Across the world there is a growing recognition of the importance of engaging parents,families and communities in raising the educational aspirations and attainment of young people (DEECD 2008) There is a wealth of evidence which highlights that parental engagement in schooling positively influences pupil achievement and attainment (Desforges and Abouchaar 2003). In many countries and across different school systems the issue of engaging parents in schooling is a shared aspiration and goal. However, it also brings many challenges
References
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD). 2008. Blueprint for earlychildhood development and school reform: A school reform discussion paper. Melbourne: DEECD.
Desforges, C., and Abouchaar, A. 2003. The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievement and adjustment: A literature review. Report Number 433.Department of Education and Skills.
Discuss at least two challenges that schools face to engage parents in their children's academic and social life.
The widespread recognition that parents involvement in their children’s academic and social life have not translated into an appropriate level of parent involvement generally. Many factors are responsible for lack of parent involvement. For different parents the reasons may vary. The barrier may be due to a socioeconomic or cultural nature amongst others.
ReplyDeleteSocioeconomic barriers to parent’s involvement in their child’s academic and social life are well known and widespread in many countries, including Belize. These barriers are especially prevalent in impoverished communities. One social factor of interest in Belize is the single parent phenomena. Over the years the traditional family structure has been continuously disintegrating. More and more families has only one parent, usually the mother. In most cases these single parents are the sole bread-winners of their families and has to spend long hours working to provide for the family. Generally these parents leave the home early and return home late, often completely exhausted. The increasing number of teenage pregnancies have only compounded the problem. Therefore, many parents do not have the energy nor the time to participate meaningfully in their child’s social and academic life.
Cultural barriers which impedes parents involvement in the social and academic life of their children have also been identified. One such factor is the generation gap that often exists between parents and their children. Times are changing so rapidly that oftentimes parents and their children may have significant cultural differences. Children may be able to relate more with their pairs than with their parents. Children to a large extent are being Americanize to a greater extent than their parents. Parents and children don’t see “eye to eye” on many issues. Additionally, many children have more formal education than their parents and therefore many parents feel impotent to assist their children in academic matters.
In spite of the advantages of parent participation in their children’s academic and social life it is not an easy task for parents to find the time and energy to be good partners with schools in the education of their children. As a teacher I can attest this fact. Two challenges schools face in engaging parents in their children’s academic and social life are: (1) Supervision of children’s activities, such as home-work, television viewing and after-school time. (2) Parent participation in school events, such as volunteering or attending parenting workshops.
ReplyDeleteEconomic and time constraints are one of the major obstacles why parents are unable to properly supervise their children or participate in school events. Most parents work at physically demanding jobs. In addition, a large amount of parents are single mothers. Their hands are full with their job and they also have other children they need to care for. Majority of parents are so overwhelmed that they are incapable of forming an effective partnership with schools in an effort to assist their children. They simply don’t have the time and money required to invest in their children in an effort to assist them in attaining their optimal social functioning.
Parents own school experience may influence the proper supervision of their children and their participation in school events. Parents who dropped out of school to help sustain their families or care for their siblings at home lack the capacity to help their children with home-work. In addition, they may not feel competent in school settings. They may perceive school visits as an uncomfortable experience from their own school days, thus avoiding participation in school events.
Cordelia Belezaire
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest challenge I believe in Belize that school face to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life is Poverty. Across our country, teachers are faced with the reality that a lot of their students go to school with their stomach empty. Poverty is an issue that more and more of our nation’s children are coming face to face with.
The price that children of poverty must pay is unbelievably high. Our schools are not prepared to meet the needs of these children under this circumstance. Some factors very common in our community that cause poverty are unemployment; abuse and neglect; substance abuse; dangerous neighbourhoods etc. Single or uneducated parents is also a dominant factor in our society. Schools are stuck between a rock and a hard place in trying to have these parents be active in their child’s development. Most of these parents let it be known that they are out trying hard to find food to put on the table and they don’t have the time or effort to waste in going to a school’s activity where they will not benefit financially or with some sort of assistance.
Another challenge that schools in Belize faces to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life is the schools inability to attract the involvement of these parents from the beginning. A lot of the schools are also faced with financial difficulty that causes them to restrict themselves from having certain programs that focuses on parents’ involvement. If enough resources and research were available to schools from the beginning then they will be able to find the right ways and means to attract the parents of their students.
Daisy Aba said
ReplyDeleteThe first big challenge i see parents in belize who want to be an active part of their student life face today is the issue of time.The reason why i say that is because once upon a time only fathers had to work out, mothers had free time to work from home and be avalable to go with the children to meetings and to assist with assignments. now that both parent must be apart of the career feild for ends to meet, their is no one at home to attent school meetings and assist with assignment.The situation becomes even harder when the house hold is run by a single parent.In my case for example i was raise by a mother alone who left the house from four in the morning to go to work and she wont be back home until six in the evenings momdy to saturday. it was not that she did not care but there were no free time.Up to now present she is still working that shift and if she need to go somewhere she either close the shop and gain noting or pay someone to be their for her. there are some fathers who are prently in this situation and agian society who do not know the inside of this home would calss that father to be irresponsible for not attending meeting. which is not the cause. So it is not fair for all the parents to be put inthe bracket like the delinquent parents who are at home doing nothing, yet still refuse to attend. i beilieve that if working parents would get more free time and if meetings would be schedule during the parents free time they would be active in their child education.
seconly another challenge i see for parents especially is the some of them do not have the reading level that they need in order to assit the child. some of our parents came out of std four and five or even six and did not do the type of work we are now teaching. so us as teachers need to be mindful of the assignment being sent home and the space of time in which it is to be done. cuse if the child go home and need help doing that assignement and they do not have anyoneat home who is capable to help them. what do you think will happen both the parents and the child will get fustrated and nothing will get done. then the child might be afraid to come to you and explain the sisuation becacue he or she might be afraid of you embassasing them so they prefer take the punishment. we need to be very careful what we plame soley on parents.
i some what agree to what Cordelia said about proverty but i do not put proverty as a main problem for parents not participating in their education. i say this because they might say that they are in proverty but they have the most number of children and if a bash should come up they would be the first to go. check the clothing that they wear the best. only children face proverty around here cause they cannot work for themself. that is my take on the rpverty situation. you cause yourself to be in proverty. never put your hat highter than you can reach is one of my mom favorite phrase. additionally parent who ahve thr oppertunity to participate in activities at school with their child refuse to go so it not just to school to blame again these activities need to be done at times when paents are able to go.
ReplyDeletei totally agree with calbet response to this situation. i say this because he mention most of what was my original response to the situation. our family structure have change. more and more the situation will be going into a deeper hold. that is because the the mail is not doing their part. not all the males because there still a few dads who would do anything to say with their child or children. the economic and social problems will only change if our men stats doing their part and some of the irresponsible females would take up their responsibilities and change our community.
ReplyDeleteDenise Samuels
ReplyDeleteHealthy relationship between home and school contribute to student achievement. Regardless of socioeconomic level, ethnic and racial background, or parents’ level of education, students can do better academically when the families are involved in their learning. Lack of parent involvement in their children’s academic and social life is one pf the factors that contribute to our students not performing well in schools.
