published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this study was to develop an instructional tool, which would enable students and their parents to access the student's progress electronically at anytime and to determine if students whose parents utilized the teacher-created website and used email to communicate showed significant improvement in student's academics, behavior and attendance.

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the needs of parents and teachers to identify factors that contributed to academic achievement among elementary grade students. Data was collected from a total of 65 parents and teachers of elementary grade students from Rowland Elementary School in Rowland Heights.

This project consisted of four parent workshops designed to examine and strengthen home-school communication for Banks Elementary School students, teachers, and parents. The goals of the workshops were to improve parent-teacher relations, increase parent usage of school resources, and increase parent student interaction in the home. Workshop topics included providing parents with information on state-mandated testing, literacy issues, reading strategies, and homework.

"The general purpose of this paper is to examine a particular phase of public relations as it relates to the community of Stuart, Florida. The immediate purpose of the paper is to suggest possible avenues of approach to lead lay groups to a fuller understanding of the modern elementary program in Stuart, Florida, a typical small town where rapid rate of growth is raising many problems for the profession and creating active public interest and concern"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1951." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Virgil E. Strickland, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-62).

A qualitative research study was undertaken within a participatory action research design in order to identify the role of the social worker in the advancement of relationships between parents with challenging social circumstances and teachers in a rural community. By making use of visual aids, the discussion groups with parents, teachers and members of the community could be facilitated and it was during these discussion groups that they could describe their experiences with regard to parent-teacher-relationships in the specific rural community. From the data that was collected several challenging social circumstances in the home and school context were identified that can hamper parents’ involvement in school activities as well as parent-teacher-relationships. During the cooperation with the members of the community several responsibilities were attributed to social workers through which they can contribute to the advancement of relationships between parents with challenging social circumstances and teachers in the specific rural community. The responsibilities attributed to social workers include addressing the challenging social circumstances that parents and children experience, supporting parents in their parenting roles, informing parents on the importance of schooling and a vision for the future for their children, empowering parents and children with regard to their rights to education and their rights within the school context and equipping teachers to be able to handle challenging social circumstances in the community. The ways in which social workers can act as social brokers, teachers, facilitators, mediators and advocates in terms of these responsibilities are also discussed. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

A qualitative research study was undertaken within a participatory action research design in order to identify the role of the social worker in the advancement of relationships between parents with challenging social circumstances and teachers in a rural community. By making use of visual aids, the discussion groups with parents, teachers and members of the community could be facilitated and it was during these discussion groups that they could describe their experiences with regard to parent-teacher-relationships in the specific rural community. From the data that was collected several challenging social circumstances in the home and school context were identified that can hamper parents’ involvement in school activities as well as parent-teacher-relationships. During the cooperation with the members of the community several responsibilities were attributed to social workers through which they can contribute to the advancement of relationships between parents with challenging social circumstances and teachers in the specific rural community. The responsibilities attributed to social workers include addressing the challenging social circumstances that parents and children experience, supporting parents in their parenting roles, informing parents on the importance of schooling and a vision for the future for their children, empowering parents and children with regard to their rights to education and their rights within the school context and equipping teachers to be able to handle challenging social circumstances in the community. The ways in which social workers can act as social brokers, teachers, facilitators, mediators and advocates in terms of these responsibilities are also discussed. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The aim of the study was to investigate teacher practices to involve parents in homework in Namibian schools, particularly in the Ombuumbuu cluster in the Onesi circuit. The problem was conducted by a literature study and empirical investigation. The literature review explored the views of teachers regarding the involvement of parents in their children's homework, the need for parent involvement in homework and an exploration of models of effective practices to ensure parent involvement in homework. The empirical study investigated the nature and effectiveness of teacher practices to involve parents in homework in schools in the Ombuumbuu cluster. The findings indicated that although most teachers in the study agreed that parent involvement in homework is important for learners' success, the literature review and the empirical investigation showed little parent involvement in homework in many schools. Based on the literature and the empirical investigation, recommendations were made for teachers with regard to the improvement of parent involvement in homework. / Educational studies / M. Ed.

This research explores parent-teacher consultations in a range of early years settings. Data were collected from eighteen audio-recorded parent-teacher consultations from six different settings and from follow up interviews with parents and teachers. The data related to the consultations and participants’ direct experience of these and revealed the practices of power within these consultations. Using a Foucauldian approach to analysis, the exercise of power and its impact on the parent-teacher relationship was explored. The analysis revealed the ways in which surveillance, normalising judgements and the ‘examination’ of all involved in the reporting process to parents, constitutes an exercise of power. Within the consultation parents, teachers and children are positioned as subjects who are homogenised and judged accordingly. Conversely, the presentation of observations and assessment information leads to the individualisation of children, allowing classifications and comparisons to be made in relation to a particular set of ‘truths’ about what it is to be a child, a parent and a teacher. Throughout the consultations parents and teachers assert and defend their positions and in doing so, attempts at resistance are evident. The findings of the research open up new possibilities for challenging existing modes of practice in parent-teacher consultations. These include implications for initial teacher education and CPD programmes, in order to develop awareness of the way in which power is exercised through parent-teacher interactions and the effects it can have. The need for policy makers to take greater account of the exercise of power when developing policies in relation to partnership with parents, and indeed in evaluating the impact of existing policy is also identified.

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy