SES less important than child and teacher invitations in parent involvement
Socioeconomic status (SES) was not a significant factor in how much parents
participated in their child's education, report researchers in a recent study in
the Journal of Educational Psychology. The real driving force in
parental involvement are interpersonal relationships with children and teachers,
the study concludes.
"Given that home- and school-based involvement relied heavily on specific
invitations from teachers and children, parental involvement programs might
consider emphasizing in-service teacher training for parental involvement and
initiatives to increase parents' school related interactions with children at
home," the authors write.
The study of responses from 853 parents of children from grades 1-6 did not
find that SES was a factor in parental involvement, although they acknowledge
that it has been identified as a factor in previous research and should continue
to be investigated in the future. The study considered both school-based and
home-based parental involvement.
The researchers found that parental involvement decreased as children grew
older. Yet at all ages, specific invitations from the child and from the teacher
were vital. General invitations from the school are unlikely to have the same
effect, they write.
The study tested the authors' own model of three major sources of motivation
for involvement: parents' perceptions of invitations to involvement, life
context (time, energy, knowledge and motivational beliefs (self-efficacy and
their perceived roles).
"Parents' motivations for involvement in children's education: An
empirical test of a theoretical model of parental involvement," Christa Green,
Joan Walker, et al., Journal of Educational Psychology, 2007 Aug Vol 99(3)
532-544.
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