One of the biggest challenges is motivating the parents to take interest in their children’s activities. Some parents do not come to school or even participate in family events held at school. So if the children do not see parents interest in school then it tends to trickle down to the children and therefore the children have no interest in school. They just got to school because they say they should go, in other words they go without a purpose. Some parents blame their lack of interest in school n being overwhelmed with their official work that they could hardly take out some time for their beloved children. We have to face this reality and while I understand that because parents need to work so they can put food on the table. Their must be something that parents could do to be more involved.
Another challenge is getting more parental supervision as it relates to children doing homework. I have been teaching for over 20 years, getting children to complete homework has always been a challenge in our educational system. Parents need to see that their children do homework. I know that many parents have not completed their education so it is difficult to help their children but this is where the parents give the teacher background knowledge so that parents\teachers can workout something. But there are some parents who do can help their teachers. What to do with them? We teachers need to come up with innovative ways to get parents involve: Build trust\personal relationship with families, encourage two way communication, share homework policy, involve parents in recognition of learning, know your students background, tap community\cultural knowledge.
I am totally in agreement with Calbert. The increase in teenage pregnancy has compounded the single parent phenomenon. As a result, the number of single parent families headed by mothers is on the rise. These parents plagued by socioeconomic issues lack the capacity to actively participate in the academic and social life of their children. In addition, the generation gap between parents and children further magnifies the challenges schools face in their effort to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAlicia Bent
ReplyDeleteIt has often been said that each successive generation should enjoy a better quality of life and standard of living than its predecessors. In this light, parents view the provision of their children’s education as an investment security for the younger generation to reap the socio-economic opportunities that the society has to offer. The society dictates that educational institutions adequately ensure students marketability for the work force (academic skills); and preparing them to become productive and active citizens (social skills) in national development. While the schools are viewed as the major stakeholder in education, the role of the parents as stakeholders is equally important. Hence, there is a need for greater cooperation and collaboration between these two stakeholders. However, schools face many challenges in their effort to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life. Despite the parents’ good intent, they often lack the time; or they are faced with a language barrier, which deter them from participating in school events.
Although parents may be well informed about the academic and social events for the school year, many times these are held when it is inconvenient for working parents to attend. Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meetings, for example, are usually held before 5:00 pm, even though the typical work day ends at 5:00 pm. Today, it is customary to have both parents working in the nuclear family. Thus, it is difficult for either parent to offer voluntary services to the school, for example, to help organize a science exhibition. Just imagine how harder it is for the single-parents who may be holding two jobs in order to provided for their families. In fact, not only there is no time for these parents to engage in school events, but there is less time for parental supervision of the students at home.
In other instances language barrier may impede parental involvement in the education process of their children. What benefit is derived to Kekchi-Mayan parents who are asked to attend a parent training workshop that is delivered in English? How can Spanish speaking parents eloquently participate in discussions with school administration regarding disciplinary actions taken against their children? Similarly, the parents may be unable to assist children with school assignments because these are given in English, which is the language of formal education in Belize.
In an effort to improve parents’ involvement and decrease parental isolation or alienation in the education of students, schools in Belize will need to revisit their approaches to encourage parents to participate in school events.
I concur with Alicia's position. She discussed two real issues hindering parents from involvement in thei child's social and academic life inspite of school's efforts. Indeed, lack of time and language differences does provide barries to parent's involvement.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cordelita that poverty may pose a barrier to parent's involvement in the social and economic life of their children. However, I think that she did not explained how poverty produce such a barrier. In addition, the phrase, "attract involvement" is not clear. A better choice of words could have made her comment more precise. Instead of attract she could have used words like motivate or stimulate.
Sandra commenting to question posted:
ReplyDeleteIt is established that when parents are involved in their children’s education a higher achievement is attainted by the child. Having a parent looking after the welfare of their children not only shows their support but also serves as motivation to the child to continue doing their best. We would only desire that each child we encounter in class has parent(s) involved in their education but that is not the case. In most instances, as educators, we can pinpoint which child has that backup support from home. Two challenges that an educational institution faces in engaging parents in their children’s academic and social life are Participation in School and Family Learning Activities.
We can see that schools require the support and participation of the parents regarding their children’s social life at school. In Belize, majority of the schools have to raise funds on their own in order to provide students with extracurricular activities to enhance socialization. Many parents when attending meetings would outright state, “all this school wants is money”, “what does the Principal think, money grows on trees”. It is understood that many parents cannot financially afford to donate money or goods but schools do not only require that type of participation from parents but also assistance “in kind”. If they cannot help financially they can help physically. If we would have parents involved in that manner the communication between the school’s administration and parents would be closer and hence the child also appreciates both sides working together. By being active in school, parents would not be left behind in the dark wondering why the schools needs to raise funds “again”, but rather appreciate that whatever the school does is for the benefit of the children. Parents need to open their eyes and stop asking “why”, all the time but should seek the answers on their own by actively participating and keeping a positive attitude.
The other challenge faced by school is Family Learning Activities. Schools often time lacks the support from parents regarding doing their part at home. Some parents do not like to receive advice regarding how to help their children study. As homeroom teachers, we often remind parents to keep asking their children about homework, projects, exams, etc… Parents would often say that they do check but majority of the time they do not physically check their children’s assignments. I understand that there are some parents that lack educational background; therefore, they cannot assist their children but they should at least check to ensure something was written down. You would find, and this is from personal experience, that when parents lack education they are the biggest motivators to their children reciting to them the importance of education and that “education” is the best inheritance they can leave. The truth still remains that some parents fail to be the “motivator”, in their children’s lives. Yes, they want their children to learn, pass and graduate but there is only so much a teacher can do, the rest is up to the parents. At times the teachers serve as the motivators but only a few students benefit from this. If parents are literate, they need to spend more time with their children whether it is checking over their homework or reading a book together with them. If parents are illiterate, they need to start motivating their children with comforting words and encouraging them to succeed and do better than them. Children learn from their parents more than they do from their teacher, which is why parents need to be more active with their children’s education and not leave everything for the teacher. If parents are more involved the relationshp between parent-school/teacher would be smoother.
Parents are a child's first teacher, and play a vital role throughout their child's formal education. Healthy relationships between home and school contribute to student achievement. Regardless of socioeconomic level, ethnic/racial background, or parents' education level, students do better academically when their families are involved in learning (Antunez, 2000).
ReplyDeleteThe educational systems around Belize are facing increasing challenges: we live in a period of growing school autonomy and parents’ roles in their children’s lives have been weakened. There has been extensive research done on the effects of parent involvement and children. Most school aged children spend at least seventy percent of their time outside of school. Which means that they are doing something, but what exactly is it?
Many children today have working parents who don't get home until after 5pm. So what happens to them between the hours of 2:30 and 5:30pm? If they are lucky they have some sort of extra-curricular activity to keep them occupied, or a good friend to hang out with. But for most, these hours of the day are spent watching television, playing video games, or getting into trouble. With little to no parent supervision it becomes difficult for children to find constructive things to do with their time. The less time parents spend with their children the more likely their child will have low self esteem issues and less motivation to achieve success.
