Academic success is one of the many positive outcomes parents want for their children. That is probably why you clicked on this blog. Parents might often think and ask themselves: 'How can I improve academic motivation in my child? How can I help them be more engaged in their learning? What can I do to help them succeed academically?' There is a fine line with positive parental involvement in supporting your child in schooling. If, as a parent, you become too involved in your child's schooling, the child may quickly get discouraged and feel as though you are not giving them enough freedom. If you are too relaxed, they may not take school seriously and not be as motivated or engaged in their education.
This post is meant to help parents understand the importance of parental involvement in school, the current research findings, and its possible outcomes on children's adjustment and academic achievement. When many parents think of being involved in their child's education, they may only believe that helping them with homework and attending their Christmas concerts will suffice, but there is much more parent involvement needed.
What Is Parental Involvement?
It is a multidimensional construct that refers to parents/caregivers engagement in the school education of their child, like communicating with the child's teacher and supporting their child's schooling at home, like helping them with homework. It consists of three forms: school-based involvement, home-based involvement, and homework involvement.
School-Based Involvement
School-based involvement is the parent's direct involvement with the school. There are two components: school-based participation (which directly affects your child), and school-based governance (which indirectly affects your child). Examples of school-based participation would be attending parent-teacher meetings, direct communication with the teacher, attending school events such as Christmas concerts/plays, volunteering for school field trips or in the classroom, or attending other school events like open houses. Examples of school-based governance include being on the parent council and attending school board meetings.
Home-Based Involvement
Home-based involvement takes place outside of school and has two components: Discussion and encouragement, and Cognitive-intellectual involvement. Discussion and encouragement include talking with your children about school and encouraging them in their academic endeavours. Cognitive-intellectual involvement is the arrangement of cognitively stimulating activities or environments, such as reading a book to them, helping them read, or taking them to the library.
Homework Involvement
Homework involvement — as the name suggests — is when parents help their children complete homework. This can be having a quiet space for them to do homework, encouraging them to do homework, directly helping them with homework, or having rules about doing homework.
Recommendations for Parents
- Get involved in your child's school! Join the parent council, go to those school board meetings, attend parent-teacher meetings! Often, children become overlooked by their teachers when the child is doing decently well in school. If you would like to have teachers keep an eye on your child, become an active member within the school. This shows teachers that you care about their schooling and so should the teacher.
- Ask your child what they are learning in school. This gives you, as a parent, a better idea as to how and what your child is learning. It also allows you to know if your child is struggling with a certain subject. Another benefit is that it allows you to know if there is anything else happening in the classroom, like bullying, that could be a negative factor in their learning experience.
- Homework involvement should be more direct for young children and more conversation-based for older children. Discussion and encouragement work better with older children and more direct interactions help scaffold for younger children. Be careful with direct homework involvement during early adolescence — it is seen as less effective as preteens/teens want to establish their independence. If your child is struggling in school, homework assistance may be needed, but be careful not to end up doing the homework for them.
- Set rules and boundaries when it comes to homework and be cautious with constant monitoring. There is a positive association found between homework rules but a negative association for homework monitoring. Setting rules supports autonomy and builds responsibility, while constant monitoring can undermine it.
- Begin partaking in cognitive-intellectual involvement with your child at a young age. Read books/stories to them, have them read to you, take them to the library, and talk constantly with your child. These activities help build upon their receptive language and phonological awareness which will in turn improve their academic achievement.
Research Findings
- Parental involvement directly affects emotional adjustment. It can have a validating function for the child — they feel that you care about them, which supports their feeling of worthiness, and may protect the child from developing problems such as depression and anxiety.
- Parental involvement in children's homework had a negative association with children's academic achievement.
- Parents' help with homework did have a positive association with motivation and engagement, but was only significant for engagement. Helping your child with their homework has a significant positive impact on their engagement with their schooling, but very little with their motivation.
- Parents' school-based involvement had a significant positive effect on children from preschool to high school.
- Home-based involvement is more important than school-based involvement for academic motivation.
- School governance is related to children's academic achievement and participation.
Parental involvement in schooling affects multiple domains of your child's adjustment — academic outcomes, social and emotional adjustment. This is why it is so important for parents to start getting involved with their child's schooling at a young age. Parents are modelling the behaviours and actions they want their child to exhibit. Therefore, if you are an active participant in their schooling, they will be active participants in their learning.
If your child is struggling emotionally or behaviourally in the school context, our team at Little Tree Psychology in Sherwood Park and Edmonton works with children, teens, and parents. Book a session.