Involving Parents in Educating the Kids - Research Paper Example

Involving Parents in Educating the Kids Introduction Study Framework Involving parents in educating the kids is a difficult task and requires a lot of attention and hard work. The parents as well as the teachers have to put in the hard work. When kids are studying in kindergarten, they are in their growing age. Therefore they need a lot of attention from their teachers and parents. Nowadays, most of the parents are busy in their hectic routines and thus are ignoring or neglecting their children and in the result their children are being de motivated and are not generating the maximum input (Reifman, 192). Background of the school The ABC Kindergarten is a Christian bilingual school that conducts their lessons in two different languages i.e. Cantonese and English, and this school is located in Hong Kong. This school provides two shifts: morning and evening. In the morning one, the English proficiency is low as compared to the evening shift. This school has teachers who teach Cantonese and English. Problem defining All the teachers experience great problem and frustration when they try to involve parents. When they try to give a little responsibility to the parents, they also expect some kind of response from them. Teachers usually complain that most of the parents don't even bother to attend the school conferences, visit the school open houses or check their child's homework, they are unaware from all the facts and don't bother to answer any query or notes. This leads some teachers to conclude that there are many parents who do not care about their own children's education, are unaware from all the learning procedures, styles and activities from which their child is going through and are also not interested in this. While, on the other hand, it is also true that some parents may have some kind of emotional problems which indirectly prevent them from becoming more involved with their children's education and learning style and procedures, but apart from this most parents do care at a great extent. The above mentioned issues are the most upcoming problems which most of the children face. There are many parents who think that schools are not going in a right direction, or that going to school and studying is just a simple duty nothing else. This thinking and assumptions are wrong and one should not make this a reality. Parents should think that if their child is going to a school then he or she will be learning, now it is up to them how they keep an eye on their child (Reifman, 192). Objectives Basically when parents are involved in the education of their child, both the child as well as the parents get some kind of benefit. Our research also reports that the participation of parents in the schooling of their children's usually generates: Self esteem in the child Also improves the child's academic based achievements It also improves the relationship of parent and child It helps parents develop a positive attitude towards the school A better understanding is developed related to the schooling process. These above mentioned objectives are very important for every child and should never be ignored in any way if you want your child to learn more (Reifman, 192). Literature Review Strengths and weaknesses As mentioned earlier, there are many strengths and weaknesses in involving the parents in educating their child. When parents are involved in their child's education then they will automatically come to know what the progress of their child is, how he or she is working, what the capabilities of their child are, how their child is doing progress. By this if the child has some negative areas, those areas can be removed by proper guidance by both the teachers as well as from their parents. Involvement of parents is necessary as it automatically becomes the strength of their child and in the end your child will generate better outcomes. By involving parents, teachers can make sure that now the child will get special attention from both the sides and in the end the results will be fruitful (Reifman, 192). On the other hand, there are many weaknesses too while involving the parents in educating their child. More involvement leads to a misconception and most of the parents become very possessive and they don't trust the teachers. When there is more participation of the parents while educating the child, the child will be confused and he or she will ultimately loose the work and in the end the results will not be good. The above mentioned strengths and weaknesses are very important in order to make the lives of those children who are at their learning and developing ages. Nowadays there are many parents who are busy in their daily routines and schedules and don't bother to look at their child's progress. This is a wrong way and by this parents can ruin their child's life (Reifman, 192). Stimulating this research I, myself did a research to know what parents think, whether they want to be involved in their child’s education or not. The above mentioned data tells and proves that the involvement of the parents is necessary and it should be there in order to make their child better and brighter, but along with this the involvement should be in a positive manner. The involvement should be with the mutual work and understanding of the teacher so that one can easily know how the child is performing, how he is working and where he or she needs more attention (Reifman, 192). Methodology Choice of methodology Various methods can be used in order to evaluate how parents can get involved in their kids’ education, especially those who are going to the kindergarten schools. Data collection methods I have collected the data by doing a detailed research and in the end questionnaires were also filled by many parents and teachers of this ABC kindergarten school in order to know their thinking, perceptions and feelings. Assessing the research I would assess my research by depicting all those ideas and thinking's which most of the parents and teachers believe. One main belief of the teachers is that parents should keep an eye on their child's performance, their working and progress in order to assess how mentally healthy their child is. It is not only the teacher's, but the parents’ responsibility too, to teach the children. Whereas, parents’ thinking is some how different, most of the parents believe that if they are paying and giving money then there is no need of their involvement. This is a wrong way of thinking. Paying the school fee does not mean that now you are not responsible for your child's education. Parents should participate in all the activities, processes and procedures to educate their child. There are some ways with the help of which parents can also participate. Different seminars can be held to involve parents. Meetings should be held in which parents can be involved and can also participate while educating their child (Reifman, 192). Conclusion In the end, one important thing which should be mentioned here is that kids who are going to the kindergarten school are very important to understand. Teachers as well as parents both should pay special attention on these kids because they are at their learning age. From this time or age they will learn that how actually to study, how to live and how to perform. Therefore, involvement of both parents and teachers is very much important. From this research one thing is very much clear and vivid that involvement of parents in their child's education is an important element for both the parents and teachers and by this a child can learn more and more and in the end can generate more and more. Therefore it is also the teacher's responsibility to make sure that parents are participating in order to teach their children, they are participating in order to know that how their child is performing, how he or she is working and how he or she is developing so that the outcomes can be also measured (Reifman, 192). Work Cited Reifman, Steve. (2008), Eight Essentials for Empowered Teaching and Learning, K-8: Bringing Out the Best in Your Students. Corwin Press, 2008. Read More