With all this said, two challenges that schools face to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life are that they have no time for the child and schooling because of their demanding jobs. Parents have little or no time to participate in their child’s education especially when it comes to studying and home work supervision. Secondly, teacher /parent relationships rarely do seem to exist and again due to their demanding jobs. When parents and teacher communicate, the child is aware and becomes more motivated in school as well.
I do agree with Calbert that “more and more families have only one parent, usually the mother. In most cases these single parents are the sole bread-winners of their families”. Which to my opinion is the result, as Silverio said “Supervision of children’s activities, such as home-work, television viewing and after-school time” becomes a challenge as well. Most extra-curricular activities can only happen if parents get involved and help with classes and activities.
The educational systems around Belize are facing increasing challenges: we live in a period of growing school autonomy and parents’ roles in their children’s lives have been weakened. There has been extensive research done on the effects of parent involvement and children. Most school aged children spend at least seventy percent of their time outside of school. Which means that they are doing something, but what exactly is it?
ReplyDeleteMany children today have working parents who don't get home until after 5pm. So what happens to them between the hours of 2:30 and 5:30pm? If they are lucky they have some sort of extra-curricular activity to keep them occupied, or a good friend to hang out with. But for most, these hours of the day are spent watching television, playing video games, or getting into trouble. With little to no parent supervision it becomes difficult for children to find constructive things to do with their time. The less time parents spend with their children the more likely their child will have low self esteem issues and less motivation to achieve success.
With all this said, two challenges that schools face to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life are that they have no time for the child and schooling because of their demanding jobs. Parents have little or no time to participate in their child’s education especially when it comes to studying and home work supervision. Secondly, teacher /parent relationships rarely do seem to exist and again due to their demanding jobs. When parents and teacher communicate, the child is aware and becomes more motivated in school as well.
I do agree with Calbert that “more and more families have only one parent, usually the mother. In most cases these single parents are the sole bread-winners of their families”. Which to my opinion is the result, as Silverio said “Supervision of children’s activities, such as home-work, television viewing and after-school time” becomes a challenge as well. Most extra-curricular activities can only happen if parents get involved and help with classes and activities.
Shaunna said
ReplyDeleteThere are many challenges that schools face to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life. Every day we as educators can see the decline of our parent’s participation in school related activities. I would like to use my school Toledo Community in my reflection.
One of our major challenges at TCC is geographic location of our parent’s; our student body is eight hundred ninety students; seventy five percent come from rural Toledo district Columbia, San Antonio, Jalacte etc; so the parents are very far away at various location it is difficult to get parents involved. What we do to assist parents to be involved in their child’s development is to provide the government buses that bring the students to school to bring our parents on a Saturday morning for our PTA meetings, report cards, fund raising etc. Then we are faced with another challenge because our working parents use this Saturday morning to come to town and do their shopping and the urban parent’s would be working. Our school’s activity needs to start very early and ends by 10:00 a.m... As I mention before majority of our parent’s are from rural communities of Toledo and they commute to nearby communities to seek job employment because basically only farming is being done in the villages. Parents work outside of their communities namely Placencia, Independence’ in the banana and tourism industry.
We are now faced with one of the challenges that most schools and countries are faced with our parents have little or no formal education. To add to this many of our students are living in single parent families. These rural or urban students go home and attend to themselves because the parent is working. The child doesn’t have the guidance and they bring other family members to pick up report cards or involve in any school activity. In some instances we have an increase in teenage pregnancy because of two factors the female is left alone at home and her boyfriend sleeps at her house or the culture of Mayas of getting married at the early age of fourteen. At Toledo Community College we are faced with many challenges when it comes to school rules because a lot of our rural community students violate the school rules and they go unpunished. Teenage pregnancy they have their babies and come back to school if nobody reports this child continues school and graduate. Drinking and doing drugs both using and trafficking of Marijuana. In some cases of marijuana this is the child’s livelihood because of the economic situation at home. They bring the marijuana to school, the dealer comes and picks it up and the student take home the money it is the only way of life the student knows.
Lastly, parent’s involvement in their children’s academic and social life is the Language Barriers. We have parent’s speaking only Ketchi Maya, Mopan Maya, Spanish and Garifuna. At some of our PTA meetings, Open Day and different ceremonies we have translators that assist the school in getting the messages across to the parents. Apart from all of this we as parents do not have the time; or we do not find the time to assist our children at home and be a part of the development of our children lives.
Shaunna Said
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what Cordelia Belezaire challenge we have in Belize that school’s are faced with Poverty as on e of the influential factor that decrease the engagement of parent’s in their children’s academic and social involvement. It saddens my heart every time it comes to the reality of our students go to school with their empty stomach. This is a hard but true reality and I would say that our government is at the bottom of the hierarchy of needs trying to curb this situation when all southern high schools get a $300.00 subsidy towards education. What happen to the other poor students in the other districts and the rich parents in the south who can afford to pay for tuition also get the grant. This is a whole other issue by itself but I made mention it is the bottom of the ladder of hierarchy of needs. Many of our students from rural Toledo leave their villages as early as three in the morning and returns six thirty in the evenings. It is so fortunate that majority of the villages have electricity but not all villages have electricity connected to their homes. She mentioned that the price our students pay is unbelieving and our schools are not prepared to meet these needs. Many times we as teachers must realize that sometimes our students react in a different way because they might be hungry. We now for the first time have a feeding program at our school to face the challenges of hunger in the classroom. I need to share this little scenario with fellow teachers which could be a wakeup call for us when we are dealing with our students. This year in my homeroom class I had a student who always asks me to go use the bathroom. I taught this homeroom class two subjects both Principles of Accounts and Office Administration. After a few weeks I said I will not send this child to bathroom. Two times she ended up with pains we had to rush her to the hospital; I had to accompany her to the hospital being the teacher at time the incident occurred. She got medication and returned to school the following day. She was in my class for homeroom but not for my two sessions; when I found out from the president at the end of the day she was sent to the library not feeling well again. The librarian is an outgoing church person so she called me about 4pm that day. The reason why the student asked to go to the bathroom was because when she feels hungry she goes to the bathroom and fills her stomach with water; she and two other siblings are attending school and their parents have neither jobs nor money. They are all on the late Julian Cho’s scholarship so their parents prepare a meal early in the morning for them to eat which would be only corn tortillas and they eat again when they reach home. I felt very bad about the situation and assisted in bringing a feeding program at Toledo Community College second semester the needy students sign up and get three meals per week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Some of our students come from abuse and neglect, substance abuse, unemployment, single parent, uneducated parents, and a few dangerous neighborhoods where the dealers sell their products.
Shaunna Said
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daisy Aba’s issue of parents in Belize and the world do not play an active role in their children’s academic and social life today because of time as a factor. I personally is a working parent, my children go to three different schools which makes me guilty of not participating in most school activities. The timing when some of these schools have their meeting and activities. I can say I actively participate when donations and other monetary contributions which should not compensate for the time are being spent in my child’s development. Most recently when I started pursuing my diploma in education I attended classes in the night I got extra help to assist my children to complete their homework while I am at school at night.
