Ulrike C Glinzner Flinders University Ulrike C Glinzner Flinders University ‘We are not normally encouraged to stay’ - Making a difference by encouraging parents’ school involvement through teacher invitations

Content What is parent involvement? Why parent involvement? Why parents get involved/do not get involved? Parents’ self-efficacy How can teachers and schools support parent involvement?

What is parent involvement? The “dedication of resources by the parent to the child within a given domain” (Grolnick, Benjet, Kurowski and Apostoleris, 1997, p. 538). Figure 1: Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s (2005) revised model (Walker, Wilkins, Dallaire, Sandler and Hoover- Dempsey, 2005 in Green et al, 2007).

Why parent involvement? “Educational research on family factors in students’ academic development supports parental involvement as a sound educational strategy in enhancing students’ academic achievement” (Xuesong, 2006, pp ).

Why parents get involved or do not get involved? - Results TeacherSchool Invitingfriendly Advice, homework, help in class friendliness of school community, i.e. teachers, principal, other families, school volunteer opportunities UninvitingNo advice, little homework, not encouraged to help in class, lack of information Distribution of information, school location, friendliness of school community, i.e. being acknowledge by the school community, not nurturing class ambience, school politics

Teacher view of interactions ecologyofeducation.net

Parent view of interactions ecologyofeducation.net

Parents’ self-efficacy Self-efficacy is referred to as one’s sense of personal efficacy and is defined as one’s judgement about one’s own ability to perform a task in one specific domain (Bandura, 1997). “Invitations may be particularly significant for parents whose role construction is relatively passive and whose sense of efficacy is relatively weak” (Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 2005).

How can teachers and schools support parent involvement? School related involvement opportunities for parents (Epstein1992, 1994) Assist parents with child-rearing skills (advice, encouragement) Communicating with families (rapport, interpersonal relationships, enjoying talking to teacher, being comfortable to ask questions, parents to believe that the teacher really cared about and was interested in the child) Providing school volunteers opportunities (encourage helping out in the classroom, making classroom place where parents feel welcome) Encouraging parents’ home involvement (assigning homework that specifically involves parents) Involving parents in school decision making (committees) Encouraging parents’ involvement in the school-community (welcoming school climate)

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