The Power of Community Intervention in Promoting Parental involvement

• In Event: Policy and Politics of Education

Proposal

Parental involvement plays a pivotal role in enhancing the education and wellbeing of children (Abuya et al., 2019; Fan & Chen, 2001; Wilder, 2014). Studies show a unit increase in parental participation significantly increases students’ numeracy scores by 6 and 15 percentage points and 6 and 12 percentage points in literacy scores (Mahuro & Hungi, 2016). Also, where parents are involved, students report more effort, concentration, interest in learning, seek challenging tasks, persist through academic challenges, and are motivated to voluntarily participate in literacy activities (Gonzalez-DeHass et al., 2005). Studies also recommend that if both parents are involved, the academic gains for their children are likely to be higher (Perriel, 2015). Parental involvement, monitoring and relationship with parents are also associated with less likelihood of engaging in sexual activity, experiencing sexual violence and engaging in drug and substance use (Kassa et al., 2018; Pilgrim & Blum, 2012). Children who discuss about the importance of education and future education plans with their parents also tend to do better emotionally (Wang & Sheikh-Khalil, 2014).
Despite the myriad of benefits associated with parental involvement, it remains low in urban informal settlements (Oketch, Mutisya, and Sagwe 2012). In a recent study conducted in two urban informal settlements in Nairobi during the COVID-19 school closures by APHRC, adolescents reported receiving more learning support from their mothers (85.9%) than from their fathers (53.8%) (Muhia, Abuya, & Mutisya, 2021). The limited involvement is mainly attributed to little understanding of positive parenting strategies. These challenges seem to persist despite the institutionalization of guidelines on parental empowerment and engagement (PE&E) by the Ministry of Education (MoE) through the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD, 2019).
This paper highlights key benefits accrued by parents enrolled in a community-based after-school support program that targeted adolescents and their parents in two urban informal settlements. Parents enrolled in this program were placed in support groups of between 25-30 parents and sensitized on positive parenting. The support groups met on a monthly basis during the three-year project duration. In addition to the support group discussions being facilitated by trained counselors, a parental counseling manual was also used for reference.
This qualitative study targeted 126 respondents including 75 parents, 32 adolescents, 6 mentors, 4 counselors, and 9 community leaders. All the qualitative data were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim in English into MS Word. During coding, the themes of interest were generated both inductively and deductively (Boyatzis, 1998; Crabtree & Miller, 1999) and fed into NVivo. The deductive codes were largely based on the research questions guiding the qualitative study while the inductive codes were thematic areas that emerged during the coding process.
Study findings: As compared to parents who are not enrolled in the project, those in the intervention felt more motivated to support their children’s education despite the financial challenges instead of resorting to negative coping strategies such as forcing their children to drop out of school and send them to work in casual jobs in Saudi Arabia. The financial literacy skills gained from the A LOT-Change parental counseling sessions assisted them in managing and utilizing the limited financial resources they had. Unlike before the program, parents also mentioned that they were also making deliberate follow-ups on their children’s education such as ensuring that they were actually attending school.
Parents also echoed that since they began attending the sessions, the relationship with their children had greatly improved thanks to taking up positive parenting strategies such as steering away from physical punishment as a form of discipline and embracing self-control and using less abusive language when communicating with their children. According to parents and adolescents, having open lines of communication worked well for them since they could easily share issues that were troubling them and also get solutions.
The A LOT-Change parents were further cited to be more receptive to new ideologies especially those touching on sexual reproductive health. As such, they were said to use the gained knowledge to not only support their children but also inform other parents on how best to support their children on SRHR issues.
Parents in the A LOT-Change project were also said to avoid engaging in social ills such as prostitution and drug and substance abuse which is rampant in the urban informal settlements due to the financial constraints. The resultant effect of engaging in these vices was the neglect of parenting responsibilities, consequently also forcing their children to engage in social ills such as transactional sex to offset their needs.
The parental counseling sessions also resulted in enhanced wellbeing for parents as they provided a platform to share and learn from each other and thus reassuring them that the challenges they were experiencing were not unique to them and in the process also find positive coping strategies and solutions to the challenges. The sessions also allowed them to seek assistance on other non-parenting issues as a result of the friendships developed such as sharing job opportunities that came up at their workplaces.
Having attested to the positive changes the project has made in their lives and that of their children, parents felt the need to also make positive changes to the community by passing down the knowledge and skills they had gained to other community members. Some parents were also able to apply the gained skills in taking up leadership positions in the community.
Conclusion: In line with this year’s theme on the power to protest, this study demonstrates the power of utilizing alternative strategies such as community interventions to enhance parental involvement. Whereas the 2019 guidelines on PE&E by the MoE advocate for school-based strategies, community interventions should complement these efforts so as to reach more parents and consequently maximize the benefits of parent involvement. Further, considering that in most cases parents and caregivers have either been shown to have little understanding of positive parenting strategies or face social economic challenges that predispose them to poor parental involvement, it is imperative to build their capacity to raise their children in a warm and loving environment.

Authors

• Nelson Gichuhi Muhia, African Population and Health Research Center APHRC

• Benta A Abuya, African Population And Health Research Center

• Francis Maina Kiroro, African Population And Health Research Center