Parental Involvement in Children's Education

Children are being creative when they solve problems, redefine situations, show flexibility and become more adventurous.  1. Figure out things Adults can help children express creativity in different ways like teaching them that change is natural and that many problems do not have simple solutions. When children can go at their own pace and figure out their way of doing things in an informal situation, they are likely to be more creative (Mayesky, 2006). 2. The process is more important than the product Parents must see what the child liked about the creative work. It is essential to understand that what their children enjoy and feel about what they are doing is much more important than the outcome. Parents should learn to see their child’s making of gifts, art exhibits, and displays as examples of the child’s aesthetic sense. Teachers can help parents of older children to appreciate the development of images that are becoming more complex in their child’s art (Ma...

Handling emotions is an essential part of dealing with children.   Teachers have an important role to prepare relevant learning experiences and opportunities for the children to apply their skills in social interaction, goal setting and self-discipline (Vialle, Lysaght, Verenikina, 2000). Children have unique experiences, emotional reactions and behaviours. Adults should always be ready to act appropriately.  Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand, manage and assess emotions   (Cherry, 2012).  According to Goleman, there are five domains of emotional intelligence: 1. Recognizing one’s emotions  2. Handling emotions accordingly 3. Motivating one’s self through emotional self-control such as delaying gratification and preventing impulsiveness 4. Empathizing with others 5. Dealing with relationships Children need to communicate their emotions properly because this capability creates self-esteem, leadership and int...

Childcare centres welcome parental and community involvement in children’s education.  Centres provide opportunities for parents and the community to share their knowledge, skills and resources as support in children’s growth, learning and development.   Parent participation can be seen in centres especially during festive celebrations, field trips, fundraising activities, after school clubs and parent-teacher conferences.  Community involvement in centres can be observed during talks of resource speakers, field trips and fundraising activities. Joyce Epstein created a framework for a productive school, family and community cooperation.  1. Parenting Provide information to families about parenting, child's growth, development and learning.  2. Communicating Do practices that allow effective home-to-school and school-to-home communication.  3. Volunteering The school allows the family members to volunteer.  4. Learning at ho...

Parent or family involvement is a process of allowing parents and family members to use their knowledge and skills for the benefit of themselves, their children and the school. The home is the child’s first school. Whatever occurs at home influences the child’s learning and development.  The teacher’s role is to assist parents by letting them learn about child development, giving them meaningful activities that they can use to teach their children at home and providing them support as the child’s first teachers. Supporting parents and family members to become better people is beneficial for children and it also helps them to be successful in school and life (Morrison, 2003). 1. Participate Family members who are involved in their children’s education can collaborate with the children, involve other families to classroom participation, give useful input in program policy and strengthen the relationship of the whole community.  They provide knowledge and materia...

There are different ways to involve parents in nurturing their children’s musical development.   1. Share  Parents and teachers can swap notes, photographs, videos and recordings of the child’s interests, achievements and development in music and movement.  2. Invite Teachers can invite parents during music and movement class to be able to observe and to motivate their children.  3. Lend Teachers and parents can build a joint lending library of recordings, instruments, movement props and songbooks found in the music centre.  4. Listen They can conduct outdoor activities with the children such as taking “listening” walks to concentrate their attention on natural sounds like birds, crackling leaves and twigs, wind, water and small animals or even human sounds like traffic, building construction and restaurant kitchen.  5. Visit They can visit different places to listen to specific sounds such as in pet shops, the zoo, musi...

According to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the active participation of parents in children’s learning is critical to their children’s learning ability in Science.   Research shows when parents actively support their children's learning, their children attain bigger achievement as learners. Parents need to guide their children's learning at home, school and in the community. Teachers also play a significant part as partners in children's Science learning (NSTA, 2013). Daily home activities are full of opportunities that support thinking. These activities include cooking, playing games, doing simple projects, finding materials to bring to school and exploring the lives of living creatures and plants are opportunities for fun and discovery (Lind, 2000). Joyce Epstein developed a framework for effective family, school and community collaboration.  1. Give information The educator gives families information about parenting, child ...

In the situated cognition theory, it stresses that learning cannot be analysed in isolation and it is a part of a context (Bartlett, Burton, Peim, 2006).  Urie Brofenbrenner developed the ecological systems theory that emphasizes the significance of a child’s role in his or her environment (Charlesworth, 2004). A child evokes responses from the environment which affects his or her own development (Schickedanz, Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth, 2001).  In Brofenbrenner’s model, the child is at the centre of a five-layer system wherein each layer symbolizes a different perspective of the environment and each having a huge influence on a child’s growth and development (Keenan, Evans, 2009).  Ecological Systems Theory The  microsystem  includes the child’s relationship to home, school, neighbourhood, friends and church.  The  mesosystem  comprises the child’s interactions and relationships between the home, school, church, ...

I perceive children as curious, creative and capable individuals. They need to explore and act on their interests. Children build knowledge through environment interaction (Aldridge, Goldman, 2007). Children develop learning by using their sense of sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch. All senses are used to connect the concrete with the abstract in sensory involvement. Multisensory learning is specifically crucial during the first three years, when the brain is developing at its fastest rate (Charlesworth, 2004). Children learn by themselves, through peers and adults. Vygotsky (as cited in Bartlett, Burton, Peim, 2006) drew out the social dimension of learning and gave importance on the symbolic and linguistic factors of early learning interactions. References: Aldridge, J., Goldman,R. (2007). Current issues and trends in education (2 nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Charlesworth, R.(2004). Understanding child development . (6 th ed.). New York: D...