Many of our parents do not have the educational background to assist the children with the assessments given to them. On the other hand, lot of parents now are getting their selves educated in their villages with NGO’s help in literacy courses to meet the challenges of the parents living in these communities. More parents are questioning the grades we teachers give and why are their children failing is it the teachers or the students. Parents are being educated to challenge the system no matter what. All this human rights issue of the Mayas is a wakeup call for parents of both rural and urban.
Gone are the days when parents come and pick up report cards go home and lash the child. They want to know how come David comes to school every day show the papers to his parents passing and now still failing. They also want to know about somebody else why Betsy misses so much classes and still the pass. These are some of the challenges we as teachers are faced with every day at the work place.
Shaunna Said
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daisy Aba’s issue of parents in Belize and the world do not play an active role in their children’s academic and social life today because of time as a factor. I personally is a working parent, my children go to three different schools which makes me guilty of not participating in most school activities. The timing when some of these schools have their meeting and activities. I can say I actively participate when donations and other monetary contributions which should not compensate for the time are being spent in my child’s development. Most recently when I started pursuing my diploma in education I attended classes in the night I got extra help to assist my children to complete their homework while I am at school at night.
Many of our parents do not have the educational background to assist the children with the assessments given to them. On the other hand, lot of parents now are getting their selves educated in their villages with NGO’s help in literacy courses to meet the challenges of the parents living in these communities. More parents are questioning the grades we teachers give and why are their children failing is it the teachers or the students. Parents are being educated to challenge the system no matter what. All this human rights issue of the Mayas is a wakeup call for parents of both rural and urban.
Gone are the days when parents come and pick up report cards go home and lash the child. They want to know how come David comes to school every day show the papers to his parents passing and now still failing. They also want to know about somebody else why Betsy misses so much classes and still the pass. These are some of the challenges we as teachers are faced with every day at the work place.
Jaclyn Swasey:
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that research has proven parental involvement in their child’s schooling will lead to a more positive influence in their child’s attainment and performance at school. However, the issues of challenges continue to grow among schools to achieve this goal.
According to the Ohio Department of Education, some of the possible problems expressed are that of socioeconomic and cultural reasons. Parents tend to feel unsure about there value of contribution, especially for those who have language barriers. They limit themselves to this deficiency and leave the total education process up to schools instead of making a conscious effort to break these barriers and become more active. This is where schools should have translators available for this population.
Then there is the issue of lack the resources such as; inability of the parent to take time off from their jobs to attend meetings, or parents having problems commuting, or faced with financial constraints that leads to embarrassment if they are unable to make a donation toward their child’s future. Schools should make efforts to conduct meetings at convenient times with regards to the parents’ availability. For most schools who have a counselor this should be one of their responsibilities to visit homes of those parents who are restricted by finance.
One of the proactive approach used by a private institute I worked for in California is that off ‘home-visits’. Schools adopt the ‘if the horse can’t come to the water then take the water to the horse, approach’. The benefit to this approach is that teachers are more aware of the child’s environment and living conditions that limits their learning. They are better able to understand the child and learning disabilities.
However this may be a productive approach we need to be realistic in a country like Belize, where crime is increasing and gang violence has become a safety issue. This can definitely be a deterrent for teachers to risk their lives for this worthy cause. But we need to be innovative as educators and insist that the Ministry of Education aid us is this dilemma. Policies need to be in place to include Social workers working in collaboration with us to overcome this obstacle. Encouraging parental involvement should not only be the job of schools.
At the institute where I work, administration has to constantly use harsh methods of suspension for those students whose parents are not interested to know their child’s performance, and they do not show any interest in collecting their progress report cards. Most of these students have disciplinary problems. When we suspend these children we create a bigger social problem as they are left to face the criminal elements of the City’s streets.
Schools need to adopt a ‘home-visit’ policy and not spend time complaining about how limited we are as educators to reaching this challenging population.
Some schools need to stop using PTA meeting for personal gains such as fundraising events, and they should find innovative methods to reaching out to parents you feel unproductive and insecure about their contribution. As professionals and educators if we want excellences we need to go the extra mile!
http://www.ode.state.or.us/initiatives/familycommunity/files/researchfaminvolstdntachieve.pdf
I will agree with Calbert that there is a breakdown of family life in Belize. Most fathers are not present in the life of their children forcing mothers to take the role of both parents. Mothers are spending most of their waking hours trying to provide for the basic needs for their child, sometimes working two or three jobs. They leave their children supervised by television whose influence has become a negative issue. The influence of the American culture has advertised life as one of materialistic, and the importance of education is now in the darkness. It is a constant battle in the classroom for educators to dissuade this form of ‘new generation’ thinking. However, I can’t stress as educators that we need to challenge these situations as they arise. We have to be innovative in winning our students back and instill healthier values in their lives.
ReplyDeleteCalbert highlighted the issue of socio-economic and cultural barriers as impediments for parental involvement in students’ academic and social life; especially in impoverished communities. To support his statement, the Government of Belize 2002 Poverty Assessment Report (2004) stated that more than one third of Belize’s population was living in poverty. The report further stated that rural communities had twice as much households living in poverty as urban communities. Given this backdrop, Calbert’s use of the term impoverished communities brings to the forefront concerns for educational equity for students in rural Toledo. This area is considered to be the poorest area in Belize with a high concentration of Kekchi and Mopan Mayas.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of partnership exists between the schools and parents from rural Toledo? Are students getting equal opportunity for furthering their education despite their socio-economic background? What is the role of government in alleviating poverty and providing educational opportunities to its impoverished population?
Jaclyn Swasey:
ReplyDeleteI can relate to Shaunna’s situation at her school. The institute where I work is not in a remote area but still face the challenges of teenage pregnancy and drug use. Children report that they have to sell drugs in order to survive. But this should not be a scapegoat for them. They do have other options for survival. What about selling food on the streets to earn an income, or helping their parents with duties instead of hanging out on the streets to sell their drugs. The vendor who comes every morning at our schools is making a good and decent living. The 'sugardaddy' syndrome has taken over the lives of our teenage girls whose parents consent to these behaviors because they benefit too with an income. Why can’t our society stop blame the social ills of our country instead of becoming more proactive in finding solutions, or are we just simply lazy?
Reading through the comments I can notably agree with Daisy where she mentions that time is a factor faced by institutions. Parents, whether it is single-parent or both parents, they do not have the time to actively participate in their child’s school activities. Either one or both parents work or have several jobs just to make ends meet. Therefore, this factor hinders them not to be present at school for activities. There is also the working community “the employers” who often times require you to be at work for the 8 hours and seldom offer time-off, this also poses difficulty with the parents who want to be involved with their child’s academic and social life.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Claudette, where she mentions that most children are left alone for a couple of hours under the care of the television, which is not that productive since at that time they can be watching “rubbish” and learning nothing. Here is where the “community” needs to take their place in education. But with what we face in Belize, it is hard to trust anyone these days because they may be rapist or sex-offenders. Parents need to take up their role as motivators and instill values in their children’s lives so they can be productive citizens. The children who are not self-motivated would entertain themselves for hours watching television while the self-motivated child would pick up a book and read or do their homework. Again, here is where communication between parent/child requires attention. We as educators need to think outside the box, as mentioned by Jaclyn, we need to be innovative when it comes to our students. At EP Yorke our aim this year is to turn homeroom into “a home”, how can we do this. One idea I have gathered from everyone’s comments is to do a mini-survey of the child we will have in homeroom. We need to get to learn their environment, their study skills, their role-models, etc… If safety is an issue because we cannot visit parents and students at home, let’s find a time convenient to parents when we can meet and discuss their factors why they cannot actively participate in their child’s academic and social life.
