Parental involvement refers to the spontaneous contributions of parents towards children learning both at home and in the formal programs that aim at enhancing the child’s literacy during school and pre-school years. There is a variation in the views of researchers on the ways in which the home environment influences children’s’ performance in school, the degree to which parents should get involved and the effectiveness of parents’ intervention. Strategies involving support and training for parents such as paired reading have been highly regarded as most effective (Aram and Ofra 118). Parental involvement on children’s learning is linked to social and intellectual skills that are crucial in the 21st century. The government is exploring the possibility of influence of a structured intervention by parents on their children before school on learning. Understanding how environmental forces such as parental involvement on children learning are important for decision and policy makers in the education sector. This paper is a summary of published books and articles findings and recommendations of activities at home that contributes to child’s literacy. It seeks to identify effective ways of supporting and encouraging parents to assist their children to become confident and competent writers and readers. It suggests a way forward to educational providers, parental organizations and policy-makers. It is however important to acknowledge that activities that encourage literacy may not work out in all contexts especially where there are cultural and language differences.
The role of parents
The parents, siblings and grandparents have a critical role to play to ensure children’s literacy achievement and development. Literacy is not a school agenda only implying that the literacy in the community and at home is equally important in fostering sustainable literacy and better learning outcomes. For this reason, literacy at family, individual or a community level is crucial to developing and improving literacy in any given country. It is important when parents realize the significant contribution they are capable of making to the learning of their children by supporting school and at home literacy agenda. A parental activity around reading, language and writing that is not necessarily focused on improving school performance is important and should be encouraged. Literacy is a sophisticated skill that takes time to master and requires a supportive environment. In a parental involvement setting where both the child and the adults share a loving and learning relationship, the child gains literacy in all aspects of educational development (Wood and William 187). Parents need support from the community, media, government and the school. Encouraging parents to initiate, develop and sustain involvement in children learning need to be handled sensitively to avoid placing the counter-productive pressure on both adults and children. Parental involvement requires thoughtful and careful approaches reflecting the low literacy, needs of family lives, complexities of parenthood and poverty realities for most adults.
Parental role during pre-school and early years
Home influencers are the most powerful predictors of children’s achievement scores during entry to pre-school. The influencers include the frequency at which children play with numbers and letters at home, how often the parent draws the attention of a child to letters and sounds, frequency at which parents visit library with children and the frequency at which parents teach children songs. Parents who introduce kids to books give them upper hand over their peers throughout school. The level of education for parents correlates with the cognitive development for children especially those between 1 and three years. In addition, the number of literacy materials that are available at home which is linked to social class determines reading achievement and cognition development. Lack of exposing children to alphabetical letters by the low-income neighborhoods delays the child’s ability to acquire a cognitive framework. Parents’ support and attitude towards children learning affect performance on literacy-based tests regardless of social or economic status in the society. Precocious reading for children entering kindergarten is determined by parents’ practices in literacy and activities such as helping them with homework, reading for them and holding high expectations with regard to education achievement (Dickinson 226). Children who are capable of reading at the tender age show greater interest for reading even at later age. Encouraging children to read stories at home enhances their expressive skills and language comprehension. Combination of pre-school and parent intervention for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds improves social and educational outcomes. While pre-school intervention addresses inequalities in children’s cognitive development, early stimulation is crucial for reading skills later.
Parental role during school years
There is a strong positive relationship between the availability of computers and books at home and educational achievement. Children who perform well in literacy at seven years had favorite books to read at the age of 3 years. Children reading comprehension depends on availability of reading materials at home, conversations about the articles and book they read and the extent of parental expectations and support. Active involvement of parents on interventions initiated at school increases achievement when there are good structures to foster effective partnerships. Powerful interventions including paired reading are efficient and effective if they are well executed to raise reading achievement (LaChanse 345). Parents who are keen to listen to their children as they read greatly contribute to the children’s success. This intervention is recommended for minority groups and weak readers. Mothers from low social and economic backgrounds who boost their communicative interaction as children read such as relating the story to child’s experiences or commenting on the text improve literacy skills for their children. Programs encouraging reading at home improves parental understanding for their children. Further, parents who are confident and have received training can help their children to develop enthusiasm and interest for reading.
