Family involvement in education can take place in several ways. Some parents have time to get involved by volunteering in school activities such as tutoring in the classroom, taking place in school trips, and helping in the libraries. Some parents only have time at home to assist their children with their homework and reading.  

Whatever your level of involvement is, even asking your kid “how did today’s math test go?” makes you involved with your child’s education and will make a difference as long as you continue doing it regularly. 

According to researchers, parental involvement not only improves a child’s morale, attitudes, and academic achievement across all subject areas, but it also promotes better behavior and social adjustment. In all these ways, family involvement in education helps children to grow up to be productive, responsible members of the society. 

Parents' involvement in education either in school or at home, will create a partnership between school and parents. The resulting partnerships between parents and teachers will develop effective communication from home-to-school and school-to-home. Through communication, parents and teachers will share information and resources regarding the students. Together these efforts will connect families and schools to help children succeed in school and in their future. 

THE BENEFITS OF PARENTS’ AND FAMILIES’ INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION 

Studies show that when parents take an active part in their children’s education, everybody benefits: 

Children Benefit: Parental involvement translates into improved student performance in school. The research shows that such children are less likely to miss school, that they receive higher grades, and in general perform better on tests. Increased parental involvement means that we can look forward to higher graduation rates and increased enrolment in post-secondary institutions. Greater parent-child interaction strongly impacts on a child’s behavior; these students have a better attitude towards school, and this fosters stronger ties between the family and the school. 

Schools Benefit: A renewed relationship between the school and the family can only promote teacher morale. Teachers benefit from an enriched learning environment filled with active, interested students. Parents, furthermore, develop an expanded appreciation of the school and its teachers, and are more sensitive to the important issues that teachers raise. 

Schools that include the parents more often, find that their students are motivated by the parents’ involvement and work harder at improving their learning skills. Parents, meanwhile, take more of an active interest in the school’s well-being and are likely to show this support through increased attendance at parent-teacher conferences, parenting workshops, and a stronger commitment to volunteer activities at the school. 

As parents and teachers come to know each other better, the teachers will develop a more heightened opinion of the families with whom they interact. They will come to have higher expectations of the children and the children will, in turn, develop higher expectations of themselves. The payoff, in terms of the students’ own self-esteem, is incalculable. 

Parents Benefit: Parents can not only help the school to educate their children, but can receive from the school a number of ideas about how to help their children. They can become more self-assured and acquire a deeper sense of satisfaction with respect to their children’s education, and even themselves as parents. They will discover that they are the most important factor in determining their children’s success at school. They will have a better understanding of the current educational program as well as how the school works. This can only result in a renewed confidence in their children’s education. 

Parents will benefit from an increased closeness with their children, and a more profound sense of their own significance in their children’s lives. They will understand their children better as learners and themselves as parents. Finally, studies show that when parents participate more in their children’s education, they often undertake to advance their own education by enrolling in continuing education courses. The parent as teacher becomes the parent as learner. Parent and child alike are students; the family unites through education.