Parental engagement is the involvement of the parent(s) in various aspects of their children’s life- academic, extracurricular, and personal development. As the post-pandemic world progressed, we have seen the transitioning of traditional schooling to virtual or hybrid learning methods.The new model has developed many challenges for the stakeholders like teachers, school management, principal, and even the students. Even in a traditional school setting parents involvement is essential for a holistic development of a student. In this context, let us find out the necessity and ways to increase parental engagement more.
Importance of Parental Engagement:
Home is where students spend more time than at school, so parents must be more involved in their development process.
Parents and children have a natural connection that helps children listen and understand more about what parents have to tell.
Parents could monitor their children through virtual learning methods. Their physical presence will ensure discipline among children.
Parental engagement and academic achievement are directly related. When students’ weak spots are catered to, they tend to perform better.
Positive engagement with children builds their overall character. Initial years of nurturing determine the personality of a child in future years.
Problems Encountered
In a fast-moving time like today, it is witnessed that parents tend to shift the burden of a child on the school management due to the lack of time. Parents often blame school if their kid’s performance is not up to the mark. Undoubtedly, the role of the school is crucial in building the student from scratch. But, the significance of parents’ engagement cannot be sidelined. Parents often ignore the problems faced by the kids at home and school, and the child is left alone. It leads to developing an inward personality, making them shy and increasing their inability to communicate with anyone.
6 Ways to Improve Parental Engagement:
Involvement at micro-level– Instead of plain parent-teacher interaction, there must be greater emphasis on the parent, teacher, and student engagement. Students get proper feedback about their performance from their teacher in front of parents, which makes it easier for follow-ups. Besides, parents must be encouraged to become part of their extracurricular lives and academic life. It serves to develop the bond between parents and students further.
Spending More Time in Knowing a Child- Parents need to be more involved in their children’s lives.Even if the parents are working and do not find much time, they can spare a few hours towards the end of the day to know their child better. They can easily talk about the problems children face in their personal or academic life. This communication can act as feedback for teachers to know their students better.
Leveraging Technology to stay updated– With greater internet penetration, social media, and educational technology platforms, it is easier for parents to stay updated about their kids’ performance regularly. A single dashboard via Learning Management System (LMS) School Management System can help them track their kid’s progress- their assignment, scores, notices, and much more.
Increased Sensitivity– Sometimes, parents do not cater to the emotional requirements of children due to their hectic schedules. Instead, they pressure them to perform better academically, which frustrates the child, who cannot communicate about the problem faced. Parents should communicate with their children to learn about their unique abilities and talents, and nurture them to achieve their full potential.
Family Connect- The schools must designate a schedule in their calendar for online or offline mode of family connect. Such connections help teachers get more involved with students and their parents. Parents can use such opportunities to communicate their observations about kids to the teacher. Mutual interaction will improve the child’s performance in the long run.
Creating Parent’s Channel– Schools can create a customised parent’s channel for all the parents of students from a class on platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp to discuss common issues. Besides, frequent newsletters or updates from the end of school will help them increase discussion and better understand the happenings at school.
Children are the future of society, and building a bright future requires the contribution of every single stakeholder. Pressuring the child to perform better just because somebody else is performing well or meeting societal expectations will do no good. The school and parents must work in tandem to develop the finest personality within the child. Parental engagement can work wonders not only to achieve academic results but also to build a stronger character.
Tools like eduTinker Learning Management School (LMS) is perfect to establish regular communication between parents and school authorities. Please visit our website at https://edutinker.com/ for more information.