The way forward; Strategies and Programs
National Agenda
Parental involvement for improving literacy achievement national agenda must be supported by the community and must not exert the counter-productive pressure on both children and parents. It is not good to place unrealistic expectations on parents because this may cause a feeling of guilt about parenting skills. The following issues should be discussed at local and national level involving organizations such as health, social support agencies to maximize the effectiveness of the national agenda;
- Strategies empowering parents to encourage their children’s language development.
- Strategies encouraging parent to develop their children’s writing abilities at home.
- Strategies to encourage parents to assist adolescents in participating in literacy development activities.
- Recognizing that every client group comprises of a range of linguistic, economic and cultural backgrounds with different needs and that there can never be a homogeneous approach for parental involvement especially where people with basic skills requirements are involved.
Research requirements
Research is required in several areas to develop an understanding of parental impact on children’s literacy development. Research has not been done to establish if children’s competence is influenced by parents’ interest in learning and reading. The influence of adult’s attitudes to children’s reading pattern is difficult to measure, but it influences the manner in which children take literacy and regard themselves as readers later. Research has suggested that the lack of fathers’ involvement in schools and at home influences performance of boys although the evidence for this research is inconclusive. Research should be conducted to examine whether fathers and mothers influence children’s learning differently. Sometimes it is hard to encourage parents from low economic and social backgrounds or those with low literacy levels to participate. Evaluation of programs and approaches for encouraging involvement of these kinds of parents would be useful in providing knowledge of methods of engaging children and parents from diverse backgrounds (Feeney and Sherry 78). There is also a need to research whether ICT is a perfect medium for encouraging parent/child based literacy activities and if ICT programs influence children’s ability to read and learn. A research is needed to examine the effectiveness of various approaches and practices on different populations. Greater consideration should particularly be given to treatment interactions and aptitude.
Government involvement and intervention
The government has an obligation to promote parental involvement in promoting literacy by providing resources to schools for offering support to parents. The government should fund cost-effective and small-scale initiatives that encourage parents to write and read with their children. In addition, flexible funding for family learning and family literacy programs should be provided. The government has a social responsibility of establishing though the ministry of education how parental involvement is linked to family literacy and the programs it can implement to help parents in developing their own literacy. This area requires government intervention to at least establish skills and learning councils for children who are below 14 years to ensure all programs are significantly funded on a timely basis (Aram and Ofra 124).
Conclusion
In conclusion, parental involvement involves creating awareness and confidence for parents with regards to their children’s literacy achievement and learning. Its purpose is to empower parents through professional and government intervention. Social economic status is associated with low achievement although research has indicated that literacy activities including playing with letters, reading to children and visiting the library minimizes social disadvantage effects and educational level of the parents. The recipe for effectively involving parents in literacy activities and programs include; a literacy and language-rich environment at home, discussing with children about books, articles and literacy activities, holding high parental excitations about children’s literacy development, encouraging programs for parents to learn more about literacy and handling literacy challenges for their children, starting initiatives that encourage parents to boost on their literacy skills and a recognition by government and schools that home literacy is as important as the school literacy (Wolfendale and Keith 38). Schools have a responsibility of encouraging parents to become actively involved in promoting literacy amongst their children. The best strategies for school children are the ones that incorporate structured programs that enable both the children and parents to receive training from professionals. Realizing the most effective strategies for overcoming writing and reading challenges are important for improving children abilities to learn. A broader view of the merits of active parental involvement in promoting literacy should be adopted. Any contribution of parents towards children learning has to be recognized and acknowledged as being significant.
Works Cited
Aram, Dorit, and Ofra Korat. Literacy Development and Enhancement Across Orthographies and Cultures. New York: Springer, 2009. Print.
Dickinson, David K. Bridges to Literacy: Children, Families, and Schools. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1994. Print.
Feeney, Stephanie, and Sherry Nolte. Who Am I in the Lives of Children?: An Introduction to Early Childhood Education. Boston: Pearson, 2013. Print.
LaChanse, Rebecca W. Promoting Early Literacy Through Family Involvement. Arlington, Va: Educational Research Service, 1996. Print.
Wolfendale, Sheila, and Keith J. Topping. Family Involvement in Literacy: Effective Partnerships in Education. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.
Wood, Karen D, and William E. Blanton. Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: Research-based Practice. New York: Guilford Press, 2009. Print.
