Introducing Learning at Home
Parent assistance with homework should also be considered, an important mode of engagement. It is important for parents to guide their children, while also motivating them to study. Planning the day together and working out a schedule are ways to discipline your child, and whilst engaging the child willingly rather than creating a climate of oppression or coercion. The school can develop parent involvement programs that include conducting learning activities with children at home. Project based learning is an interactive and fun approach to learning especially when the child and parents are working together. Assignments which require students to incorporate and represent knowledge imparted from their parents are also good ways of engagement.

Creating Strong Linkages with Communities
Schools that succeed in engaging families should further focus on building collaborative relationships between teachers, families and other community members. Some successful examples are visible in the schools of the Releasing Confidence and Creativity (RCC) programme where efforts have been made to engage families in student learning. Community members were actively involved in a theatre training event organized. The message sent across by the theatre performance was well received in many cases and helped to facilitate change, especially with regards to female literacy. This helps in embracing a philosophy of a learning partnership making sure that the parents, school staff and community members understand that the responsibility for children’s education is a collaborative and cooperative process.

Participation in School Events
Attendance at school functions and events is also one of the ways of ensuring parental participation. However, parents can also be involved at the classroom level by sharing their skills and knowledge with the children. In Releasing Confidence and Creativity (RCC) programme parents are invited into the schools where handicrafts such as making clay toys and stitching ralli (Ralli is a traditional cloth made by patchwork) have been taught to the students, thereby utilizing the role of parents as a valuable resource, and connecting the school with the natural environment of the child by valuing local culture, traditions and knowledge. Parents have also been involved in story telling, especially folk stories, once again indicating respect and value for the knowledge of a parent and the larger community. The sharing of stories when successfully applied influences the development of moral and ethical values thereby building character in a child. Hence mothers are called in to conduct and facilitate fun filled activities. Alternatively parents can take on the role of facilitators and observers, giving valuable feedback to teachers and helping students with classroom activities.

In many cases for effective implementation of any initiative parents would need to be involved in training. However, this should be carried out while keeping in mind feasibility and necessity. In the RCC programme an Adult Literacy Program has been initiated which involves teaching mothers basic numeric and literacy skills. The program has been successful in motivating the parents to educate their children and enabling mothers to assist children in their work. It is anticipated that fathers will also be involved in the program at the next stage. Parents have also been called in as substitute teachers when required, thus connecting them further as learning partners.

The lack of planning and mutual understanding between teachers and parents is a possible barrier to effective parental involvement. As part of the planning process, teachers and school administrators need to assess their own readiness for involving parents and determining how they wish to engage them. When involving parents as learning partners, schools need to have adequate information about the skills and specialization of specific parents, in order to identify probable learning partners. However, parents should be able to choose and be comfortable with the activities, and the school should accommodate different schedules, preferences and capabilities. School staff should communicate to parents that their involvement and support makes a great deal of difference in their children’s school performance, and that they need not be highly educated or have lots of free time for their involvement to be beneficial. However, it should be taken into consideration that parental participation should not impede the general functioning of the school, such as administrative, practical and academic aspects of school life. The school will also at times need to fulfill the role of a mediator in negotiating and reaching a consensus between the goals of the school and parents. There may be various difficulties in engaging parents. School staff wishing to carry out effective activities that involve parents will need to be flexible, friendly and well-organized in their approach in engaging parent participation.