Thanks Shaunna for providing us with insights in the situation of parental involvement in education in Toledo. I must applaud your school’s effort in trying to increase parents’ participation in their children’s education. The provision of transportation for rural parents is important since as you stated, 75% of your student population is from rural communities, which are some of the most impoverished areas in Belize. At least parents who may not be able to pay for transportation would still be able to attend important school functions.
ReplyDeleteAs gathered from your postings, these parents are unavailable during the week as some of them go as far as Placencia and Independence to seek employment. Therefore, major school events such as PTA meetings, and report card distributions are conducted on Saturdays. This is exemplary of your school effort in building partnership with parents. Another initiative of your school is the use of translators at these events. These are all positive steps Toledo Community is taken to improve parents’ participation.
Calbert,
ReplyDeleteYou stated that there is “a generation gap that often exists between parents and their children…additionally, many children have more formal education than their parents and therefore many parents feel impotent to assist their children in academic matters” (O’Brian, 2010, para 3). Can schools help to reconcile this “generation gap” through community programs? Any suggestions?
Silverio,
ReplyDeleteHow can schools assist those parents whom you claimed “dropped out of school to help sustain their families or care for their siblings at home lack the capacity to help their children with home-work? (Lin, 2020, para 3) Can schools set up special workshops, classes, etc for parents? If so, how will these assist?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThere are many challenges that teachers face especially at the primary and secondary level of education. There have been low level of input on behalf of the parent towards the development of their child. One of the many challenges is that parents are not helping out student in their works. There may be many reasons for this. Often, teachers don’t comprehend parents, everybody have different priorities on their agenda. The main concern is on school assignments. At time some parents cannot help their kids because they are never at home. Some parents are incarcerated and I am positive that that has an effect on children mind. Students whose parents are incarcerated will either show a hostile or depressed attitude toward school work. According to (Nesmith, and Rohland, 2008)The children revealed a variety stresses around social isolation and worrying about their caregivers, but also demonstrated resilience in locating venues for support and self-sufficiency. We can clearly see that when the main caregiver are not present at home, usually children will be reluctant to work around their guardian in charge. Few will demonstrate positive attitude and will find ways to get the work done. So what can school do about this? To what extent should the school be involved in kind of scenario. We know that this is becoming the trend for care givers that are not present at home to assist children in their assignment.
ReplyDeleteRefference
Nesmith, A, & Ruhland, E. (2008). Children of incarcerated parents: challenges and resiliency, in their own words.. Children & Youth Services Review, 30(10), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=8&sid=d720e89d-330f-4059-98ea-c17b0d530f88%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=33628997
Jacklyn Swasy clearly expressed many challenges that the school face in regards with the development of the child and parent involvement. One of the challenges is that parents meet language barriers and makes it difficult for parents to assist students in their work. Apart from meeting language barriers and also say that probably they can be illiterate to make the scenario worst. This can be a two folded barrier that may even discourage completely parent’s involvement on their children education. School can either have a language classes after normal school hours to help those parents that are in dire need to break the barrier. Furthermore, those parents who may have a language barrier may not have the access to information due to the complexity of the language. In Conclusion we can see the adverse challenges that students meet while in school.
ReplyDeleteDaisy commented more on the issue of time that parents face everyday of their lives. Also stated that it mostly apply to single parents who work up to two shifts per day. I agree with her to a certain extent. This is because, at some point there must be a second guardian that may look after her/him while the legitimate parent is out. Sometimes teachers don’t see and don't put attention to those facts, until they are aware, they will be able to understand. It is clearly that this family structure has minimal impact on the child education development. There is no or little parental push to go the extra mile. The school can help to mitigate this issue by gathering information during registration and come up with a policy that will benefit this challenged student. Not every student may need the guidance of parents to perform well, but we as humans like to be recognized for our achievements in life. We can speak about so many policies that can be put in place for the welfare of students , but sadly say that they remain only on shelves.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSandra commenting to Mr. Tuckers replies to Calbert and Silverio.
ReplyDeleteI think that schools can implement a teaching program to let parents be aware of what is expected of them and their children. This is what I referred to as 'thinking outside the box', it is true that some parents feel helpless in assisting their children. Perhaps the Ministry of Education can implement an evening class for parents, free of course, to learn the basics or assist those to further there education. There are parents who finished at least primary school, but to continue studies they need financial help and also time. Am not sure if our government have received such ideas but it would be great to mention to them. Am thinking positive here, that we would like all parents to participate but they may also need some counseling because some may feel ashamed.
If parents have a hard time making ends meet or housewifes would like to work but they cannot get a job because they are uneducated. Again, Ministry of Education can implement a skills class, whereby they teach women to sew, pastry decoration, knitting and other trades which they can do from home so they can earn a living. My mother only completed primary but she was blessed with multiple talents as the ones mentioned and she assisted my father in this manner to make ends meet but we were always clothed and fed. These programs can be implemented and are attainable but we need support from our government to elevate men and women of Belize to better themselves and to stop considering themselves useless.
Comment for Daisy
ReplyDeleteThanks for that little insight about Poverty being the biggest challenge. I do however believe that because more than 25% of families are poor, this cause many challenges for schools to implement programs to have parents involved in their children's education.
Comment for Shaunna
ReplyDeleteYou insight on geographic location being a challenge allows me to see that different Districts faces different challenges. After reading your posting I was lead to believe that parents in your District do want to be apart of their children's education which is a marvelous thing. Maybe your school could implement a program that happens once a mth on weekends that would still grant the parents to be active in their children's education.
Two challenges that schools of today face when it comes to engaging parents in their children academic and social life I would say is downright lack of interest on the part of the parents and the other being financial difficulties many families sometimes face.
ReplyDeleteIn today’s day and age, majority of the parents are taking on new perspectives on things when it comes their children and their education. Talking from what is evident in my community in regards to parents involvement in their children school life; within my community parents now-a-days feel as if though that when their child leaves from home the school then assumes full responsibility for that child for the time being, therefore they do not feel the need to get involve with what’s going on the school. Majority of the parents hold such notions that their job or responsibility is to provide all the necessary material that the child may need to go to school and once they fulfil such obligations then they no longer becomes interested in what’s taking place at the school. The onus is on the child to succeed because the parents believed that they have provide him/her with the material stuff he/she needs to get the school work done, while neglecting all other intangible elements which is just as important. Some parents of today’s time simply do not care and demonstrate their lack of interest by not part taking in any functions that the school may have. As an educator as well as a guardian, I simply cannot comprehend the idea of just sending my child off to school to teachers (‘strangers’, some-what) for approximately six hours a day, every day, and still turn around and forgo all opportunities to evaluated my child’s development process for myself. In deed it’s a time consuming process, however, it is in the best interest of my child and the person that should be her # 1 should be me the parent and not the teacher.
