This study investigated how the parents of children in rural areas could be involved in classroom activities of the school which promote teaching and learning. The researcher is of the opinion that parents could become involved in several activities occurring at school which would provide opportunities for parents to be familiarised with the school, and at the same time, provide opportunities for the children to bond with their own families and the families of the other children. There are certain activities and responsibilities that parents can undertake which would assist teachers to accomplish the required goals of teaching and learning in the classroom. The study reviewed the literature on parental involvement in schools, creating an awareness of both the rights and the responsibilities of parents in their children¡¦s education and the vital role that they can play in decision-making. A qualitative research approach was utilised in this study and observation, one-on-one interviews and focus group interviews were used as instruments for data collection. The most important findings are as follows: Parents and teachers in rural areas lack knowledge about the importance of and need for parental involvement in classroom life. Parental involvement requires thoughtful and coordinated planning. Parental involvement could benefit all people concerned at school. Parental involvement increases the learners¡¦ achievement and ensures learners¡¦ co-operation. Teachers and parents need each other to educate a child. / Dr. M.C. van Loggerenberg

No description available.

Parental participation supports students' academic success and increases positive peer interactions. Prior to the 1980s, parental participation was viewed as a unidimensional construct; however, it has since been understood as a multidimensional one. Studies from Epstein have demonstrated that culture, community, and family structures are some of the many factors that affect parental participation. In addition, Huntsinger and Jose have demonstrated that Asian-American parents participate in their children's education differently than do European Americans, yet research has not examined the specificities of South-Asian Americans' (SAAs) and Asian-Indian Americans' (AIAs) parental involvement. There are 6 recognized methods that parents can use to participate in their child's education. Assuming that the methods of participation used by parents can affect their children's academic performance and social development, the purpose of this study was to examine these methods of parental participation with respect to AIAs and SAAs. Using Epstein's questionnaire, 308 AIA/SAA parents were recruited who had a child born in the United States and who was attending a U.S. school between kindergarten and Grade 2 at the time of the study. MANOVA and ANOVA tests were used to calculate whether a significant difference existed amongst the 6 methods of parental participation, based on the gender of the parent or the gender of the child. There was no significant preference among the 6 methods of parental participation, nor was any difference found that related to the gender of the child. However, the results indicated that mothers were more involved than fathers in their child's education, although there was no preference among the 6 methods. Given the lack of clear direction emergent in these findings, implications for future research to further the understanding of parental participation of SAA/AIA are discussed.

Parental participation supports students' academic success and increases positive peer interactions. Prior to the 1980s, parental participation was viewed as a unidimensional construct; however, it has since been understood as a multidimensional one. Studies from Epstein have demonstrated that culture, community, and family structures are some of the many factors that affect parental participation. In addition, Huntsinger and Jose have demonstrated that Asian-American parents participate in their children's education differently than do European Americans, yet research has not examined the specificities of South-Asian Americans' (SAAs) and Asian-Indian Americans' (AIAs) parental involvement. There are 6 recognized methods that parents can use to participate in their child's education. Assuming that the methods of participation used by parents can affect their children's academic performance and social development, the purpose of this study was to examine these methods of parental participation with respect to AIAs and SAAs. Using Epstein's questionnaire, 308 AIA/SAA parents were recruited who had a child born in the United States and who was attending a U.S. school between kindergarten and Grade 2 at the time of the study. MANOVA and ANOVA tests were used to calculate whether a significant difference existed amongst the 6 methods of parental participation, based on the gender of the parent or the gender of the child. There was no significant preference among the 6 methods of parental participation, nor was any difference found that related to the gender of the child. However, the results indicated that mothers were more involved than fathers in their child's education, although there was no preference among the 6 methods. Given the lack of clear direction emergent in these findings, implications for future research to further the understanding of parental participation of SAA/AIA are discussed.

