Parent Involvement in Inclusive Primary Schools in New Zealand: Implications for Improving Practice and for Teacher Education
2010; Whole Schooling Press; Volume: 6; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1710-2146
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse Education Studies and Reforms
ResumoIntroduction New Zealand has one of the most inclusive school systems in the world, with less than 1% of in schools or units for pupils with SEN. A critical factor in the success of inclusive schools is effective parental involvement (PI) in the education of their children, especially for those with SEN (Hornby, 1995). PI is defined as, ... parental participation in the educational processes and experiences of their children (Jeynes, 2005, p. 245). The role of PI in improving educational outcomes for all children, including those with SEN, has recently been recognized by the New Zealand government through publication of the Schooling Strategy (MoE, 2005) in which improving PI is one of three priority areas. Extensive evidence for the effectiveness of PI in facilitating children's academic achievement has been reported by reviews and meta-analyses of the international literature (Cox, 2005; Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Fan & Chen, 2001; Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Jeynes, 2005; Pomerantz, Moorman, & Litwack, 2007). For example, effect sizes, (which assess the size of changes brought about by interventions) for the impact of PI on children's academic achievement have been calculated to be 0.51 for all schools (Hattie, 2009) and from 0.70 to 0.74 for urban primary schools (Jeynes, 2005). Hattie (2009) reports that the average effect size for educational interventions is 0.4, which suggests that PI, with effect sizes estimated to be larger than this, can have a substantial impact on children's academic achievement. Other merits of PI that emerge from these reviews and other literature encompass benefits for children, teachers and parents. For children, involvement of their parents is reported to lead to improvements in attitudes, behavior and attendance at school, as well as in their mental health (Christenson, 2004; Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, & Davies, 2007; Hornby, 2000). For teachers, effective PI is reported to improve parent-teacher relationships, teacher morale and the school climate (Grant & Ray, 2010; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). For parents, involvement in their children's education has been linked to increased parental confidence in, and satisfaction with parenting, as well as increased interest in their own education (Epstein, 2001; Grant & Ray, 2010; Henderson et al., 2007). Other important findings from these reviews are that the effectiveness of PI in bringing about these changes applies across gender and various ethnic groups (Jeynes, 2003, 2005) and that this also applies to of all ages, including at primary, middle and secondary schools (Eccles & Harold, 1993). Research on PI in New Zealand has so far only been available in the form of local reports and university theses. The findings of much of this research and that of selected international literature, was summarised in a major report commissioned by the Ministry of Education (Biddulph, Biddulph, & Biddulph, 2003). This influential report is often referred to in the New Zealand educational literature as the source of the finding that effective partnerships between parents and schools result in improved outcomes for children. Following this report there have been two recent reviews of research on the practice of PI in New Zealand. The first was a review of partnerships between parents and schools, conducted as part of a regular review (inspection) of schools (Education Review Office, 2008). Evidence was gathered from 233 schools, including primary, middle and secondary schools. Analysis of the reviews found that recommendations were made that nearly 75% of the schools should improve engagement with parents; about 25% should improve learning partnerships with parents; another 25% need to develop strategies to engage parents not actively involved; and a further 25% were advised to improve the quality of engagement with parents from a wide range of ethnic groups. …
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