The attitudes of Jamaican parents towards parent involvement in high school education

File(s)
Date
2002Author
Murphy, Sonia M.
Publisher
University of Wisconsin--Stout
Department
Home Economics
Advisor(s)
Zimmerman, Karen
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This study examined the attitudes of Jamaican parents towards parent involvement at high school. The objectives were to: 1) Determine the attitudes of parents toward involvement and the high school their child attends, 2) Determine what schools are presently doing to involve parents and how parents think schools can improve, 3) Determine parental involvement at home, at school and in the community, and the amount of time parents spend helping their high school child with homework, and 4) Examine the differences in parent attitudes, parent involvement, and parent assistance with homework based on parental educational level. The subjects in this study were parents with children in selected high schools in St. Catherine, Jamaica. Parents were asked to volunteer as participants in the study. The survey instrument was revised based upon the results of the pilot study, and administered in the fall 2001. The survey instrument consisted of five parts: demographic information, attitudes, school involvement, how parents were involved in the education of their child at home, at school and in the community, time spent helping with homework, subjects and topics parents would like to learn more about so that they can help their child, and parent concerns. Two hundred and twenty parents responded to the survey. Data was analyzed based on frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The study found that parents agreed or strongly agreed to 45% of the attitude statements (nine statements). Parents felt that schools did well or could do better at over 58% of the involvement practices. Over 50% of parents in all instances felt that the school did not do well at asking them to volunteer, did not explain how they should check homework, did not include them in vital decisions for school improvement and did not provide information on community services that help children and families. Fifty-seven percent of parents said the school did not contact them if their child did something well or improved at school. When parents were asked to indicate the areas where schools need to improve more than 50% would like to see improvement in attendance at P.T.A. meetings, parent volunteering, parent communication with teachers, the amount of guidance given to parents by teachers, time available for parents to talk to teachers and principals and the school's effort to contact them when their child is doing well or needs extra help. The study also found that more parents were involved in the education of their children at home than at school or in the community. Over 80.6% of parents said they talked to their children about school many times 88.8% talked to children about how important school is, 82.4% talked with children about the future, career and work. Regarding homework, 60.5% of parents said their children spent 1-2 hours doing homework on schooldays. All parents indicated that they were willing to spend more time helping children with homework if the teacher showed them how to help. Parents indicated that they needed help with Mathematics (75.3%), Computer Studies (53.3%), and English Language (49.9%). Parents also requested workshops in how to discipline teens, how to help teens choose careers, study and take tests. They also wanted to learn more about community services such as family counseling, job and skill training. The study also found that there are significant differences on parent attitude, parent involvement, parent assistance with homework, based on parent level of education. Findings of this study can be of great benefit to all stakeholders in education in Jamaica. The results will therefore be made available in the · Education Offices in the Ministry of Education, school principals and teachers as a first step. It is recommended that school begin to view parent involvement as a major component in their three-year development plans and begin to formulate action teams for planning and implementing activities to improve parental involvement at high school.
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/40567Type
Thesis
Description
Plan B