Cette thèse aborde la question de la participation parentale en milieu préscolaire, dans la cadre de modalités d’accueil dites non formelles ou non conventionnelles au Chili. Il s’agit d’abord de s’interroger sur la pertinence de la notion de participation dans le champ éducatif. Des considérations sociopolitiques sur le sujet sont mises en question au profit de perspectives associées au courant de l’apprentissage situé, qui considèrent la participation à des groupes comme une expérience sociale incontournable permettant l’apprentissage des individus selon des modalités diverses. Une revue de littérature aborde ensuite la question des modalités d’accueil à caractère non formel ou non conventionnel en Amérique Latine. La situation du préscolaire chilien dans son ensemble est également prise en compte, afin de mieux comprendre la place de ces modalités d’accueil et les choix de terrains effectués. Ces choix sont précisés et justifiés en cohérence avec l’approche qualitative, marquée par l’importance accordée à l’entretien compréhensif collectif en tant que principal dispositif d’enquête. La situation de six structures chiliennes est ensuite présentée à l’aide d’une monographie consacrée à chacune. Cette approche par cas vise l’identification des logiques et des modalités participatives développées ainsi que des orientations discursives sous-jacentes. Une analyse transversale des structures est ensuite présentée, avec une attention particulière portée aux possibilités offertes par les modalités de participation développées et à leur négociation. L’analyse inclut une reconsidération critique de certaines questions théoriques, notamment la possibilité de concevoir les structures d’accueil selon le modèle des communautés de pratique. L’on s’intéresse finalement aux processus d’apprentissage informel pouvant être associés aux modalités de participation parentale et plus largement communautaire développées dans ces structures. / Cette thèse aborde la question de la participation parentale en milieu préscolaire, dans la cadre de modalités d’accueil dites non formelles ou non conventionnelles au Chili. Il s’agit d’abord de s’interroger sur la pertinence de la notion de participation dans le champ éducatif. Des considérations sociopolitiques sur le sujet sont mises en question au profit de perspectives associées au courant de l’apprentissage situé, qui considèrent la participation à des groupes comme une expérience sociale incontournable permettant l’apprentissage des individus selon des modalités diverses. Une revue de littérature aborde ensuite la question des modalités d’accueil à caractère non formel ou non conventionnel en Amérique Latine. La situation du préscolaire chilien dans son ensemble est également prise en compte, afin de mieux comprendre la place de ces modalités d’accueil et les choix de terrains effectués. Ces choix sont précisés et justifiés en cohérence avec l’approche qualitative, marquée par l’importance accordée à l’entretien compréhensif collectif en tant que principal dispositif d’enquête. La situation de six structures chiliennes est ensuite présentée à l’aide d’une monographie consacrée à chacune. Cette approche par cas vise l’identification des logiques et des modalités participatives développées ainsi que des orientations discursives sous-jacentes. Une analyse transversale des structures est ensuite présentée, avec une attention particulière portée aux possibilités offertes par les modalités de participation développées et à leur négociation. L’analyse inclut une reconsidération critique de certaines questions théoriques, notamment la possibilité de concevoir les structures d’accueil selon le modèle des communautés de pratique. L’on s’intéresse finalement aux processus d’apprentissage informel pouvant être associés aux modalités de participation parentale et plus largement communautaire développées dans ces structures.

The current study examined the level of participation by families who have Vlll been involved between 1 and 3 years with the Community-Family Partnership (CFP) project. The CFP project is 1 of 34 Comprehensive Child Development Projects funded by the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families through the Head Start Bureau. The CFP makes available comprehensive, on-going services to enrolled families. Twenty-six families were identified as the Low Participation Group . Twenty-three families were identified as the High Participation Group. Children from each group were tested using the Battelle Developmental Inventory on a yearly basis. Results of a repeated measures ANOV A indicated that children of families with high participation had better child BDI scores than children of families with low participation. No difference was found in the economic status of these families. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using family demographic characteristics and other measures to create a profile of an actively participating family.

