maioria dos avós participavam da vida familiar; apenas uma família oferecia um ambiente rico em estimulação e apoio à criança; os genitores apresentaram baixas porcentagens de stress relacionado à presença da criança deficiente; metade dos genitores apresentou sintomas indicativos de stress; todos se consideraram empoderados; e a maioria apresentou auto-estima elevada. Em relação aos genitores masculinos: metade passava boa parte do dia com suas crianças; a maioria se considerava um bom pai; todos se consideravam uma figura importante na vida de seus filhos; e a maioria acreditava que a criança teria uma vida bem próxima do normal no futuro. Em relação às observações, olhar na direção da criança foi o comportamento positivo de maior freqüência para os pais; nenhum genitor corrigiu comportamentos inadequados; e o comportamento negativo de maior freqüência foi comentários negativos . O comportamento positivo mais emitido pelas crianças foi prestar atenção e o comportamento negativo foi desobediência . Além disso, o tipo de atividade mais freqüente foi Brincadeiras com objetos e as interações ocorreram predominantemente de forma Conjunta , com transição Direta de uma atividade para outra, com Sincronia , Supervisão , Amistosidade e Liderança . Conclui-se que esses pais, no geral, parecem estar envolvidos com seus filhos, oferecendo estimulação variada a eles, e apresentam baixo nível de stress e se mostram empoderados quanto a presença de uma criança deficiente.

This study explored parent perspectives about their participation in a federal TRIO pre-college program. Specifically, parents were asked to identify the program elements that encouraged and supported their participation in the college-going process of their child in a TRIO pre-college program. Forty parents of low-income, first generation TRIO students were purposefully selected for this study because they had participated in the parent component and because their child had enrolled in college within a year of high school graduation. Q methodology was used for this study because it is designed to address the subjective first person viewpoint. In this Q study, the forty parents were asked to sort 33 value statements according to what was most like their perspective and least like their perspective, with regard to the program elements that encouraged and supported their participation. The 33 statements were derived from the current research on parental involvement and a parent survey to produce the Q-sort. Parents were also asked to explain why they sorted the statements holding the highest and lowest positions, as they did. Subsequently, the parents identified five particular program elements that encouraged and supported their involvement in the college-going process. These factors were named: (a) A sense of community ”village”, (b) A sense of shared accountability and increased parental self-efficacy (c) A sense of the parent and student increasing social capital, (d) A sense of program relevance and (e) A sense of having highly committed program staff. The research findings have implications for program development, program practices, and staff training. Recommendations for future research have been included.

This investigation examined the relationships between parental involvement, peer-initiated climates, and perfectionism to goal orientation as well as children's enjoyment and the intention to continue playing sport in youth sport. Participants were 188 athletes, 100 boys (M = 12.06, SD = 1.06) and 88 girls (M = 12.18, SD = .73). The athletes completed the TEOSQ, Sport MPS, PIAS, and the PeerMCYSQ. Parental support and peer task environment was related to girls' and boy's task orientation. For boys, personal standards, parental pressure, and fewer concerns over mistakes, also were related to task orientation. Ego orientation was related to peer-initiated ego and task climates, for the boys. For the girls, higher personal standard was the only variable related to ego orientation. For enjoyment, task orientation was the strongest predictor for the girls and the only predictor for the boys for enjoyment. The fewer concerns girls had over mistakes the more enjoyment they reported. For girls and boys, intention to continue playing next season was predicted only by enjoyment. However, results were varied when intention to play next year was examined. For boys, no predictors were discovered whereas for girls, higher levels of enjoyment and task orientation, and lower levels of parental support and pressure related to intention.

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)