Abstract:

Background. Research has shown that there is a correlation between student academic achievement and the qualities of parents and social surroundings (Shaw, 2008). A study by Epstein and Sheldon (2002b) suggested that parent involvement decreases student absenteeism. Number of other studies concluded that parent involvement positively affects student academic achievement (Jeynes, 2007; Shaw, 2008; Sheldon, 2003). Epstein (1995) categorized parent involvement in education process as relation to parenting, communication, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with community. Despite widely documented positive effects of parental involvement on students' learning and development, lack of parent involvement is a major problem in most schools. Weak parent involvement may be due to following factors: parents do not value parent involvement (Crites, 2008), parents leave education to schools and do not take responsibilities (Christenson, 2004; McGhee, 2007), educators have negative attitudes towards parents and do not believe parent involvement is essential (Shannon, 1996; Christenson, 2004), lack of communication between schools and parents (Cristenson, 2004; Crites, 2008). Purpose. The purpose of this study is to determine the views of teachers and school administrators about parent involvement in education process. The study attempts to define parent involvement levels, hindering factors of parent involvement, and parent involvement activities in schools by views of primary school teachers and administrators. Method. The study was conducted through interviews. The study group consists of 10 teachers and 10 school administrators at public primary schools in Ankara. Data was collected using the semi-structured interviews. A semi-structured interview form with eight questions was developed for teachers and school administrators. The interviews lasted 25 to 35 minutes and were tape-recorded. The findings were presented through descriptive analysis. Results and discussion. Results indicated that teachers and school administrators agreed that parent involvement in education process was essential. However, it is observed that schools do not take initiatives to improve parent involvement. Many teachers and school administrators reportedly favor of parent involvement, but do not take any action or responsibility for involving parents in students' education. They claim that they neither have sufficient parent involvement activities nor time for such activities. Educators generally consider these must-do (but never done) activities as their incompetence and believe that they need to adjust the case. Teachers and school administrators complain about parents' unawareness of parent involvement in education process. However, teachers and administrators reportedly feel disturbed since some parents infer with their profession and apply pressure for the things to do, thus teachers and school administrators take a dim view of parent involvement in education. It is known that parent visits to schools are frequent for lower grades, but rare at higher grades with the exception that further education prospects and school selection decisions increase communication during final years at primary schools. Parent involvement is mostly limited with activities such as parent visits to schools, information exchange, and advice from teachers, and attendance at meetings on request. In such practices, parents are generally passive and they are asked to follow advice and guidance from teachers. In this case, it might be suggested that educators do not fully internalize the view that parents should have the right to say about their child's education and they should be involved in decision making. Teachers and administrators perceive that most parents are reluctant and non-communicative to involve in education process; preferring to remain inactive, hesitating to express views when they are asked for their opinions, and leaving responsibilities to teachers and schools. Similar research findings show that these hindering factors do not largely differ from country to country. However, in some studies, working conditions (McGhee, 2007; Crites, 2008) and lingual and cultural differences (Shannon, 1996; Christenson, 2004) turned out to be hindering factors in parent involvement, but according to the results of the present study these factors are not really impeding. For educators, getting parents involved in the process or showing interest in parents as well as pupils means extra time and efforts. What prevents educators from such practices might be unwillingness to spent more time and extra effort for parent involvement. Teachers and administrators do not want parents to interfere with their work and therefore tends keep parents away from involvement in school. As reported by teachers and administrators, both school staff and parents should explore means of effective parent involvement.

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