Sure Start Children’s Centres and their predecessors, the Sure Start Local Programmes, were central to New Labour’s drive to reduce social exclusion through early intervention in the lives of families with young children. Where previous research predominantly focused on the impact and effectiveness of programme delivery, there has also been a great deal of emphasis on those families who do not use these services. However, in attempting to understand why parents do not use Children’s Centres, the approach has been one that placed non-participation experiences away from Centres, distanced and unrelated. This thesis presents a sociological analysis of two Children’s Centres where the institutional processes and practices that shape what these spaces mean are explored in depth. In exploring some of the day to day interactions and practices, this thesis challenges some of the taken for granted assumptions, in order to create a meaningful space for dialogue. Using an ethnographic methodology two Centres were studied to explore how Children’s Centres were perceived by those who used them, those who work in them and those who walked past them. The fieldwork was conducted over an eighteen month period and involved a multitude of methods; participation and observation in Centre activities, focus groups with staff, and parents and interviews with parents within and outside Centres. I also had many ‘conversations with a purpose’ with parents in community toddler groups and other spaces that parents, predominantly mothers occupy with their young children. What emerged was that an understanding of these spaces is complex and whilst invaluable to a small number of very regular users they are also insignificant to others. For other users the plurality of meaning reflects the many ways that these spaces are occupied by parents and children. Points of tension were apparent as parents made these spaces their own, sometimes in conflict with how they ‘ought’ to be used. The thesis uses the work of Foucault to explore how power relations are played out within the Centres and the way that government operates at a distance. From this perspective it is clear that Children’s Centres are political spaces, where they have become ‘depoliticised’ as part of the disciplinary processes of the ‘conduct of conduct’. They are spaces where ‘technologies of government’ are employed in practice and where the drive to evidence outcomes focuses practitioners’ attention on end results. As a result the processes, the means to achieving those results, can go unexamined.

Thesis (M. Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2005 / Refer to document

Over the last 25 years, inadequate pain management for postoperative children continues to be reported in the literature. Inadequate postoperative pain management leads to detrimental physiological and psychological effects, and lengthens children's hospitalisation. Parental participation can improve the quality of care in hospital and after discharge. Both pain management and parental participation are influenced by the attitudes of nurses and parents. However, only little attention has been paid to this field particularly in Taiwan. The purpose of the present study was: firstly, to understand nurses' and parents' attitudes toward pain management and parental participation in postoperative child care. Secondly, to explore the personal factors affecting their attitudes to pain management and parental participation. The third purpose was to compare nurses' and parents' attitudes toward pain management and parental participation in postoperative care of children in Taiwan. A descriptive, cross sectional design was used to survey paediatric nurses (n=63) and parents (n=133) of children from 0 to 17 years old who had undergone surgery in three Taiwan teaching hospitals. The findings indicate that misconceptions about pain medications were found in both parents and nurses. Both parents and nurses held neutral to positive attitudes towards parental participation and postoperative pain management. Both parents and nurses who had higher education levels had more positive attitudes toward the use of pain medication. Parents who were younger, had a higher education level, had previous experience of caring for their child during hospitalisation, had previous experience with their child having surgery and who had younger children, had more positive attitudes toward parental participation. Nurses who had more working experience with children had more positive attitudes toward parental participation. Nurses and parents all had higher agreement in using non-pharmacological methods for children's postoperative pain relief. Nurses had more agreement than the parents in the subscale of "parent-professional collaboration" and another five items in the PPAS questionnaire which included parents being allowed to change simple dressings, restrain their child, and feed their baby; parents being informed; and enhanced professional-patient relationship with parental involvement. Parents had more positive attitudes than nurses to the subscale of "parent presence" and the parents were more in favour than nurses of the provision of facilities such as free meals or parking fees. Improvement in the quality of children's pain management requires more education to enhance nurses' and parents' knowledge and attitudes toward children's pain management and parental participation. Additional programs are needed that target nurses with less paediatric experience as well as older parents to develop more positive attitudes to parental participation. Paediatric nurses need to be aware and satisfy parents' desire to be present during their child's hospitalisation, as well as help parents to clarify their misconceptions about side effects and tolerance of analgesics utilisation.

No description available.