2.4 Parental involvement in schooling in South Africa 25
2.4.2 Attracting parents to the schools 29
2.4.3.3 Parents serving as volunteers in special interest groups 34
Epstein et al. (1997) define a ‘volunteer’ as “…anyone who supports school goals and learners’
learning or development in any way, at any place and at any time – not just during the school day and at the school building.” Schools are urged to recruit and organize parental help and support by designing programmes which will attract parent volunteers. However, parent volunteers need to be trained to meet the school’s needs. Meier et al. (2006) advise schools to create a climate that is conducive to recruiting and using parent volunteers for the right reasons, building parents’
self-esteem, training parents for the tasks they are expected to perform and thanking all volunteers. They recommend that parents serve as classroom assistants, are invited to assist in, and organize and manage extramural activities as well as with the day-to-day running of the school. Middlewood et al. (2005) concur with Lemmer et al. (2009) who advise that parent volunteers are needed to serve in classrooms to assist educators with routine tasks, engage in parent patrols to assist with the safety and operation of school programmes, and serve as peer mentors to other parents.
Van Wyk and Lemmer (2009) advise that schools establish ‘special interest groups’ based on parents’ expertise. This will consist of those groups of parents whose interests relate to parenting skills, drug abuse, social integration, and student health issues such as eating and behaviour disorders, to mention a few. These groups are usually driven by two or three individuals with a passion for a particular issue which they believe needs the wider involvement of the parent community and the school.
Clarke (2007) argues that, at times, parents can test the patience of the principal and staff because of their relentless commitment and zeal. There are, however, often committed parents who need to be indulged wherever possible, especially in rural schools where the services mentioned above do not exist. Schools that embrace the support of enthusiastic parents willing to support, empower and establish an effective working relationship with them will benefit when parents perform their roles adequately.
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2.4.3.4 Parents participating in decision making
Meier et al. (2006) posit that parents can also be involved in decision making at classroom level by including them in class or grade committees. This is an effective, informal way of bringing parents and educators together, which provides opportunities for them to get to know one another and for parents to support each other in various educational endeavours. An inviting, comfortable “parent room” could be set up where parents are able to meet on a regular basis.
Furthermore, parents have the obligation of performing certain educational functions such as drawing up school policies in accordance with the national mandates which may have legal ramifications. According to SASA (1996), every public school is a juristic person with legal capacity to perform its functions in terms of the Act. It is therefore vital that policies drawn up and decisions made by parents are in line with legal and constitutional guidelines.
Epstein et al. (1997) argue that decision making means a process of partnership and of shared views and actions towards shared goals, and not a power struggle between conflicting ideas. The aim of such a partnership is to develop parent leaders and representatives. At school level, all schools are compelled to institute structures such as a school Finance Committee, Admission Committee and others that are to engage in decision making on matters involving the school as established by SASA (1996). Van Deventer (2008, p. 95) believes that “making things happen as we wish them to in a school, as well as preventing unwanted events, depends on the skills of solving problems by taking and implementing effective decisions based on sound school policies.”
Van Wyk and Lemmer, (2006) believe that when parents are collaborating with educators, it increases the educators’ understanding of the children in the family and provides information which may be valuable when dealing with specific children. Further, collaboration between the school and parents increases resources available to the school. Parents’ expertise may help with the development and maintenance of the school buildings and grounds. Parents may provide a link with businesses, agencies, cultural institutions and other resources within the community. A link with the community could have multiple positive results, could result in cost saving and
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improved services through collaboration, could increase access to school resources and facilities, and could increase capacity to solve community problems and enhanced community pride.
2.4.4 Schools providing support to communities
Parents are likely to support the only school in the community; however, if there are more than one school, they are more likely to support the school which supports and participates in the activities of the community. It also follows that schools need to allow parents to benefit in some way from the services they provide to the schools. Therefore schools should have programmes in place for parents and communities to benefit from the support and services they provide to the schools.
Lemmer (2004), Naidu et al. (2008, p 138) and Van der Westhuizen (2000) are in agreement that schools in turn need to support parents and the community. In smaller, rural and less advantaged communities, schools often need resources and expertise that may not be available or accessible in the community they serve, so they have a duty to help members of the community in order to engender reciprocal services (Lemmer, 2004).
Naidu et al. (2008) and Van der Westhuizen (2000) concur that schools need to ensure that they provide services to the communities in which they are located. Schools can conduct courses or workshops on parenting and literacy as well Adult Basic Education. In this way, ‘community schools’ that foster life-long learning among adults will come to fruition. Schools that open their doors to accommodate educational and other important activities involving parents attract parental support. This will establish links with surrounding communities and create a sense of ownership and develop a safe-guard for the school.
According to Samual (2005, p. 113), “...most of the teachers in rural areas are involved in some form of community activity, not necessarily in the communities in which they teach, but where they live: in the church, community infrastructure improvement work such as the ‘electric committee’, the ‘water committee’ and the ‘health committee’, sports, funeral and burial societies, as well as cultural activities, youth development and women’s organizations.” I believe such services would be greatly appreciated if they were rendered by the educators of the
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local school to the local community in an effort to establish a collaborative working relationship where it does not exist, or to consolidate an existing working relationship.
While ‘partnership’ is part of the rhetoric of school reform and has become the buzz-word in various aspects of governance, it is seldom part of the action agenda (Naidu et al., 2008, p. 132).
However, Michael et al. (2012) warn that language difficulties could result in parents not understanding the participation opportunities given to them, which often leads to educators labelling such parents as uninterested. Key in getting parents involved in supporting schools towards the achievement of educational goals is effective communication between the school and home. Van Wyk (2009) asserts that parents will share their ideas and skills freely when they believe their inputs are appreciated.