Parent’s involvement in students’ learning activities: the case from rural primary schools in Barishal

Abstract

The major intention of this study was to explore diverse stakeholders’ (parents, teachers, and an education officer) perceptions, current practices, as well as the challenges regarding parental involvement. This study was conducted in the rural primary schools located in Barishal, Bangladesh. The qualitative approach was adopted for this study and a total of nine participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that the participants do not have a clear idea about the concept of parental involvement, neither they have any effective practices of parental involvement. Also, this study found the lack of proactive communication, academic incompetency of parents, and absence of a context-specific framework are the major barriers to parental involvement. This study recommends that schools can introduce a wide range of context-specific programs, and policy-makers can formulate a set of specific policies for boosting effective parental involvement.