As for the other factor that I believe cause a lack of involvement on the part of the parent when it comes to their children and their schooling is financial problems. It’s no secret that we as Belizeans are living in a poor society. It’s difficult as is when two parents are working much less when it’s only one. A great number of parents have to work long hours and hectic jobs which leave them with limited time to do anything apart from work. Therefore, in some instances it is almost downright impossible to leave work and go sit in on a school meeting forgoing a day’s salary for the sake of a report card, or whatever the case may be. Due to the fact that parents view having food on the table of much more importance than a meeting at school, they choose not to no leave their jobs to partake in school activities that they see no immediate rewards. Although they make see the importance of such involvement, they simply cannot afford to go the extra mile.
As stated in the article “Parents involvement in children’s education” we can all agree that “the importance of parental involvement as an accelerating and motivating factor in their children’s education is a worldwide-accepted fact.” This article further goes on to classify parents involvement in three types: 1) Behavioral, 2) Intellectual and 3) Personal. The role of the school is to get the parents involve in the intellectual part of the child’s life. Schools face many challenges in getting parents involvement in their child’s academicas life. However, according to Nancy E. Hill and Lorraine C. Taylor from Duke University and the University of North Carolina the amounts of involvement vary across cultural, economic, and community contexts and across developmental levels.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main issues schools in Belize face is noted in the article “Parents involvement in children’s education”, this is that of motivation. The schools have a daily challenge in motivating and encouraging parent to get involved in their child’s academic life. This may be caused by many factors, which includes that of social and economic problems. Parents in Belize are sometimes so focused on their social problems that they have no time left to become involve in their child’s academic life. E.g. some parents are always out working trying to make a living that they are so tired they and do not want to attend parent teacher meetings or they may not even have time to attend these meetings due to the fact that they are at work. The schools struggle on a daily basis to get these parents participation. Some parents are going through so much financial problems that they have no interest in participating in their child’s academic lives. Even though experts believe that every parent has a sincere interest in seeing his/her child succeed in school, some Belizean parents simply express negligence on their part. Some of them are simply not interested in participating in their child’s academics. They might be experiencing social and behavioral problems with their child and they just feel relieved to send them off to school as this somehow take some of the responsibility off their shoulders. This was once expressed to me by a parent when she said “as long as he is on school compound he is the schools responsibility”. “He” is referring to her child.
Many of these problems can be addressed by the schools if they strategically plan programs for the parent and show them that they play an important role in their child’s academics. This can be achieved by creating community outreach programs for parents especially those lacking literacy skills. For those parents who have a different ethnic background the schools can make sure these families get notices home in their first languages. Another method that may be used is to have at least quarterly parent-teacher conferences which should be a “MUST.” This will keep parents updated on their children’s academic progress or lack thereof. It will also create a natural bond between parents and teachers which is an important element in the educational process.
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I understood what Lionel was trying to say to some degree. However, I don't think his thaughts were clearly formalized which would have contributed to a more brighter picture.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Shaunna comments I am now looking at a aspect that I did not look at before. I agree with you Shaunna. A lot of families do face problems when it comes to geographical locations. This could be delt with if the school would have at least quarterly parent-teacher conferences which should be a “MUST.” This would allow for those parents to be involved. They could be informed ahead of time and in turn have no reason not to attend these meetings or conferences. Some how, the majority of parents and people on a whole don’t really push to participate in things that are not made mandatory. Sometimes they may have to be compelled to live up to their responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteDenise
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alicia because I know that it is aproblem to engage parents in their child's academic and social life.There are many reasons for little or no parents involvement and we can list them. I strongly believe that we[all stakeholders in education]need to come up with innovative ways to get parents involved e.g. create two way communication-school-home. We cannot go on and have those reasons hinder us from improving our education system.We need to ask ourselves as teachers what can we do to address the problem.
That is so true Cordelia that poverty is one of the biggest challenge in Belize that schools faced. Thats why I agree with Reeves[2003], who conducted a study called 90/90/90 meaning 907$%minority,90% free or reduced lunch,90% of their learning outcome met. From t hat study 6 strategies came out which if put in effect I believe can work.We need to have students believe in themselves and see education as a way out of poverty for them and their families.
I like most of what Kimberly was expressing in terms of her answer to the question posted by Mr. Tucker. However, I have to disagree with the idea of school taking the responsiblity of motivating parents to be apart of their children academic life. As a parent I don't think that the school should be the one to try and motivate me to come to school to check on my child's progress/development. It's my belief that such responsibility should lie with me the parent, because I should be the one that wants more for my child than anyone else. But on the other hand from a teacher's prespective; you are there to develop student both socially and academically and if that means going the extra mile and reaching out then so be it; after all it's in the best interest of the child.
ReplyDeleteThis is in response to the question that that Mr. Tucker asked Calbert on July 11, 2010 11:14AM; where he ask, Can schools help to reconcile this “generation gap” through community programs? My suggestion to this question is the same stated in my comments. This problem can be achieved by creating community outreach programs for parents those parents lacking literacy skills. These could be done in the form of workshops. Some may be mandatory and some may not be. Certificates and awards may be given in order to attract parents interest as well.
ReplyDeleteMr. Tucker’s comment to Calbert
ReplyDeleteThe reality in Belize is that educational institutions human and financial resources are already strained. Schools operate on a “tight budget”; classrooms are overcrowded; and teachers have long teaching hours and other responsibilites. In many instances, schools are forced to do fundraising activities as a means of meeting their financial and other obligations. The schools present situations would make it difficult for them to implement some of the suggestions, for example, literacy programs for parents. In order for such programs to be viable, other stakeholders such as the community and government would need to render their assistance.
For instance, the school can collaborate with both governmental and non-government organizations (NGOs) to help students and their parents resolve the many conflicts caused by the “generation gap”. The term describes the cultural differences between the youths and their parents particularly with respect to such matters as musical tastes, fashion, drug use, culture and politics. Effective conflict resolution in this regard can be worked out through counseling services and support group available through Belize Family Life Association, Community Rehabilitation Department, Family Services and Human Development Department just to name a few. Therefore, instead of the school taking on the responsibility to work with parents and students to resolve their differences, they can act as a referral point.
There are many challenges that schools face to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life. The role of the school is to help students and shape success for their future education. The role of the parent is to give their children care, love, respect, leadship, and instruction. The role of the teacher is almost similar to that of the parent because children spend a lot of time at school. Unfortunately, most of the time parents misunderstand their role as a parent and misunderstand the role of the teacher.
ReplyDeleteFor example, working parents take for granted the teachers by using them as babysitters. Some working parents who cannot afford a babysitter use the teacher as one, which is very unfair for the teacher. Parents cannot expect schoolteachers to be superwomen.(C. H. Glessner, 1956). I remember a child was once sent to school in the morning feeling bad. The child approached me and said “Miss I feel bad.” So I touched the child and noticed that the child was indeed sick with fever. The bell had just rung and I asked the child if she told her mother about feeling ill and she said “yes!” Then, I took the child to the office and I called the parent. I asked her if she noticed that the child was sick when she dropped her off. She said “yes, but I don’t have anyone to take care of her at home, so I just took her to school.” It really shocked me to know that the parent would rather leave the child at school than get a babysitter or even stay at home to take care of the child. It’s so unfair that parents are taking teachers as babysitters and not realize that we have to teach a class of thirty one children or more. We are educators not babysitters!
