Parental involvement in special schools of Gauteng east district as experienced by school principals and parents

Abstract

The significance of Parental Involvement (PI) in the education of all children irrespective of their learning disabilities/abilities is crucial to enhance their scholastic performance, extra-curricular, skills development, promotion of positive behavior, consistent school attendance and minimization of school drop-out. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to establish the lived experiences of the principals and parents with learners in Special Schools (SS) with regards to PI. The objective was to perceive their lived experiences to explore affordances and constrains to PI in supporting learners in special schools with a view to forwarding recommendations to enhance PI. Qualitative methodology was used to generate data, and phenomenology was used as the research design. The sample comprised of ten (10) participants comprising of five (5) special school principals, and five (5) parents of learners attending SS in the East District of Gauteng, South Africa. The data collection tools were semi-structured individual face-to-face interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed for analysis. Related literature has lauded PI as an excellent technique for the promotion of learners’ achievements, but schools continue to battle with how to effectively involve parents. The findings of the research study revealed contextual factors that contribute to the limitation of parental involvement in the SS of Gauteng East. These factors included socio-economic status, low level of parental education, stigmatization of children enrolled in SS, lack of knowledge and skills, absence of implementing legal policies frameworks on PI and lack of support to parents who are inactive, uninvolved and unreachable. The study, grounded in Epstein’s Six Types of Support to Parental Involvement, established there is a lack of parental involvement with regards to learning at home, volunteering, two-way communication and cooperative decision making. The study however, also revealed that the school principals and the schools’ occupational therapists facilitated PI by collaborating with the community through career development and through PI with regards to parenting utilizing support specialists such as the occupational therapist, nurses, class assistance and the School Based Support Team (SBST) within the schools. Participants reported that there is a need to implement the constructs of Epstein’s models of PI to influence the lives of learners holistically, while respecting and embracing that individuals have multiple learning developments in an inclusive setting. This study investigated PI through supportive environments by exploring principals and parents’ lived experiences with their children’s educational programmes, and views about the obstacles that could prevent them from participating. This will assist with identifying the advancements that will promote effective PI.