Education and Parental Involvement in Schools
Parental involvement, and its related term, family school relationships is defined as the participation of parents in regular, two-way and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities. In 2008, a former student of Maahad Muhammadiah who is Nik Nur Madihah has scored 20As in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and she is the best student for SPM of 2008.Nik Nur Madihah comes from a poor family that his father was only a fisherman. Every day, she only ate once because of financial problems. However, the point here is not to mention her poverty, but to make us think that how Madihah could overcome the problems in order to be a successful person? What are the factors toward her success?.According to Madihah,her parents,families and teachers are the most supportive people towards her. Her parents especially, really hope that she will do her very best in her studies.These statement implies how important the parental involvement in education as it gives many advantages not only for students but for the whole community.
Many books have been written about the families and schools.Indeed the importance of parent involvement in children’s education has been a persistent theme in the research and school reform effort for the last three decades (Bronfenbrenner,1979; Comer;1990;Epstein,1988;Zellman & Waterman,1998).Therefore,the topic that been emphasized is certainly not a new one.The parent involvement in education has been present since prehistoric times.However,only the way of involvements keeps on changing over the years.Since 1960,increased concern for school and home cooperation has resulted in parent participation in schools and home visitation programmes.For example, during 1920s the main focus is the establishement of parent education programs which is a vital source of childrearing information(Brim,1965).
To begin with,the parental involvement in...