Some people also believe that the school is the one that should educate the children, but in reality it should be a hand in hand process with the parents and the school. Some parents expect the teachers to do everything, that is, to teach the child and discipline them. Whenever a child does something wrong or does not know something, they blame the teacher or more so they blame the school. They are just trying to run away from their responsibilty. Parents expect teachers to make miracles; “Education is everybodies business” (Berenice Bleedorn 2005) therefore parents should not leave all the discipline and educating to the school. For example, if a child does something wrong the parent would say “dat dah weh den teach yo da school?” where the parent is incinuating that the child’s behaviour is only learned at school.
Another challenge that schools face would be that parents need to be educated. Educating the parents would be of great help for the teachers since children will have better help at home and less frustration. It has been proven that the more educated the parents are, the more likely their child will excel at school (John Stevens April 26,2010). For example, if the parents have at least a bachelor’s degree the child will also realize or learn that there is more to aim for such as a higher degree and that parents expect better of them.
Parent’s involvement and partaking in school’s activities is another challenge faced by schools. In involving parents, children will try to do better at school because of the parent’s involvement. It also encourages students to be involved. It shows the importance of communication of parents with teachers. Therefore, parents should volunteer, support, and visit the school to be informed and to show their child that education is very important!
There are many challenges that schools face to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life. The role of the school is to help students and shape success for their future education. The role of the parent is to give their children care, love, respect, leadship, and instruction. The role of the teacher is almost similar to that of the parent because children spend a lot of time at school. Unfortunately, most of the time parents misunderstand their role as a parent and misunderstand the role of the teacher.
ReplyDeleteFor example, working parents take for granted the teachers by using them as babysitters. Some working parents who cannot afford a babysitter use the teacher as one, which is very unfair for the teacher. Parents cannot expect schoolteachers to be superwomen.(C. H. Glessner, 1956). I remember a child was once sent to school in the morning feeling bad. The child approached me and said “Miss I feel bad.” So I touched the child and noticed that the child was indeed sick with fever. The bell had just rung and I asked the child if she told her mother about feeling ill and she said “yes!” Then, I took the child to the office and I called the parent. I asked her if she noticed that the child was sick when she dropped her off. She said “yes, but I don’t have anyone to take care of her at home, so I just took her to school.” It really shocked me to know that the parent would rather leave the child at school than get a babysitter or even stay at home to take care of the child. It’s so unfair that parents are taking teachers as babysitters and not realize that we have to teach a class of thirty one children or more. We are educators not babysitters!
Some people also believe that the school is the one that should educate the children, but in reality it should be a hand in hand process with the parents and the school. Some parents expect the teachers to do everything, that is, to teach the child and discipline them. Whenever a child does something wrong or does not know something, they blame the teacher or more so they blame the school. They are just trying to run away from their responsibilty. Parents expect teachers to make miracles; “Education is everybodies business” (Berenice Bleedorn 2005) therefore parents should not leave all the discipline and educating to the school. For example, if a child does something wrong the parent would say “dat dah weh den teach yo da school?” where the parent is incinuating that the child’s behaviour is only learned at school.
Another challenge that schools face would be that parents need to be educated. Educating the parents would be of great help for the teachers since children will have better help at home and less frustration. It has been proven that the more educated the parents are, the more likely their child will excel at school (John Stevens April 26,2010). For example, if the parents have at least a bachelor’s degree the child will also realize or learn that there is more to aim for such as a higher degree and that parents expect better of them.
Parent’s involvement and partaking in school’s activities is another challenge faced by schools. In involving parents, children will try to do better at school because of the parent’s involvement. It also encourages students to be involved. It shows the importance of communication of parents with teachers. Therefore, parents should volunteer, support, and visit the school to be informed and to show their child that education is very important!
According to a research done in Washington, children whose parents are more involved across elementary school have fewer problem behaviours and better social skills. Nevertheless, the children’s academics did not seem to be affected. The study was carried out under the help of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). It was based on information about more than 1,300 children from 10 U.S. cities who were followed from birth to fifth grade. The objective of the study was looking at how parent involvement affects children’s academic, social, and emotional well-being in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the findings, parents’ involvement such as, visits to the school, and encouraging educational progress at home, remedied children’s problem behaviours, including both aggressive and disruptive behaviours as well as anxiety and depression. At the same time, skills such as cooperation and self-control, also improved. However, their involvement did not affect achievement possibly because it wasn’t specific to academic performance of the child.
What I am attempting to state is that parent involvement will not always be sufficient to affect the child’s academic performance. This is sometimes due to the fact that parents are unable to fully participate in this area because they are not fully skilled or not skilled at all. Consequently, he/she is unable to aid their children in doing their work but only in encouraging them at home. This may be the consequence of dropping out of the school system due to some societal problem they might have faced.
Furthermore, another challenge that parents face in becoming involved in their children’s academic and social life is time. As we all know, both parents work fulltime now and the single parent have even less time for his/her siblings or even to herself. As teachers, we can attest to the fact that very few parents visit the school to see the educational progress of their children. Some don’t even show for report card day but send somebody else to pick their child’s report card. Lack of parent involvement in school activities deteriorates as each year passes. However, when problems arise, they are right there to criticize teachers or administrations.
Parents should see that they participate actively in their children’s social, as well as academic life.
To what kimberly had mentioned before schools do need ways to motivate the parents to assist at Parent Teacher's Meetings (PTA). As to someone had mentioned before, the same parents that do not attend the meetings are the same ones that we need to see and never attend. Some schools have tried many things to try motivate these parents. For example, giving snacks, food, drink after meetings and they still do not attend. Therefore, the major concern is what can schools do to motivate and have parents attend and show a little concern or interest on their child's education? Have we really and truely tried everything to motivate these parents to attend?
ReplyDeleteKimberly,
ReplyDeleteYou said, “they [parents] just feel relieved to send them [students] off to school as this somehow take some of the responsibility off their shoulders” (Broaster, 2010, para1). You also recounted a conversation with a parent whose perception is that her parental obligations and responsibilities seized the moment her child is dropped off at the school gate. How can schools build partnership with parents with similar mind-set towards their children’s education?
In my research on the topic of discussion, I came across the term “Dry Cleaning Parent” which is used to describe the type of parent Kimberly mentioned in her posting dated July 11, 2010 9:32 PM
ReplyDeleteThe article stated, “ … they drop their kids off like dry cleaning, and expect them to come out educated and ready for the real world when they go to pick them up in fourth year“ (Info4parents.ca, 2010). Sad to say, this is not an isolated case. It warrants that as teachers, we try to find ways to sensitize these parents that their children’s education is on the basis of a strong partnership with schools and parents.
It’s an interesting article which uses funny terms to describe the different types of parents. Below is the website address if you wish to read the article.
Reference
http://www.info4parents.ca/resources/articles/parentArticles/whattype.htm
I agree with Cordelia’s response that parents socioeconomic situation prevent them from getting involved in their children’s academic and social life. Parents don’t benefit financially nor get any form of assistance for getting involved in school activities. Their struggle to satisfy the basic needs of their children is paramount. They don’t have time to waste with school. Furthermore, schools do not possess the financial resources required to attract parent involvement in their children’s education from the onset. Thus, schools lack the capacity to design and implement programs that focus on parent involvement in their children’s academic and social life.
ReplyDeleteParents in these modern times are both working to make ends meet. Time is a precious commodity that people have very little of. Time is not there for children to be raised as a family, no time to attend recitals, or any other extra curricular activities. This is one of the major reasons why schools have a problem to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life. In Belize most of these activities are attended by grandparents and babysitters. When parents get home in the evenings they are tired and is not properly able to assists their child with homework or even to entertain and react with them. Social life is nonexistence in most families in these tough financial times where every occasion requires cash. Schools are pressured by their management to perform and therefore they demand a higher level of performance from their students in academic requirements.
ReplyDelete@ alicia is right some parents simply dump off their children on the school and do not actively participate in their children's education and dont even show up for report cards. this could be considered gross negligence and the education system must find a way to mandate that parents play a more active role in their child schooling
ReplyDeleteSchools all over are faced with many challenges as time changes and perhaps a serious one is engaging parents in students academic and social life. We can all agree that education starts at home. However, it seems that schools are expected to do the parents contribution and even the contribution of society, who are also failing our children.
ReplyDeleteOne of the causes of parents not engaging in their children academic and social life is that they themselves did not get that support for their parents for countless reason and are in survival mode trying to realize their own needs and wants and fail to focus on the need and wants of their children thus; leaving their young on their own. They don’t see or believe in the value of education and if they have a slight idea of what the outcome may be, they don’t know how to be part of the process because it was never modeled to them.
Another cause is that parents want to provide their children with what they themselves did not have and go about it the wrong way. They are well of now so they believe that by giving and providing the gadgets and the whatever is in style will yield to their children doing well. Yet they fail to use these as motivational tools again because of not knowing how. They don’t sit, talk, and try to know their children and assist them to overcome the challenges that the face both internally and externally and guide them in the right path. They spoil the children at an early age and then cannot handle them in the long run.
The fact that parents don’t check up on their children regularly and don’t become a visible part of their life as they grow up and learn; make it very difficult for school to curve any persisting issue a child may have.
This is a tough one. I can say though, based on my experience as a teacher for the past five years one of the biggest challenge our schools face when attempting to engage parents in their children’s academic and social life is the high percentage of single parenting or divorced couples. It is evident that divorce and single parenting is on the rise; because parents mostly fail to realize that their children are just as stressed as they are, they assume that while they take the time out to work on rebuilding themselves individually they sometimes fail to grasp the importance of their involvement in their child’s academic and social development. Also, such separation may lead to one parent or the other being more dominant and carries a heavy load which sometimes requires working two or more jobs to make ends meet.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, there are some institutions that are practically a ‘’dumping ground’ for neglected children, immigrants, children ‘left behind’ ad the like. This lends itself to a host of challenges for parent/teacher relationship ad extension parent’s involvement in their child’s academic development. There is the matter of language barrier, absent of related parent (foster child temporarily or permanently place in a Child Care Center)
Two reasons why parents do not seems as interesting in their children's education as we would want them to be are finance and time.
ReplyDeleteMany of the children in our schools come from under priviledged family. Some of these families are very large families. Imagine a single parent with five children one needs crayons, another folder sheet and the lists goes on. That parent can barely feed her children, how can she provide them with them with these things. A teacher might believe that the parent is not interested, but that is not the case. It is just life's circumstances that has the parent in that position.
In today's society we have many parents going back to school. These parents are so bogged down with their own assignments that they don't have the time for their children are on their own when it comes to school. That parent's defence might be I am trying to make a better life for my students. In the process the child's get left behind.
It is safe to say then then, parents want to take part in their children's education but because of life's curb balls it is sometime difficult.
In response to Onecia's comment I can see where she is coming when she says that there are some parents that just not interested in their children's education. We have some parents that well educated, do not go to UB or any tertiary level instutions, see their children every evening when they get home from school and still their children come to school without materials and assignment. So I can see that there is a lack of interest.
ReplyDeleteI also can relate to Tiffany's comment on breaking up of parents. I am sure if you talk teachers they will all conquer with Tiffany's comment. Many times as teacher we have to be counselors to those parents going through divorce or separation. They are so caught up in their own world that most of them don't even realize their children are failing or had assignments that were to be done and did not get done.
ReplyDeleteSo parents need to realize that when they are selfish and don't think of their children it affects their education negatively.
Ardeth said
ReplyDeleteCommenting to Silverio's comment i don't really believe that parents financial status should be a distraction for them to be involve in their children education. There for we as parents should use it as a lesson to our children where by we must let them know that not because we don't have money means that we must not show support to each other and we must learn to make the best of what we have and try to be positive.
After reading these comments of my class mates I must say that I fully agree with Claudette posting where by she mention that parents are the first teacher of the children. There are the ones I do believe should mold their child in the right way form the beginning and so it will be and ease in the classroom where they will be able to get more work done effectively. However today we can observe that her positing is lacking in most of our homes. Also she mention that working parents are not spending time with their children and is lacking the interest in their children educational need and I must agree with here because base on my experience as a teacher it is clear in every school.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I fully agree with my friend Alex, where he commented on the fact that parents and the society are relying on the schools to take up their slacks where they are failing. We must be fair with ourselves as we face reality and admit that most of our school are not fully equip to meet the needs of these children although they are trying with out the help of parents who are not engaging in their educational needs but however the school are trying.many parents today believe that ju8st providing the thing for their children that they were not able to gain as a child is the way out but they are going the wrong way. they as the parents are not teaching their childre4n the values of life and the role of obetaing a good education can improve that.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-31-spring-2007/question-class
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean, for example, that high-poverty schools have more teachers teaching outside their areas of certification, larger numbers of teacher vacancies, and fewer experienced teachers than low-poverty schools? That they're more likely to lack full access to computers and the Internet? That they have inadequate facilities and classroom materials? Or that students in high-poverty schools are more likely than their wealthier counterparts to be subjected to overcrowded classrooms, dirty or inoperative bathrooms, less rigorous curricula and encounters with vermin such as rats and cockroaches? Or that these students are more likely to attend schools with serious teacher turnover problems and lower teacher salaries than students at low-poverty schools? And why do Payne and other "experts" so often fail to mention these inequalities?
While researching I found this portion of this article to be similar to the situation we face here in Belize. Most of the poorer schools here find themselves faced with these conditions. While it is true that one can rise above adversity. One must first be given the equal oppertunity to do so.
As the burden of the expences exceeds the expectations of the parents the child often is left without an education and are encouraged by today's world. As governments shift education itself seems to be afected by the shift. family abuse is also to blame for today's educational problems. An alternative to the drama and violenece found in a family that may fail, parents can asist their child in mental terns. In making education interesting and fun for thier child.
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